In the mid 90’s, overnight martin mcdonald He became one of the most admired British playwrights, living from complete obscurity. He later won an Oscar for his first short film ‘Six Shooters’ (2004); and his first feature film ‘Escondidos en Brujas’ (2008) became a cult. The third movieThree advertisements in the suburbs‘ came to collect a wide variety of awards, and now the fourth one is going the same way. The tragicomic analogy of two friends who suddenly stopped being friends – incarnated by Colin Farrel and Brendan Gleeson– and about the pain and violence caused by conflict,’Banshees in Inisherin triumphed at the last Golden Globe premiere and is also one of the favorites to do so at the Oscars.
How did your new movie come about?
The initial spark was my desire to work with Colin and Brendan again; It seems incredible that it’s been 15 years since we shot ‘Hiding in Bruges’ together. There is great love for that film from both the three of us and many viewers. Of course, I wouldn’t have met them if I wasn’t sure that together we could make a movie that would give that first experience and not disappoint fans. I would be happy if I could shoot all my films with the same cast of actors and technicians, like one of those old theater companies. It would be more fun to make them and I’m sure they would be better.
Is it true that ‘Almas en banpo en Inisherin’ will actually be a game?
Not really. About seven years ago, I wrote the first version of the story, without being too clear about what its ideal format might be. The problem is that when I finished I felt the text was bullshit and tried to get it out of my head. But I reread it about three years ago and realized that the first five pages were very good; in fact, it is exactly the same pages as the ‘Almas en bancha en Inisherin’ script begins. In any case, this first version was overloaded with plot and twists, and the plot twists and turns ate up the characters. The movie only focuses on the sadness that grips the two protagonists when their friendship breaks down.
I wanted to think about how a minor inconsistency could escalate and worsen until it turned into an irreparable and brutal conflict.
In reality, the film is, in its own way, the story of an emotional breakup…
Exactly the same. I wanted to paint another couple’s breakup and capture the bewilderment and sadness it creates for both those who have ended the relationship and those who have been abandoned. Breaking up of friends can be just as devastating as a divorce, and that’s why it’s notable that cinema often treats boyfriend friendships as something silly or funny.
Is it a coincidence that the movie takes place a century ago, at the end of the Irish civil war?
not him. It was a very bloody war that pitted people who had always been in harmony and believed more or less the same thing. But you don’t need to know the details of that conflict to understand the movie. What interested me was to consider how a small inconsistency can escalate and worsen, sometimes by accident, until it turns into a brutal and irreparable conflict. And it can be between two friends, or between two communities or governments.
Is ‘Almas the most torment en Inisherin’ your most sincere, hardest film… is it also your most mature one?
It makes me feel old to say this about him, but I guess it’s true. In doing so, I cared less than ever about wrapping the story with visual inventions and narrative outlines, and more concerned with capturing the beauty of the Irish landscape, for example. Maybe I’m growing up, yes, but maybe I’m just starting to soften.
The film challenges the perspectives of Colm (Gleeson), who is concerned about leaving an artistic legacy, and Pádraic (Farrell), a simple man who wants to live a simple life. Which character do you feel closer to?
Pádraic is a good man, not very smart, he just wants a good and happy life and I kind of identify with him. But at the same time, I can’t help wondering: What am I doing with my life? Am I wasting time? Should I write more? I want to leave a consistent and valuable artistic legacy. Of course, I am not saying that artistic ambitions are incompatible with kindness; A director doesn’t have to be a tyrant to do a good job, and actually I think bad people usually make bad movies. I’m just saying that I want to take advantage of my time. That’s why I try not to create irrelevant stories, and maybe that’s why I focus more on cinema than theater.
Maybe I’m growing up, yeah, though maybe I just softened
Why in the cinema rather than the theatre?
I am 52 years old, I have about 25 productivity left. And the process of creating a movie is faster; It took me just a year to shoot and publish Almas en bansa en Inisherin. Instead, my experience tells me that writing a play and following it through its entire commercial journey from London’s West End to Broadway takes several years of work because it involves successive casting and rehearsal processes. Also, games have a painfully short lifespan. No one wants to represent what I wrote twenty years ago anymore. They disappeared forever.
Have you ever considered the possibility of adapting your own plays to the cinema?
I am absolutely against it. The stories written for the stage should stay on the stage, and the stories written for the screen should not be moved to another medium. And that applies to my work as well as to other filmmakers or playwrights. I’ve seen two or three good movies based on games in my life, and they’re all pretty old.
Source: Informacion
Barbara Dickson is a seasoned writer for “Social Bites”. She keeps readers informed on the latest news and trends, providing in-depth coverage and analysis on a variety of topics.