Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’s writer and director Martin McDonagh has revealed details of the follow-up to his critically acclaimed crime comedy, confirming that he wants to reunite In Bruges’ Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Martin McDonagh last week ahead of the release of “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” We spent most of our chat discussing his third film as a writer and director after “In Bruges” and “Seven Psychopaths,” but right at the end of our conversation I asked McDonagh about his next cinematic endeavor.
McDonagh confirmed that he is hoping to bring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson back together again for it, this time in 1920s Ireland around the time of the Civil War. McDonagh did admit, though, that the overwhelmingly positive response to “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” has caused him to question whether his script is actually up to par, because he is adamant that he won’t follow it up with something that is underwhelming.
“I am sort of writing something,” McDonagh confirmed. “But we’ll have to wait and see. I don’t want to follow this film with anything that’s not as good, and I need to do some work on that to make sure it is.”
McDonagh then confirmed his plans for Farrell and Gleeson to appear alongside each other again, adding, “But I really want to get them in Ireland, in the last century. You heard that here first.” McDonagh confirmed back in 2015 that he wants Farrell and Gleeson to star in a film set around the time of the Irish Civil War.
It will be a big ask for McDonagh to eclipse “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” though, as it currently has a score of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, and it has even been touted as an Oscar contender, too.
However, following their titanic work together in his 2008 debut film, the combination of Gleeson and Farrell could help McDonagh to achieve just that. As long as he can get the script right.
