Irish-British writer/director Martin McDonagh has gained cult followings both in the theater world, for plays like The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Cripple of Inishmaan, and among cinephiles, thanks to the Academy-Award-winning short Six Shooter and In Bruges. His work on both stage and screen stands out for its grounded approach to absurd situations, as well as his nuanced treatment of deeply flawed characters.
McDonagh’s newest film is Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, featuring Frances McDormand as a woman who goes to war against her small town’s police department over her daughter’s unsolved murder. We sat down with him to speak about the film and his idiosyncratic writing process.
The Film Stage: Your scripts don’t follow the usual conventions of Save the Cat screenwriting. Do you follow a story as it goes along? Do you plan certain things out beforehand?
Martin McDonagh: No.
McDonagh’s newest film is Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, featuring Frances McDormand as a woman who goes to war against her small town’s police department over her daughter’s unsolved murder. We sat down with him to speak about the film and his idiosyncratic writing process.
The Film Stage: Your scripts don’t follow the usual conventions of Save the Cat screenwriting. Do you follow a story as it goes along? Do you plan certain things out beforehand?
Martin McDonagh: No.
- 11/9/2017
- by Daniel Schindel
- The Film Stage
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