Writer/director Martin McDonagh is following up his acclaimed and award-winning Ireland-set friendship-feud drama “The Banshees of Inisherin” with a dark spy comedy “Wild Horse Nine” that again explores the hardships of sustaining male relationships, this time in the workplace with a pair of longtime coworkers heading to a remote island for an espionage mission.
In a new interview with the filmmaker at Entertainment Weekly, McDonagh shared his take on the two CIA agents at the center of the film, played by veteran actors John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, as they’re on a mission in the early 1970s. Going on to mention that he approached their relationship like they were “an old married couple,” which makes a lot of sense, as their bickering is a hilarious element in the trailer (harkening back to classic films like “The Odd Couple” or even Steven Soderbergh‘s trilogy of “Ocean’s” films and “Lucky Logan“).
McDonagh understood the film hinged on the chemistry between his two leads: “They almost needed to be like an old married couple. They’ve been in a partnership in the CIA together for years and years, so you need to feel that implicitly. And you also need to feel the love between the two characters…John adores Sam and his acting talent, and Sam feels completely the same way about John — he can quote most of John’s lines in most of his movies. So you’re already starting with two people at the get-go who want to be there together, who want to play tennis together on screen. And I think it really shows in every scene; it’s either the scenes are about love or that anger between the two of them or the depth of the sadness of what’s going on, too. I honestly don’t think any other pairing could have worked.”
Producing the latest pic from the director are Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin, McDonagh, and Anita Overland. Others among the cast of “Wild Horse Nine” include Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits, Parker Posey, Mariana di Girolamo, and Ailín Salas.
An official logline for the pic via Searchlight Pictures:
Shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup, CIA agents Chris (Malkovich) and Lee (Rockwell) are dispatched from Santiago to Easter Island by their bureau chief, MJ (Buscemi). Amongst the Island’s iconic statues, and as the longtime partners wrestle with their dark pasts and present conspiracies, Chris’s newfound bond with a pair of rebellious students (Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas) threatens to send everyone’s trip to this remote paradise sideways.
While the new Martin McDonagh film is set to screen at the Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival next month, “Wild Horse Nine” won’t be heading to theaters for regular moviegoers until November 6.
