![Martin McDonagh Reteams With 'In Bruges' Stars Colin Farrell & Brendan Gleeson For 'The Banshees of Inisheer' [Updated]``](https://cdn.theplaylist.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/14192822/Martin-McDonagh-Reteams-With-In-Bruges-Stars-Colin-Farrell-Brendan-Gleeson-For-The-Banshees-of-Inisheer-Updated-750x400.jpg)
Filmmaker Martin McDonagh isn’t the most prolific filmmaker around. He doesn’t pump out a new feature annually like some folks in the industry. But he is fairly disciplined. And by that, I mean, like clockwork, the writer-director releases a new feature film approximately every four years. If you’ve been keeping track, it’s been 3 years since “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” which means we’re about at that time when a new McDonagh feature begins ramping up.
According to Variety, that’s happening right now. The report claims that McDonagh has teamed up with Searchlight Pictures and Film4 on a new feature with the hope to begin production this year. If that is the timeline he sticks to, we’re looking at a 2021 release, which would mark four years since ‘Three Billboards’ and right on time.
Deadline reports that “The Banshees of Inisheer” will star Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, who worked with McDonagh on the Oscar-nominated film, “In Bruges.” The new film is said to follow the lives of two friends who live on a remote Irish isle. Their relationship is turned upside down when one of the friends abruptly ends their friendship after an impasse, which results in alarming circumstances for both. And if you’ve ever seen a film by McDonagh, you know the premise is just the teaser, as there is always much more going on than just the plot.
What’s interesting is that “The Banshees of Inisheer” is one of the rare old plays that he never staged. In a New Yorker profile from 2006, the playwright and filmmaker added to his lore by telling a story about how he quit his job at the Department of Trade and Industry in 1994. Nine months later, he produced drafts of seven plays which made up the body of plays that made him famous in the late ’90s and early aughts.
Only one of the plays had not been staged, ‘Inisheer,’ and at the time, McDonagh said, “isn’t any good.” Clearly, he’s changed his mind and or at least rewritten it enough that it’s passed his own snuff test.
As mentioned, the last feature that McDonagh released is ‘Three Billboards,’ which saw the filmmaker nominated for two Oscars including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. The film was nominated for six total Oscars, winning two for Best Supporting Actor (Sam Rockwell) and Best Actress (Frances McDormand). Previous to that feature, McDonagh released two other films, including “Seven Psychopaths” and “In Bruges.” The latter of which earned the writer-director another Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
No release date is set for “The Banshees of Inisheer,” but as we said, if filming begins this year, it’s likely that we’ll see McDonagh’s latest sometime in 2021.