On Tuesday 5 December we hosted an advance screening of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The film’s writer and director Martin McDonagh then joined us to discuss his writing process, his opinion on improvisation and told us why this story had to be a film.
Tonight we're hosting a very special screening of @3Billboards followed by a Q&A with director Martin McDonagh https://t.co/VMx7sNKW2s Not a member? Look out for our live-tweets later pic.twitter.com/C3GKtenm5B
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Our screening of @3Billboards is about to begin. Join us afterwards as we live-tweet our Q&A with director Martin McDonagh #DUKBillboards pic.twitter.com/DwDzvj2a4e
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
That was @3Billboards - what a great film. We’ll now be live-tweeting our Q&A with director Martin McDonagh #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
The session is being moderated by @yo_damo #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Martin McDonagh is an acclaimed director, screenwriter and playwright. His other feature film work includes In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths. He also wrote and directed the Oscar-winning short Six Shooter.
Damon Wise is a freelance film writer. His work has appeared in Empire, The Guardian, Variety, the Financial Times and Radio Times.
Damon begins by asking Martin where the idea begin - was it with the place or the story? #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Martin tells us that he was driving through America and saw some billboards with almost exactly the message that appears in the film #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
That started him thinking about the story behind them. What kind of rage drove those billboards? #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
When he started thinking about that the character of Mildred appeared almost fully formed #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
He’d also wanted to write a film around a strong female character, and so work started right after Seven Psychopaths was finished #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
The script took him just five weeks to write #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
He knew some of the story before he started but other parts appeared as he started writing. He didn’t know that one particularly shocking thing was going to happen until he was writing the scene before #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Martin wrote the part for Frances McDormand and says he wouldn’t have known what to have done if she’d said no #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Sam Rockwell’s character was also written for him #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Martin commented that he enjoys having a repertory of returning actors in his projects - Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson and Abbie Cornish all having appeared in Seven Psychopaths, with Željko Ivanek additionally appearing in In Bruges.
The film went into development before things like Ferguson and before Trump’s election brought our attention to the parts of America that have been left behind #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
So the fact that it went on to become so relevant was a coincidence #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Martin talks more about that accidental relevancy in this interview with IndieWire.
Damon asks whether the ambiguity about who’s in the right was intentional or not #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Martin: that was there from the beginning. I wanted to find something a bit more problematic and a bit more human in these characters #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
They had about a week and a half rehearsal time, so less than the three weeks he had for In Bruges #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Frances didn’t want to rehearse with Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell - she thought that would be detrimental to their characters’ relationships with one another #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Martin initially baulked at that but it really worked #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Damon: do you like improvisation? #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Martin: I hate it. I don’t mind if the tortoise does it, but not anyone else! #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Martin: I think of myself more as a writer than a director, so I do feel there should be that respect for the text #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Improvisation is often the easy way out #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
But then his favourite line in the film has an additional improvised word from Frances - “so maybe I do like improvisation!” #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Questions from the audience now #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
An audience member asks how he handled the shifts in tone #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Martin: I showed an initial cut to some friends and one of the things they said was to not be afraid to make it a tragedy #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
They were right and that gave me the license to take some comic scenes out #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
I’m really happy with the shifts in tone - I have a tendency to mix darkness with comedy and I feel that the balance is exactly right #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Martin tells us about a particular single shot scene and explains that it was always intended to be one shot #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
In fact they chose the location for the town partly so they could make that single shot scene work #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Martin tells us that this story was always going to be a film; it couldn’t have been a play #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
The location is so important to the story that it needs to be set and filmed in that part of America #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
You couldn’t create that feel on stage #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Martin tells us that he hopes redemption exists, and in some ways that hope is what the film’s about #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
But the film doesn’t necessarily see anyone get that redemption - it’s trickier than that #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Question: why dwarves?! #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
The audience member was referring to the fact that characters with dwarfism appear prominently in both In Bruges and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Martin: I try to start off thinking why couldn’t any character be anything? It’s too easy to write people like yourself, and we all need to do better at that #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
But then when you do write a character who’s a dwarf (Peter Dinklage’s James) then you do have to think how they’d be treated in small town America #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Damon: what’s next? #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Martin tells us that his next project is a play. There will be a film after that, but probably not for another 5 years or so - “I’m like a mini-Terence Malick” #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
A huge thank you to Martin McDonagh for joining us and for that fantastic film #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
And thank you to @yo_damo for moderating #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
Make sure you go and see @3Billboards when it’s released in cinemas early next year #DUKBillboards
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) December 5, 2017
@3Billboards Darkly funny with dialogue to die for - great film & Q&A, thank u @Directors_UK @yo_damo #MartinMcDonaugh pic.twitter.com/jbMHk2HFD7
— Robert Hackett (@RobertHackett1) December 6, 2017
Excellent Q&A w Martin McDonagh yesterday led by @yo_damo thanks for organising the screening and @Directors_UK ! #knowledge pic.twitter.com/LGKCVUtSw3
— Alexander Mercury (@mercuryalex) December 6, 2017
See some of our photos from the evening:
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