“Sit somewhere else,” Colm, played by Brendan Gleeson, tells his longtime friend Padraic, Colin Farrell, as Padraic tries to sit beside Colm at the local pub. When Padraic asks if he’s done something wrong, Colm explains, “I just don’t like ye no more.” And so things begin to break down in The Banshees of Inisherin, the latest film from Martin McDonagh, which reunites the stars of his 2008 film In Bruges.
“It’s the story of an island and the people on that island and two friends who are no longer friends and how those consequences reach out into the community,” says Farrell in a new behind-the-scenes featurette for the film that you can watch here or above. In the video, Farrell and Gleeson discuss each other’s acting styles and strengths, and the complexities that each bring to a simple but emotionally brutal setup.
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“I just think his instincts and his integrity are brilliant,” Gleeson says of Farrell. Adds Farrell of Gleeson: “The pendulum swings wide with Brendan, from the tenderness that he’s capable of to the God-like wrath, as well, that he can exude if need be.”
When we meet Padraic, McDonagh explains, he’s a “sweet, mild-mannered, happy-go-lucky — a lot like the real Colin Farrell.” That makes him a perfect pairing with the intellectual and sophisticated Colm, says Gleeson: “For the darkness of one, the sunny disposition of the other compensates.”
Do you like these kinds of seemingly poetic and meandering but actually straight-to-the point Irishisms? If so you’ll love The Banshees of Inisherin, the fourth feature from Marin McDonagh and his first since Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which earned Frances McDormand her second best actress Oscar and was also nominated for both best picture and best original screenplay.
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Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in The Banshees of Inisherin, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures.
McDonagh’s plays include The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Cripple of Inishmaan and The Pillowman, and he broke into the film with Six Shooter, the 2006 Oscar winner for best live-action short film. In Bruges was next, earning him an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay. His second feature, Seven Psychopaths, also starred Farrell, as well as Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell, who returned for McDonagh’s third feature, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which earned Frances McDormand her second best actress Oscar and was also nominated for both best picture and best original screenplay.
Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan, who help round out the Banshees of Inisherin cast, also appear in the video, weighing in on how Farrell helped build Padraic from McDonagh’s script. We also get to see Keoghan’s pretty fantastic jacket and also hear, because it all takes place in Ireland, the word “feck.”
Main image: Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin. Photo by Jonathan Hession, courtesy of Searchlight Pictures.
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