Martin McDonagh
Martin McDonagh
Martin McDonaghis a playwright, screenwriter and film director, born and brought up in London with both British and Irish citizenship. He has been described as one of the most important living Irish playwrights...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPlaywright
Date of Birth26 March 1970
almost amount cast cut finished playwright rehearsals
With a stage play, they can't cut a word; you can be in rehearsals every day, you cast it, you cast the director, too; the amount of control for a playwright is almost infinite, so you have that control over the finished product.
fell felt
I fell into the theatre because I felt I was doing it well, and I stuck to it for the same reason.
front
I can't stand up in front of people. It just fills me with horror.
block thinking sitting-down
I don't even subscribe to writer's block being a truthful thing. I've had writer's laziness quite often. But I think it's all about sitting down and facing down the blank page and doing it, and I've always been ok at that.
black balance comedy
All my work shares a kind of balance between black comedy and sad and despairing melancholy.
art real lying
There have to be moments when you glimpse something decent, something life-affirming even in the most twisted character. That's where the real art lies. See, I always suspect characters who are painted as lovely, decent human beings. I would always question where the darkness lies.
behinds
It isn't about being or not being dead, it's about what you leave behind
country sorry tonight
I'd just like to thank everybody who was involved in the film, especially Brendan Gleeson and Ruaidhri Conroy. And Ruaidhri, I'm sorry that you couldn't be here tonight, but I hope next time they let you into the country.
thinking people looks
Dublin people think they are the center of the world and the center of Ireland. And they don't realize that people have to leave Ireland to get work, and they look down on people who do.
writing stuff scripts
I won't work on anyone's else's script. I won't write for anyone else. I write my own stuff and make that when the time is right.
people broadway facts
The fact that ticket prices are way too expensive, and there's only one bunch of people going to see Broadway shows, is something I've never liked.
fun real dirty
My plays are always pushing towards cinema anyway. They're down and dirty, real and more fun.
years ideas two
It's like two years straight out of your life doing a film. It's very enjoyable, especially working with the guys, but I kind of like the idea of traveling and growing, and developing as a writer and as a filmmaker.
way feels being-irish
I don't feel I have to defend myself for being English or for being Irish, because, in a way, I don't feel either. And, in another way, of course, I'm both.