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
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.
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.
queens thinking people
I think as a writer you never have to flee from fame because you're not that visible in the first place, but, after the Broadway success of 'Beauty Queen,' people were coming up to me all the time, and I wasn't really prepared for that level of attention.
writing thinking games
I think if you're writing a play, it should be its own end game; you'll never get to do a good one unless you know it's not a blueprint for a film; you're not going to get the action right and the story right.
thinking stories world
It's the way that I think about the world, and the way that I like to tell stories - I don't think you should get too heavy. There's enough out there, in the world, with violence. I think that comedy lightens the heaviness [of the world].
fell felt
I fell into the theatre because I felt I was doing it well, and I stuck to it for the same reason.
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.
front
I can't stand up in front of people. It just fills me with horror.
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.
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.