'The Banshees Of Inisherin': Martin McDonagh reveals Father Ted link

Oscar-winning writer/director Martin McDonagh has revealed a surprise link between his latest film and a top 90s comedy show. Already in the spotlight for re-uniting actors Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson 14 years after their darkly funny In Bruges double act, The Banshees Of Inisherin is set on a remote island off the coast of Ireland. There’s an immediate echo of legendary comedy, Father Ted, but speaking exclusively to Yahoo, McDonagh admitted there was another, closer connection.

The Banshees Of Inisherin is released in UK cinemas on Friday, 21 October.

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FREDA COOPER: Talking about the comedy, I mean, there's plenty of it. But it's quite dark. It's quite bleak, almost savage at times.

MARTIN MCDONAGH: [LAUGHS]

FREDA COOPER: And yet of course, particularly looking at the poster, there is another comedy, Irish comedy set on an island, which of course is "Father Ted." And I wondered if there were any times when you felt perhaps that the clerics from Craggy Island might be looking over your shoulder and trying to sort of nudge you into doing something a bit more like their style.

MARTIN MCDONAGH: I loved "Father Ted," especially in the early series.

FREDA COOPER: Oh, me too.

MARTIN MCDONAGH: And there were like a couple of the guys who are in the pub, Pat Shortt and Jon Kenny, were, I think, in the first season of "Father Ted."

FREDA COOPER: Oh, really?

MARTIN MCDONAGH: So maybe that helped with that aspect of it.

FREDA COOPER: Maybe that's what creates the atmosphere.

MARTIN MCDONAGH: Yeah.

FREDA COOPER: As well as the actors, the human actors, you do have quite a sizeable cast of animals.

MARTIN MCDONAGH: Yeah.

FREDA COOPER: But I wondered what it was like managing that sort of four-legged cast, apart from the donkey with the goats and the dogs and everything else.

MARTIN MCDONAGH: Yeah. And the pony was amazing. Minnie, real name Minnie, didn't have a name in the film. But Minnie was fantastic. And her part got larger and larger as the film went on, weirdly.

But they-- I think you kind of see the film, weirdly, through the animal's innocent eyes in some ways. They're watching this war basically take place. And just having that innocence observe it was-- it's the reason why they're there, I think, not just because they're cute.

FREDA COOPER: What did Colin really do to the donkey that ended up with him getting kicked?

MARTIN MCDONAGH: It completely wasn't Colin's fault.

FREDA COOPER: [LAUGHS]

MARTIN MCDONAGH: He literally just walked behind it and that's all that happened.

FREDA COOPER: At the wrong time.

MARTIN MCDONAGH: Yeah, the wrong time. And Jenny is like, no.

FREDA COOPER: Reacted. Not having that.

MARTIN MCDONAGH: Don't like your work in "S.W.A.T." You're going to get it.

FREDA COOPER: [LAUGHS]