Fresh off of his big win at Sunday night’s Golden Globes, filmmaker Martin McDonagh has called out what he says is today’s current crop of “bland” politically correct movies.
In an interview with Yahoo News, the Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri writer-director said the key to making films with good re-watchability value is in locating and understanding what is considered the acceptable limit for offensiveness, and then deliberately violating it.
“It’s knowing where the line is and just going over it,” McDonagh told Yahoo Movies UK. “I don’t want to take the pee out of anyone really, but I think everything is up for grabs and if you’re an equal opportunities offender like I am, there’s a joy to it. Also it’s the way people speak when they’re not being the best people that they might hope to be.”
Though McDonagh didn’t mention any specific films in the interview, he said there is “something kind of exciting when people are free to speak as they really do in the real world” in films.
“I think there’s a bit too much bland PC filmmaking going on and you never really want to watch those films twice, so I prefer this kind,” he added.
McDonagh — who also wrote and directed the 2008 Colin Farrell-starring hitman caper In Bruges and 2012’s Seven Psychopaths — earned his first Golden Globe Sunday night when he took home Best Screenplay honors for Three Billboards. The filmmaker previously won an Oscar for Best Short Film in 2006 for the film Six Shooter.
Three Billboards — starring Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, and Sam Rockwell — picked up three additional awards Sunday night, including acting prizes for McDormand and Rockwell and the event’s biggest prize, Best Motion Picture – Drama.
The film is slated for wide release on January 12.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum