Montreal Gazette Interview / 21.01.08
Source: Montreal Gazette
In Bruges explores the good, the bad and the Irish
Sundance's opening film shines a light on capacity for evil while breaking taboos
There's a great deal of meaning to be found in playing the "bad guy," according to Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, the criminal duo at the heart of Martin McDonagh's In Bruges, which opened this year's Sundance Film Festival on Thursday.
It goes beyond the cautionary tale, say the two Irishmen. "It's about holding up the mirror to society and seeing ourselves for what we really are," says Farrell, sitting on a tired-looking couch bookended by publicity posters for the dark thriller.
"We have such a great potential for both good and evil, and I think if you can open up a character so that people can see into the heart of what we are, and what we could be, I think there's a great social value to that."
Gleeson agrees. "As an actor, I think our job is to go out there and articulate elements of the human condition. I think of myself as a creative artist, and part of our (mission) is to be a catalyst. It doesn't mean you have to be a grim-head about it. You can be light, too. But the idea is to show people the different sides ... and I think the beauty of what Martin created in this film is the way he created characters who possess these two opposing forces."
A story of two hitmen who end up in a quaint Belgian town called Bruges after a botched murder, the somewhat controversial thriller goes beyond established genre boundaries.
In addition to the requisite violence associated with the form, McDonagh pushes certain unspoken film taboos, such as striking a woman and killing children, and includes a tainted view of the church, including the murder of a priest.
McDonagh said that as an Irishman and a lapsed Catholic, God still exists in the frame, but there's a different dimension to the movie's moral questions.
"There was a whole back story that we took out about the priest to justify the murder," he says. "I think I'm just one of those people who believes if you join the club that did horrendous things over the course of history, you're belonging to the wrong club. And the Catholic Church certainly hasn't been any stranger to scandals over the years," McDonagh says.
"I don't know if people can be redeemed after the terrible things they do, but I enjoyed asking the question."
For Farrell and Gleeson, who have both played heavies before, the chance to really play with the moral palette of what could be considered stock characters was one of the big reasons they fell in love with the project.
"There was a whole symphonic element to the way the characters were created. There's so much going on, and as an actor, that's what you look for. ... And because it's in the background, you can play with that elephant in the living room," Farrell says.
Finding a sense of play in the work is important, but despite his many years in the business since he first appeared on the Hollywood radar with the suspense film Phone Booth, Farrell says he still gets nervous.
"There's still angst. I'm nervous all the time. I can remember when I first started, and was green as the grass, I asked one of the veterans if he ever got nervous and he said, 'The day you're not nervous is the day you have to give it up.' "
The idea is to surrender to instinct, even if it's scary, say the dynamic screen duo, who manage to conjure an incredible amount of intimacy over the course of the drama.
Part of the chemistry is the simple fact that three of the key talents - Farrell, Gleeson and McDonagh - are all Irish.
"We definitely found a shorthand together," Gleeson says. "That had to do with being from the same place ... but the three weeks of rehearsal didn't hurt either."
Though the characters were originally created as two cockneys, McDonagh changed the script to remove any dialectal barriers that may have arisen and to make his two leads more comfortable - and to a certain degree, more "equal," since an Irish accent, unlike a cockney, reveals no class differences.
"There's a sort of genetic placement to it," says Farrell, referring to the Irish condition they all share. "And something I don't know if I would have understood if I weren't Irish."
Whether it's a function of latent Catholic guilt, or simply a matter of the journey they all took together, all three talents say the idea that all actions have consequences was something they were innately drawn to - not just as actors, but as human beings.
"I think we all have to remember that we do affect each other in a very real way, all the time. This movie takes the idea of consequence to an extreme, but that's how drama functions. It makes issues so big, you can't dismiss them, and right now ... I think action and consequence is (a theme) that really resonates."
In Bruges is scheduled to open in Montreal on Feb. 8.
