Theres connective tissue between that performance and the profane, provocative new comedyThree Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
The film premieres Sept. 4 in competition at the Venice Film Festival and opens in theaters on Nov. 10.
The movie marks the third directorial effort by famed Anglo-Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, afterIn BrugesandSeven Psychopaths.
Courtesy of TIFF
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Your new movie has an amazing trailer.FRANCES McDORMAND:Yes, yes.
They call it red.
We can definitely tell that youre playing another quite unapologetic character.Let me tell you something.
Merrick Morton/Fox Searchlight
I got a real taste for it afterOlive Kitteridge.
And also from playing Lady Macbeth onstage in the past year [at Berkeley Repertory Theatre].
Thats a motto for me.
Ah, that definitely seems to click with your choices.Yes, but withcorrectactions being the operative word.
And also, you know, its perfect for me to do about one or two projects a year.
Im not really that interested in going back to playing small supporting roles.
Unless it a fing good one and filming on a great location.
So you’re able to just publish that, because Id like people to know.
Absolutely, will do.If you wouldnt mind.
Director Martin McDonagh wrote Mildred especially for you?He wrote it for me, yep.
I met him about 15 years ago, when I saw his playThe Pillowmanon Broadway.
I said, Hey, maybe you should write me a part.
So its slightly despicable.
But I also felt that, at 59, I was too old for the part.
We argued for three months.
I told him, Well, isnt that idiotic?
And once I did, we never talked about it again.
I just wasnt interested in making people believe Im any younger than I am.
Did you sense that there was political resonance in the film while you were filming it?
Privately, I have my own politics about that.
But that did not enter into my professional life.
Maybe those conversations are going to happen aroundThree Billboards.
But Martin wrote it three years ago.
Thats not what explicitly he intended.
Is he a polemicist?No, hes not.
Hes an anarchist and I think he believes in anarchy.
But I dont think thats what hes promoting.
I dont think hesthatirresponsible.
Not unlike Joel and Ethan, in that their scripts are fully formed.
They dont need actors improvisation.
Or blueprints for some visual idea.
Do you think McDonagh was drawn to you because of your affinity for the stage?Possibly.
The crew onThree Bilboards, by the way, is one of the best Ive ever worked with.
And thats not hyperbole.
Ill totally tell you if I dont like a crew.
I believe you.Also, onThree Billboards, there were also some personal bests going on.
For instance, I think its the best thing that Sam Rockwell has ever done on film.
Extraordinary work by Ben Davis, the cinematographer.
What can I say?
What kind of props?Well, the Molotov cocktail, for example.
We were blowing up real Molotov cocktails.
And theres a beetle in the beginning of the film, who unfortunately had a broken leg.
I had to flip it over and thats not easy to do because it clings to your fingers.
So we worked it out and did not waste valuable time.
Tell me about the dialogue in the film.
It really pops and its so alive.Profanity helps with that.
But well-chosen, rhythmic profanity.
Its kind of like theYa, ya, ya scene inFargo.
Every one of the yas were scripted.
Its like a musical score.
Thats why I mean its more theatrical.
But its magical realism.
Did you disagree about some of the dialogue?Sure, wed often debate lines and profanity.
Yes, almost every single day.
I would say, I dont think this sounds like a person speaking.
Or I want to flip these two sentences.
Or I want to take out this verb.
Martin was open to the conversation, usually.
Then some of the time he saw the benefits of trying it my way.
So, you know, there you go.
Whats your favorite curse word?Hmm, well.
I swear a lot, I always have.
So does my husband.
Our son, surprisingly, does not swear much at all.
I say Jesus tits a lot.
Ive never heard that one.Yeah, I like it.
Its also a rhythmic thing.
Rhythmis important in profanity, right?Yeah, yeah.
If you take, for example, that bit at the end of the red band trailer.
Im driving by and yelling out the window of the car at the reporter.
Thats a perfect example of how Martin uses profanity.
Its a beautiful sequence of words strung together and it was really timed to the second.
I was driving and I was talking and synching it up with the camera.
The words help me with the beats of the physical action.
That was really fun.
