McDonagh’s Venice Film follows CIA operative confronting his past

Director Martin McDonagh said his dark comedy "Wild Horse Nine", which premieres at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday and centres on two CIA operatives before Chile's 1973 coup, feels unexpectedly relevant in today's turbulent world.

The British-Irish filmmaker is known for crafting original stories that pair razor-sharp dialogue with bleak subject matter, including "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" and "The Banshees of Inisherin", which opened at Venice in 2022.

McDonagh told Reuters he had not been thinking about current events when he wrote his latest script, but now saw striking parallels between its themes and the present day.

"It's almost the perfect time for a film like this to come out, because it points out that these things have been happening via the CIA or the nastier American governments for quite a while," he said.

GUILT AND REGRET

The 1973 Chilean coup followed covert U.S. efforts to undermine President Salvador Allende. Questions about U.S. interventionism have resurfaced this year, with Washington triggering political change in Venezuela and launching a war against Iran that killed some of the country's leadership.

Set largely on Easter Island, the film stars John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as ageing CIA operatives grappling with the consequences of their blood-spattered actions across an array of nations, including the United States.

"The film explores guilt and regret," said McDonagh. "I'd always had an interest in American involvement, covert involvement, in places around the world and it's not really talked about a lot."

The ensemble cast also includes Steve Buscemi, Parker Posey and Chilean actress Mariana Di Girolamo, who said the story resonated deeply in her home country more than five decades after the coup.

"I think that it's important to keep talking about that in order to not forget. For us Chileans, I think that it's an open wound still, for us, it's something you grew up with. And it's good to keep talking about that," she told Reuters.

Despite its political backdrop, "Wild Horse Nine" is also a character study laced with McDonagh's trademark dark humour, with cast members praising the precision of the screenplay.

"He's a wonderful wordsmith. It's very carefully written, very carefully and beautifully laid out," Malkovich said.

"Wild Horse Nine" is one of 21 films vying for the prestigious Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival, which runs from September 2-12.

-Writing by Crispian Balmer;Editing by Alison Williams/Reuters