Brendan Gleeson’s Halle Berry moment

McDonagh was in comically irreverent form last night during a Soho Hotel screening of his film The Guard.

And well he might be. The Guard has already gone down a storm in Ireland (for distributor Element), where it currently stands as the second biggest Irish independent film ever at the local box office.

“We’re chasing Ken Loach’s film The Wind That Shakes The Barley in Ireland. But as I’ve been saying, Ken has had about 30 goes at it and I’ve only had one,” joked McDonagh.

However, despite the tumbling records he was most proud to point out that the film has just surpassed his brother Martin’s film In Bruges. Of Martin’s exec producer credit, the director prompted more laughter by adding: “Yes, that just means he gave Brendan [Gleeson] the script to read.”

In my favourite part of the Q&A, McDonagh joked that lead Brendan Gleeson calls a scene in which he emerges from the freezing Irish sea [pictured below] in a comically skin-tight wet suit his Halle Berry moment, and that that he initially shot the scene as a homage to an extendend take in Lawrence Of Arabia when Omar Sharif’s character approaches the camera through the desert. “That’s where my head was in the early edit,” he said with a wry smile.

In reference to his director’s statement in the production notes, McDonagh commented in typically deadpan tone: “I am [lead character] Gerry Boyle. I was at a low ebb in the British film industry: I was filled with bitterness, contempt and rage and I think I poured all those emotions into the character of Boyle.”

“I really didn’t want my film to go down as a little gem,” he contined. “I hate those movies. I avoid them like the plague. I wanted to get away from that British miserabilist tradition of working-class people frying bacon in kitchens and shouting at each other.”

With the film still raking in good number in Ireland, posting a strong opening in the US, and hitting UK screens this weekend, The Guard should resist the little gem epithet, tempting as it may be.

Other nuggets from McDonagh included: “I hate establishing shots”, “I try and ignore actor’s notes”, “I don’t like doing research, there’s no point” and “production notes are so pretentious, especially director’s statements.”

McDonagh also discussed two scripts he has written, Irish project Calvary, which has Brendan Gleeson attached, and US project War On Everyone:

“I’ve written two scripts. I’m trying to be pragmatic about it, trying to write things that are under $15m, and that hopefully I’ll be allowed to direct. A film called Calvary with Brendan Gleeson attached about a good priest who is tormented by the people in his community. I thought it would be interesting to write about a good man. I think everyone thinks about bad priests, so I tried to write the opposite. I go to see the latest US comedy and then write the opposite because US comedies aren’t funny. People should ask for their money back. I’ve also got a film called War On Everyone about two cops in Alabama, it’s kind of like The French Connection crossed with Helzapoppin. Hopefully one of those will go next summer.”

The hilarious juxtaposition of The French Connection and Helzapoppin is not a million miles off The Guard’s winning formula. McDonagh was keen to distance himself from a sequel, however: “I’d rather do a prequel about how those villains met. Maybe I’d call it Gangsters On A Rollercoaster.”