Two of Ireland's leading actors, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, are to work together for the first time when they co-star in In Bruges, the first feature film written and directed by award-winning playwright Martin McDonagh.
The Irish actors will play a pair of professional killers hiding out in Belgium after a difficult assignment in London. They become entangled with locals, tourists and a production company making a film in the city.
Due to begin shooting in Bruges next month, McDonagh's darkly comic film will be produced by US company Focus Features, which is financing the project with Film 4, the film production division of Channel 4.
Focus Features chief executive James Schamus said yesterday: "Martin has written a screenplay that is both killingly funny and dramatically affecting, and this fine troupe of actors will interact marvellously under his direction." The cast also features Oscar-nominated English actor Ralph Fiennes, who played the title role in Brian Friel's Faith Healer at the Gate Theatre in Dublin and on Broadway last year.
The son of Galway parents, McDonagh (37) was born and raised in London, but Irish themes have featured in his work. He first received acclaim when The Beauty Queen of Leenane was staged in London 10 years ago, marking the beginning of a trilogy that continued with A Skull in Connemara and The Lonesome West. His play The Pillowman received rave reviews on Broadway last year. McDonagh won the Oscar for Best Short Film at the Academy Awards ceremony in March last year for his first film, Six Shooter, a half-hour drama following a grieving widower (Brendan Gleeson) and a younger passenger (Ruaidhrí Conroy) on a train.
Gleeson and Fiennes recently completed working on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Colin Farrell has completed two films for release this year, co-starring with Edward Norton in Gavin O'Connor's New York police thriller Pride and Glory, and with Ewan McGregor as brothers in the next Woody Allen film, Cassandra's Dream.