I’ve got some good news, and I’ve got bad news. The good news is that Martin McDonagh, the genius Irish filmmaker and playwright behind Three Billboards Outside Billings, Missouri has released a new film. The bad news is… I’ll get to that at the end of the story, because it’s genuinely upsetting.
Early and bold prediction, Wild Horse Nine is going to be the best film released in 2026.
You can watch the trailer here:
Like Wild Horse Nine, McDonagh wrote and directed Three Billboards Outside Billings, Missouri, which received seven Academy Award nominations in 2018, and won two of those (along with four Golden Globes, five BAFTAs, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards). The production companies that backed Three Billboards – Film4 and Blueprint Pictures – are also behind Wild Horse Nine.
But it’s the cast that is going to set the film apart from the rest – Wild Horse Nine stars Sam Rockwell and John Malovich, along with Steve Buscemi and Parker Posey. Singer-songwriter Tom Waits makes a surprise appearance.
The plot is delicious. From IMDB:
“Shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup, CIA agents Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell) are dispatched from Santiago to Easter island by their bureau chief, MJ (Steve Buscemi). Amongst the Island’s iconic statues, and as the longtime partners wrestle with their dark pasts and present conspiracies, Chris’s newfound bond with a pair of rebellious students (Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas) threatens to send everyone’s trip to this remote paradise sideways.”
It’s pure guesswork to know this far out if Wild Horse Nine will do as well – black comedies are less successful in awards season than dramas. Parasite, the 2020 Oscar winner and the first international film to ever win Best Picture, is also a dark comedy/thriller, so who knows.
Either way, the bad news is, it’s going to be a long wait for Wild Horse Nine – even though the trailer is out and generating a lot of buzz, the bastard’s behind this film are making us all wait until November for its theatrical release.
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