seven psychopaths prodnotes
TRANSCRIPT
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One Shih Tzu, Seven Psychopaths
From Oscar winning Writer and Director Martin McDonagh comes a star studded, blood-
drenched, black comedy.
Marty (Colin Farrell) is a struggling writer who dreams of finishing his screenplay, Seven
Psychopaths. Billy (Sam Rockwell) is Marty's best friend, an unemployed actor and part time dog
thief, who wants to help Marty by any means necessary. Hans (Christopher Walken) is Billy's
partner in crime. A religious man with a violent past. Charlie (Woody Harrelson) is the
psychopathic gangster whose beloved dog, Billy and Hans have just stolen. Charlie's
unpredictable, extremely violent and wouldn't think twice about killing anyone and anything
associated with the theft.
Marty is going to get all the focus and inspiration he needs, but will he be able to survive long
enough to complete the greatest work of his career?
CBS Films, Film4 and BFI present Seven Psychopaths, a Blueprint Pictures
production of a Martin McDonagh film. Written and directed by Academy Award® winner
Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Six Shooter), the comedy stars Colin Farrell (In Bruges, Crazy Heart),
Sam Rockwell (Iron Man 2, Frost/Nixon), Academy Award® nominee Woody Harrelson (The
Messenger, Rampart), Academy Award® winner Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter, Catch Me
If You Can), and Tom Waits (The Book of Eli, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus), Olga Kurylenko
(Quantum of Solace, To The Wonder), Abbie Cornish (Limitless, Sucker Punch), Academy Award®
nominee Gabourey Sidibe (Precious, The Big C) and Emmy Award® winner Željko Ivanek (The
Words, Damages). Produced by Graham Broadbent (In Bruges, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel),
Pete Czernin (In Bruges, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) and Martin McDonagh, the film is
executive produced by Tessa Ross (In Bruges, The Iron Lady). Director of Photography is Ben
Davis (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Debt), Production Designer is David Wasco (Inglourious
Basterds, The Royal Tenenbaums) and the Editor is Lisa Gunning (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Love
You More). Costume Designer is Karen Patch (What to Expect When You're Expecting, The Royal
Tenenbaums) and the Composer is Golden Globe nominee Carter Burwell (In Bruges, Where the
Wild Things Are).
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ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
It’s got layers.
The idea kicked in about six or seven years ago. “I had one of the stories of one of the
psychopaths,” recalls Academy Award® winning Writer/Director Martin McDonagh (In Bruges,
Six Shooter). “Another couple of stories soon followed and it just kind of snowballed from there.
As it developed, I kept thinking about someone who would write this type of story. Also, about
what makes a good movie and the tug-of-war between wanting to do something spiritual but
also something dark and deranged.”
Caught in the crosshairs of the perfect POV were McDonagh’s cinematic influences –
Directors Terrence Malick (Badlands, Days of Heaven) and Sam Peckinpah (The Wild Bunch, Pat
Garrett & Billy the Kid). “During production I was constantly evaluating how these opposing
viewpoints and extremes had to coexist in order for this film to work.”
McDonagh actually wrote Seven Psychopaths at the same time as his directorial
debut In Bruges, which he also wrote. For that film, his first collaboration with Colin Farrell,
McDonagh won a BAFTA Award and received an Academy Award® nomination for Best
Original Screenplay. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008 and followed Six
Shooter, his first foray into film, which brought him an Oscar® for Best Live Action Short Film.
An accomplished Irish playwright, McDonagh has also received two Laurence Olivier Awards
and four Tony Award nominations for his plays The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Lonesome West,
The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The Pillowman. He first teamed with Sam Rockwell and
Christopher Walken on his 2010 play A Behanding in Spokane. It was his first play set in America.
Despite his acclaimed career, McDonagh was unsure about tackling the complex and
multi-layered Seven Psychopaths as his first turn behind the camera. “It was too big to get
my head around cinematically before I dipped my toe in the water. As a first-time director, I
decided to start with something that was more about things I knew. In Bruges was in some ways
a character and relationship study, all set in one place. I felt I knew that territory from my work
in theater. Seven Psychopaths was like a puzzle, like a gigantic cinematic jigsaw. I don’t
think I could ever have done this film without having done Bruges first.”
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Producer Graham Broadbent (In Bruges, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) agrees that In
Bruges gave McDonagh the confidence he needed to bring Seven Psychopaths to the big
screen. That said, he remembers the moment McDonagh approached him with the Seven
Psychopaths script. “It was a great read, a wonderful piece of writing – original and
extraordinary. It had a rich mix of humor, humanity and danger.”
Broadbent continues, “Martin makes the reader walk a tightrope. I think that’s the smart
element in this script – it constantly subverts where you think it’s going to go. Martin will play a
different card just when you think you know where it’s going.”
As for the juxtaposition of humor with darker elements, McDonagh is no stranger to
meshing the two. “My humor is leavened with a little bit of darkness but the trick is to never let
the darkness weigh the humor down,” he notes. “And I try to put a lot of humanity in my
scripts. I think this one has a good amount of tenderness and is a big human story at its
heart…it’s really about friendship.”
McDonagh finds the process of bringing the written word to life while defining the tone
with the actors exhilarating, acknowledging that the most challenging scenes are those solely
“based on dialogue and performance.” Observes McDonagh, “That is when I enjoy my job the
most.”
With seven distinct performances on the agenda, the challenge here would be to have a
firm grip on what exactly defines a psychopath…a challenge indeed given, as McDonagh explains,
“some of the characters have elements of the psychopathic to them, but at the same time they
don’t. I guess psychopathy is in the eye of the beholder in some ways. It’s a fun puzzle to play
with, who is and who isn’t a psychopath in this movie.”
The comedy’s protagonist just happens to be a screenwriter named Martin who is
struggling with contradictory perspectives. Autobiographical? “Let’s just say I throw a good deal
of my truth into the mix along with things that are 100 percent false.”
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No.1 The Seemingly Normal One.
MARTY
And what do you think we should do in real life?!
Colin Farrell (MARTY) reads a lot of scripts. “Every now and then, writing jumps off the
page. This one does that. It slaps you in the face, gives you a kick in the arse, and takes you on a
wonderful ride. So, yeah, I was delighted to be working with Martin again.”
“He has a particular way of stringing words together that has an insane effect on the
imagination,” notes Farrell (Crazy Heart). “There’s an emotional core to everything he writes –
the humor, the chaos, the violence, the quick wittedness of dialogue. The scenes, the scenarios,
and the characters are so operatic. But I find beneath it all there’s an element of truth
concealed. The characters are inspired by a truth – love of a pet, need to help a friend, the wish
that a lover was closer, ambition. There are some voices in cinema that write very nuanced,
really specific, incredibly character-driven material. If you close your eyes and just listen to the
dialogue, you know it’s Martin.”
For an actor the challenge, he says, is finding the tricky balance between humor and
drama. “If you play up for laughs it’ll fall flat on its face. All comedy grows from the fertile
ground of truth. Martin’s stuff is so heightened…if you come up to match how heightened it is,
well, it can really become over the top so sometimes you have to underplay it.”
When McDonagh broached Farrell about the role, he asked him to keep his Irish accent.
“I thought there’s no reason why a screenwriter based in Hollywood couldn’t be Irish,” remarks
McDonagh. “And it was a no brainer to have Colin in the lead – he’s fantastic.”
Farrell is into mining backstory. “I think it’s important to understand where Marty is
coming from,” says Farrell. “He’s fallen in love with this title but he hasn’t come up with any
psychopaths. Marty is renowned for writing good dialogue and violent scenarios but he’s trying
to take that violence and somehow render a story that is in essence about peace and love.”
“(Marty’s friend) Billy thinks Marty is not living up to his creative potential and will go to
any lengths to make sure he succeeds,” says Farrell. “He thinks Marty is one of the best writers
of his generation. But Billy wants to be a part of the writing process as well, which is kind of a
problem. The means by which he goes about trying to help him is just a little bit extreme.”
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When Farrell first read the script, he was drawn to the role of Billy played by Sam
Rockwell. “He’s got some killer lines. Familiarity had me lean in that direction `cause he’s more
like Ray, the character I played in In Bruges. Marty is more the observer, the only one that’s sane
really. Billy is out to lunch; the rest are kind of nuts too. They’re all mad!”
No.2 His Best Friend.
BILLY
This dog is my Patty Hearst.
“Billy’s loyalty to Marty is undying, maybe to the point of being a little unhealthy,” says
Sam Rockwell (BILLY). “Marty is Billy’s best friend and Billy is trying to help him write his
screenplay. He gets a little carried away in the process. Their friendship is like Chazz Palminteri
and Sean Penn in Hurlyburly or Harvey Keitel and Robert DeNiro in Mean Streets. It’s an odd co-
dependency balanced with a lot of love and forgiveness, and don’t forget anger too.”
As McDonagh and Rockwell (Iron Man 2, Frost/Nixon) were fleshing out Billy’s
complexities, they weighed in on cinematic prototypes. “There’s a Travis Bickle reference (De
Niro’s character in Taxi Driver) and a Johnny Boy in Mean Streets (personae). Martin is very
specific about what he’s looking for. He knows exactly what he wants, a very particular aesthetic
about what’s going on with the character emotionally. We talked about playing it straight, not
playing the comedy, instead playing the stakes. The comedy would come out of the absurdity,
the casualness toward the high stakes involved that to a normal person like Marty would be
extraordinary, but to Billy, uh, maybe not.”
McDonagh and Rockwell teamed the first time on stage in the Writer/Director’s
Broadway play A Behanding in Spokane, which also starred Christopher Walken. McDonagh has
been a fan of Rockwell’s work since he saw his performance in the 1998 black comedy Jerry and
Tom. Rockwell played Jerry, a novice assassin. “One of Sam’s strengths is that he is both a great
comedian and dramatist,” says McDonagh. “I needed both for this role. Billy is a real mess, but
in a disturbingly likeable way.”
“Everything I’ve seen him in, he’s been amazing,” compliments the director.
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Farrell says Rockwell’s “crazy imagination” meshed perfectly with the requirements of
the role.
“I am going to be honest…I have psychopathic moments every day,” quips Rockwell.
“We all have the potential to be psychos. We just make choices not to act on it.”
“I’d do every film with Sam from now on,” exclaims Farrell. “He’s funny, generous and
really talented. He’s always digging.” The camaraderie and admiration for each other was
infectious. Rockwell was not only thrilled to collaborate with Farrell but also with Walken once
again, and for the first time Woody Harrelson. “Working with those guys was a lot of fun,” says
Rockwell.
One supporting character with whom Rockwell spends a lot of screen time is Bonny.
“Bonny is a dog Billy steals and holds hostage,” explains Rockwell. “The dog just happens to
belong to gangster Charlie Castillo. From there, things go uphill (not downhill)” from Billy’s
perspective.
No.3 The One with Issues.
CHARLIE
I’ve got to pull myself together. My dog is going to end up killed!
When Billy steals Bonny, “the stakes couldn’t be higher,” says Woody Harrelson. “This
is CHARLIE’s beloved little Shih Tzu. When Bonny is stolen it’s the inciting incident in the
movie. Charlie and his henchmen will do whatever is necessary to get Bonny back.”
What makes Charlie a psychopath, Harrelson says, “is a sense of violence that is always
rumbling underneath and is easily exposed. Charlie feels like he’s the smartest person in the
room, smarter than anyone else. He doesn’t tolerate people well.”
Charlie has many issues in the film. Another issue involves his weapon of choice.
“Charlie loves the handle on his gun,” notes Harrelson. “It’s blue, a special handle with some
skulls on it. Even though it tends to malfunction, he keeps using it.” It is just one more window
into the demented psyche of Harrelson’s character.
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Academy Award® nominee Woody Harrelson (The Messenger, Rampart) took on the
role two weeks before production began. “I’m a big fan of Martin, have been for years. Several
years ago I wanted to read the best playwrights. I read Lonesome West. I was blown away by
how brilliant and dark and funny it was…the funniest play ever written. I got to know him and
he showed me The Pillowman and offered me the play. I thought the darkness had outshone the
light so I decided not to do it. Then I saw it on Broadway and I kicked myself. When this script
came along I was like – I am not going to make that same mistake twice. Charlie is a terrific
part.”
McDonagh says Harrelson proved the perfect fit for the role: ”I needed someone who
could be out-and-out funny, but turn sinister on a dime. Woody had it down.”
Harrelson says McDonagh’s sense of what is funny wasn’t just on the page, “it was in his
directing” as well. “And he really makes you feel great as a cast member, always checking in with
you. He sends you a text after the workday, telling you he thought you did a great job. He’s got
a good vibe, and I really like working with him.”
But the esprit de corps extended beyond actor and filmmaker for Harrelson. “To be
able to get up and do scenes with (Christopher) Walken, I was just in Heaven. Walken is a
(bleep) legend. I was telling my friends before I started working with him, `I am so giddy and
excited to do a scene with him’.” And he considers Farrell to have the soul of a poet in his
performances, and Rockwell an acting force unto his own.
No.4 The Hot Girlfriend – She Thinks She’s Hot Shih Tzu.
ANGELA
You’ve got to give it back!
Olga Kurylenko (ANGELA) is certain about one thing: “Angela likes psychopaths. She’s
attracted to bad guys.”
Kurylenko continues to describe her character, who happens to be Charlie’s girlfriend -
“Angela is playing a very dangerous game. And all the while, she has to compete with Bonny for
Charlie’s attention and affection.”
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How would Kurylenko (To The Wonder), best known for her role as the Bond Girl
Camille in Quantum of Solace, define a psychopath? “Oh I have met some psychopaths in my life.
They are very concentrated on themselves and a little bit out of reality. It’s all about them, all
the time.”
When McDonagh approached Kurylenko about the role of Angela she was eager for the
part. “The script is one of the smartest I’ve ever read. It’s funny, very witty.”
No.5 The Non-Violent One.
HANS
Too bad.
“I don’t think of Hans as a psychopath,” says Walken. “He steals dogs and returns them
for a reward...”
Broadbent’s favorite character is Hans. He appreciates that he’s not your typical
psychopath. “Martin’s genius is to have this psychopath who refutes all violence.”
The role is tailor made for an actor the caliber of Academy Award® winner Walken
(The Deer Hunter, Catch Me If You Can), says McDonagh. The two previously teamed on
McDonagh’s play A Behanding in Spokane, which garnered Walken a Tony nomination. “He was a
big hero of mine since childhood,” says McDonagh.
“You know, actors always like terrific words and Martin writes terrific words,” remarks
Walken. “When we did the play together we rehearsed for six weeks. Martin was in the room
every day. He didn’t say a lot but he was there. You get to know people just by being around
them. I always like working with people I have worked with before. It makes everything so
much easier. Plus, I feel very comfortable with Martin.” As for working with Rockwell, who was
also in the play, Walken notes “we had a great time.”
No.6 The Passive–Aggressive Girlfriend.
KAYA
Why would I be pissed at you Marty?
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“KAYA has one foot out the door when the story begins,” says Abbie Cornish of her
character. “She’s in a state of flux. Marty and Kaya are in trouble. She’s tired of his drinking, his
laziness, and all the time he's spending with Billy, whom she thinks is not the best influence on
Marty. They are disconnected to the point where there is not much of a relationship left to hold
onto."
Although Kaya is the straightest character in the movie, she suffers the envy of a
psychopath for her boyfriend’s time and attention. “Psychopaths aren't always conscious of their
psychopathic behavior,” says Cornish. “It’s just the way they are. So actions that someone else
might call crazy, for them is totally normal. Billy is the epitome of this.”
Cornish (Limitless, Sucker Punch) jumped at the chance to play Kaya, in large part due to
the stellar cast already in place. “I was interested in coming on this set and working with Martin
McDonagh, an incredibly talented and intelligent director, and actors like Farrell, Rockwell,
Harrelson, and Walken who are at the top of their game. Walken is an acting god to me,” she
says. “To be in a film with him is a dream.”
“Abbie Cornish is fantastic and I’ve loved her work through the years,” says McDonagh.
“She, along with Olga Kurylenko who I met a few years ago, is fantastic. I was so thrilled both
these actresses agreed to hop on board. In some ways this is quite a male film but these
actresses take care of the feminine side.”
No.7 The One with the Bunny.
ZACHARIAH
Dandy.
“My first thought was to ask `how does he feel about psychopaths to begin with’?” says
Tom Waits (The Book of Eli, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus) of his character ZACHARIAH, an
odd, disturbed man with a violent past. “Well first of all a psychopath would never refer to
himself or anybody else as a psychopath. It’s the P word. You just don’t use it. There may be
actual psychopaths around you. You wouldn’t be certain until something goes off. They live
among us. They are people that live with enormous secrets. I play a guy who is deeply in love
and has been separated from his wife and he’s trying to be reunited with her.”
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“Oh, and he has a rabbit. What’s wrong with that?” muses Waits. “I spent many days
chasing rabbits in a yard on this set, one of the best workouts for an athlete. Turn a rabbit loose
and you’re only goal is to catch the rabbit. I talked to our rabbit wrangler and learned how to
hold the rabbit so that it sits because if he jumps out of your arms the entire day is shot. But as
a companion I don’t know if a rabbit would be my companion of choice. It’s more of a character
thing.”
“When Tom was on the set, all of us were in complete awe,” says McDonagh of the
legendary actor, musician and poet.
“I don’t like to be thought of when people say, `Psychopath for the role? Get Tom!’ I’m
a little concerned about that. I’ll never be able to play a father now that I’ve done this. ‘What
kind of a father would he make?’” jokes Waits.
Jokes aside, he continues: “It’s been fun to do this film. Martin and I crossed paths a few
years ago when we tried to get a musical opera of sorts off the ground but it never happened. I
had seen In Bruges and thought his work was so interesting. Martin’s dialogue is remarkable –
perverted, hilarious, and rich. He is poetic and always has something to say. Let’s just say this
film is an insane ride.”
One Shih Tzu: The fur fatale.
There are casting calls and then there is Craig’s List.
A month before shooting began Performing Animal Troupe (PAT)’s Head Animal
Trainer Claire Dore, who was assisting McDonagh in his search for the perfect pup, says PAT
adopted the 10-month-old Imperial Shih Tzu for the part after spotting an ad for her on Craig’s
List. McDonagh had already looked at dozens of Shih Tzus for the key canine role. The dog was
already named Bonny, the same name as Charlie’s prized possession in the script. It was a sign –
life mirroring art.
McDonagh had wanted a Shih Tzu on the small side; Bonny weighed less than 10
pounds. “It was obvious from the casting sessions very early on that Martin was an animal
lover,” says Dore. Bonny, of course, falls victim to Hans’ and Billy’s sideline trade of dognapping.
McDonagh saw the dynamic as a delicate line to balance between the dognapping being an
amusing plotline and something that could turn the audience off. “This is a quirky, fun version
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with nothing mean or cruel involved. Billy is just an out of work actor who starts dognapping to
pay the bills. When the dog goes missing, it starts a whole sequence of events that turns the
story on its head.”
Broadbent says McDonagh has an affection for dogs and seemed to have particularly
enjoyed casting Bonny’s role. Once hired, Bonny did not want for anything. But still the cast
and crew showered the lovable furball with constant attention, particularly Rockwell who kept
the dog close to him for much of the shoot and for good reason…his character demanded it.
SHARICE
I always loved Bonny like he was my own child.
In the film, Academy Award® nominee Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) plays SHARICE,
Bonny’s dog walker who loses the dog in the park and as a result feels the brunt of Charlie’s
wrath. “Gabby joining us for half a day to be beaten up by Woody Harrelson was great! It is
such a funny scene, those two together,” says Broadbent. “They had worked the awards circuit
together and knew each other, so she just flew in for a half day of bullying and moved on. She
was great!”
Sidibe’s was one of a number of stellar cameo performances in Seven
Psychopaths. Linda Bright Clay (MYRA), Amanda Warren (MAGGIE), James Hebert (THE
KILLER), Long Nguyen (VIETNAMESE PRIEST), Brendan Sexton, (young ZACHARIAH), Michael
Pitt (LARRY), Michael Stuhlbarg (TOMMY), and Harry Dean Stanton (THE QUAKER IN THE
BLACK HAT) fill out the eclectic lineup.
“To make one movie (In Bruges) was a dream come true, and now to have made this
film with this cast…it’s just unbelievable,” says McDonagh.
Broadbent reminds that “in all independent films, no one comes to the project for the
money, they come for the quality of the work. The cast assembled is a real testament to
Martin’s writing. Every actor inhabits every character in a way you can’t imagine anyone else in
that role.”
The cast includes Bonny, numerous supporting canine cast members, and 52 rabbits. As
is always the case when working with animal actors, special consideration had to be taken to get
the desired performances.
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In one particular scene Zachariah is sitting in a garden surrounded by all of the rabbits.
“The pressing issue was how to have them all there without shagging each other,” remembers
Broadbent. “It’s not apocryphal apparently, rabbits like to shag a lot.” The solution? “We had to
get pre-pubescent rabbits. We managed to get through it without the rabbits shagging, which
was good.” The touching part, adds Broadbent, is that Waits took it upon himself to become a
rabbit whisperer. “He developed a way of being with the rabbits in which they were utterly calm
and content with him the whole time.”
It should be noted this was not McDonagh’s first trip down the rabbit hole. But the
white rabbits fared better with the psychopaths in this film than in his 2005 Academy Award®
winning short Six Shooter.
When the animal actors were on set, American Humane Association Set Representative
Beth Langhorst was a constant presence, monitoring the animal action and making sure they
were taken care of correctly on the production and by the animal trainers. “The set was a really
nice work environment,” says Langhorst. “In addition to Bonny’s normal lap cuddling duties,
there was some intense animal action for (the canine). The production and trainers always
made sure that Bonny was comfortable on set at all times, especially when gunfire was in play.
There are very strict guidelines as to what type of loads you can use when animals are on set
and there is always a stuffed toy double for the main animal cast so that they can switch it out
for the real dog if need be.”
The animal characters were important to the story, as was the film’s setting. “(The
setting) is a character in the film,” emphasizes Broadbent. “What we got out of L.A. worked
really well for us.”
McDonagh says, “This movie was always set in Los Angeles. I wanted L.A. to have the
same quality that Bruges had for the last film. It is comforting to know that there is such a
creatively rich film history in L.A., a history that includes some of my favorite filmmakers like
Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges.”
The 41-day shoot ran from November 7, 2011 thru January 13, 2012 in Los Angeles, at
landmarks in the city and surrounding area. Key locations include the Venice Beach pier, the La
Brea Tar Pits (this is the location where Bonny is dognapped), and an ultra-modern house on
Mulholland Drive built by Southern Californian architect Ed Niles (as Angela’s house) – a
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location that had never been used in a film before. The dog warehouse was built in Whittier in
an abandoned correctional facility.
Billy’s imagined shoot-out scene was shot at Rosedale Cemetery. “Martin asked us for
an Ed Wood-type, B-movie take on this scene,” recalls Production Designer David Wasco
(Inglourious Basterds, The Royal Tenenbaums). “He was fine if you saw some pieces of wood in the
background holding up the sets. In fact, he encouraged it!”
The Hollywood Forever Cemetery, near the graves of Hollywood legends Cecil B.
DeMille and Alfred Hitchcock, the Hollywood Sign beaming above the Lake Hollywood Dam
Reservoir, the Showcase Theater on La Brea, and the Paramount Studios back lot were also
used.
Outside of the city, the filmmakers ventured into Joshua Tree National Park after
gaining permission to shoot the Cholla Cactus Garden Trail where the unique spiked succulents
hover 4-to-7-feet high. In Lancaster, a mock “Joshua Tree Visitor Center” set was built in 14-
degree weather. The shoot occurred over the coldest days on record in more than 100 years of
Lancaster’s history. Due to gale force winds, Wasco’s crew had to wire down the roof of the
Welcome Center building with heavy cables to prevent it from blowing off. The cold weather
also proved a serious challenge during the three weeks of filming the campsite scenes in the
Lancaster area.
Restrictions on gunshots and explosions in the nature preserve meant the final standoff
sequence in the desert had to be shot on Skyline Ranch Road in Pioneertown. The shoot-outs at
Pioneertown were only part of the extensive special effects work done by Key Special Effects
Makeup Supervisor and Emmy Award nominee Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad)
and his special effects team: Carey Jones of KNB FX Group, who coordinated the effects on set,
and Special FX coordinator Ron Trost from Class A Special. Aside from the excessive gunfire
and fires in the film, they also created the dummy body count from the psychopaths’ handiwork.
Because of the fires and action-heavy desert sequences, Director of Photography Ben
Davis (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Debt) chose to shoot Seven Psychopaths on film
using Panavision cameras instead of a digital system. “I felt that the grain and texture of film was
the right fit for this project,” Davis explains.
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Davis says when he and McDonagh began conceptualizing the look and feel of the film it
was challenging to create the different character worlds, including the flashback sequences that
spanned decades.
“We were constantly going back to Marty’s script, then Hans’ version of the script, then
Billy’s version and what it should be…so many textures,” he says. “The core of the film was
pretty easy because it was about the friendship of Billy and Marty, which was straightforward.
The film is contemporary and we wanted to give a very strong sense of Los Angeles. But, at the
same time, you had all the different psychopath characters and their experiences ranged from
the 1940’s up to present day, in America and outside of America.”
Davis says he and McDonagh swapped a lot of references. “If it was Marty’s version of
the script, what were his reference points? What would he imagine his film to be like? When
Marty talks about the Quaker killer, we very much felt it was sort of like Night Of The Hunter
(the 1955 film noir thriller starring Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters). Another inspiration
point was the work of American still photographer Stephen Shore known for his thought
provoking images of the mundane in the daily life experience.”
The variances were constantly shifting depending on the characters’ storytelling
references.
“We wanted contemporary L.A. to be colorful and vibrant and the period flashbacks to
the 40s, 50s and 70s to be monochromatic for contrast,” adds Wasco. “We were constantly
treading the line between reality and fantasy.”
As for working with McDonagh, Wasco has nothing but praise. “It’s great working with
Martin. As with other writer/directors I’ve worked with, including Quentin Tarentino, Wes
Anderson and David Mamet, he has the story and the vision clear in his mind and knows what
he wants…you can’t get better than that.”
Wasco has collaborated with Costume Designer Karen Patch on several Wes Anderson
films including The Royal Tenenbaums, Bottle Rocket and Rushmore. He was influential in bringing
Patch on board Seven Psychopaths She had wanted to work with McDonagh for some
time. Of the experience, Patch echoes Wasco: “When you have the opportunity to work with
a writer/director it really is the best. Martin knows his characters inside and out,” Patch says.
“Because of that, I was able to interpret and actualize them for him even with a short prep time
and a complicated script with flashbacks in various time periods.”
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“The subject matter for the film was multi-layered so visual references were helpful,”
Patch continues. “Costumes are clues to explaining the history of the characters and help
inform where and who the characters are now. I looked at Robert Mitchum's character in Night
of the Hunter for Hans. In his present day look there is a formality to the linen suits, all hand
dyed to get the right grey/blue. For the characters living in present day Los Angeles I turned to
their inner life for inspiration. We were dealing with disturbed, complex personalities. Billy
operates like a fast car without brakes. He's a charming, attractive liar who is astounded when
people are upset by his behavior. He loves dogs, is childlike and lovable. So I built a dark blood
red leather jacket that he wears in the final shoot-out with a panther print shirt. He also wears
a child's animal hat in a few scenes and pajamas with monkeys and ponies. It’s in the
contradictions that the psychopath shines through.”
Patch recalls how some actors used hidden “costume” elements to get into character.
Case in point: Tom Waits. “He asked for things in his pockets,” says Patch. “I came up with
mints, Chapstick, nail clippers and matches. He was very happy. But you never see them in the
film.” One of the bigger challenges was “how to conceal the weapons and guns with holsters
under clothing. Squibbing and blood while wearing period clothing also present a dilemma.”
In the end, Broadbent believes such attention to detail and commitment to craft by all
involved in the production is evident in the film. “Martin is newer to filmmaking than he is to
theater and it is my understanding of theater that it is a company of people doing something
good. I think that’s what we’ve created here… a company of great people doing some very
good work.”
In the final analysis, the premise of Seven Psychopaths begs the observation: If
writers write what they know…“Martin seems to understand psychopaths a lot better than
anyone I know, worryingly,” Davis ponders humorously. “After I read the script, I met with him
and I kept wondering ‘what dark corner of the mind does this come from?!’ All I know is… it
comes from him. And it’s been a pleasure.”
It is only right to give the helmer the final word. Says McDonagh, “I’m not one. So far.”
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ABOUT THE CAST
COLIN FARRELL (Marty) won the Golden Globe for Best Actor after collaborating
the first time with Seven Psychopaths director Martin McDonagh on In Bruges. For his role
as Ray the assassin, Farrell also received Best Actor nominations from the British Independent
Film Awards (BIFA) and the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTA).
Farrell won two IFTA Awards, one for Best Actor in Neil Jordan’s romantic drama
Ondine and the Audience Award for Clark Johnson’s S.W.A.T. He received four more IFTA
nominations: two for Best Actor in Michael Mann’s Miami Vice and Michael Mayer’s drama A
Home at the End of the World, based on Michael Cunningham’s novel; and two for Best
Supporting Actor in Peter Weir’s epic adventure The Way Back and John Crowley’s comedy
Intermission.
He can be seen in Niels Arden Oplev’s upcoming thriller Dead Man Down opposite
Noomi Rapace, Terrence Howard and Armand Assante. He will also appear opposite Tom
Hanks and Emma Thompson in John Lee Hancock’s Saving Mr. Banks, a drama about how the
film Mary Poppins came to be; as the voice of Ronin in Chris Wedge’s animated adventure Epic;
and in Akiva Goldsman’s fantasy Winter’s Tale based on Mark Helprin’s bestseller. That film also
stars Russell Crowe, Will Smith and William Hurt.
He recently appeared opposite Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel in Len Wisemen’s Total
Recall, a remake of Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 sci-fi action blockbuster. He also starred in the
horror film Fright Night, in Seth Gordon’s comedy Horrible Bosses and in William Monahan's
crime drama London Boulevard, based on Ken Bruen’s bestseller.
Farrell’s other film credits include: Gavin O'Conner's Pride and Glory; Woody Allen's
Cassandra's Dream; Oliver Stone's Alexander; Terrence Malick's The New World; Robert Towne’s
Ask the Dust, based on John Fante’s novel; Roger Donaldson’s The Recruit, co-starring Al Pacino;
Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report; Mark Steven Johnson’s Daredevil; Les Mayfield’s American
Outlaws; and Joel Schumacher's Phone Booth and Tigerland.
A native of Ireland, Farrell attended the Gaity School of Drama in Dublin. Before
completing his course, Colin landed a starring role in Deirdre Purcell's miniseries Falling for a
Dancer, a starring role in the BBC series Ballykissangel. Those roles led to his feature debut in
Tim Roth's directorial debut The War Zone.
SAM ROCKWELL (Billy), known for his unforgettable performances as offbeat
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characters, won the Berlin Film Festival's Silver Berlin Bear Award and Movieline's Breakthrough
Performance of the Year Award for his portrayal of Chuck Barris in George Clooney's
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.
Rockwell received widespread critical praise for that role in the adaptation of the cult
memoir of Game Show Producer Chuck Barris who purported to be a CIA covert operative.
He won the Sitges International Film Festival of Catalonia Best Actor Award for his
performance in Joshua and the Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival Decades Achievement
Award.
He was nominated for the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) and Irish Film and
Television Awards (IFTA) for Best International Actor for his role as the astronaut Sam Bell in
Moon.
Rockwell shared two Screen Actors Guild nominations for Outstanding Performance by
a Cast for Ron Howard’s Frost / Nixon and Frank Darabont’s The Green Mile based on Stephen
King’s bestseller. He also shared a Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize Award for Ensemble
Cast for Clark Gregg’s comedy Choke, adapted from Chuck Palahniuk’s bestseller.
He can be seen in several upcoming films, including: David M. Rosenthal's thriller A Single
Shot opposite William H. Macy, Jeffrey Wright, and Melissa Leo and adapted from Matthew F.
Jones’ novel; Geoff Moore and David Posmentier’s Better Living Through Chemistry co-starring
Jane Fonda, Olivia Wilde, Ray Liotta and Judi Dench; Oscar© winners Nat Faxon and Jim Rash’s
The Way, Way Back opposite Steve Carell and Amanda Peet; and Kat Coiro’s romantic comedy
A Case of You, co-starring Evan Rachel Wood, Peter Dinklage and Vince Vaughan.
With roles in more than 70 films and television series, Rockwell’s credits include: Jon
Favreau’s Cowboys & Aliens and Iron Man 2; Tony Goldwyn’s Conviction; Andrew Dominik's
critically acclaimed film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford with Brad Pitt;
David Gordon Green's Snow Angels; the Russo brothers' comedy Welcome to Collinwood; McG’s
Charlie's Angels; Dean Parisot’s Galaxy Quest; The Sitter; Everybody's Fine; The Hitchhiker's Guide to
the Galaxy; Ridley Scott’s Matchstick Men; Woody Allen's Celebrity; Michael Hoffman's A
Midsummer Night's Dream; John Duigan's Lawn Dogs; John Hamburg's Safe Men; Saul Rubinek's
Jerry and Tom; Tom DiCillo's Box of Moonlight; Paul Schrader's Light Sleeper; and Uli Edel's Last
Exit to Brooklyn. Rockwell made his film debut in Francis Ford Coppola's Clownhouse while
attending San Francisco's High School of the Performing Arts.
In theatre, Rockwell recently collaborated with Seven Psychopaths’ Writer /
Director / Producer Martin McDonagh in the Broadway play A Behanding in Spokane opposite
Seven Psychopath’s co-star Christopher Walken.
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His other stage credits include: Philip Seymour Hoffman’s The Last Days of Judas Iscariot,
a LAByrinth Theater Company production at The Public Theater; Face Divided, part of the EST
Marathon series; the off-Broadway production of Mike Leigh’s play Goose-Pimples; and The Dumb
Waiter and Hot L Baltimore for the Williamstown Theatre Festival, both directed by Joe Montello.
WOODY HARRELSON (Charlie), known for playing intense and charismatic
characters in film and television as well as writing and directing plays, was nominated for an
Academy Award© for Best Supporting Actor for his role as casualty notification officer Capt.
Tony Stone in Oren Moverman’s The Messenger.
It was his second Oscar® nomination for a supporting role having received the first for
portraying controversial magazine publisher Larry Flynt in Milos Forman’s The People vs. Larry
Flynt. Harrelson received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations for his
performances in both films as well. He received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for
Best Male Lead for his recent appearance in Rampart, his second collaboration with Director
Oren Moverman.
He shared a Golden Globe for Outstanding Performance by a Cast for Ethan and Joel
Coen’s No Country for Old Men.
For his breakout role as Woody Boyd, the affable bartender on the long running hit
NBC comedy series Cheers, Harrelson won an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1988
and was nominated four additional times during his eight-year run on the show. In 1999, he
gained another Emmy nomination when he reprised the role in a guest appearance on the spin-
off series Frasier. He later made a return to television with a recurring guest role on the hit
NBC series, Will and Grace.
And, he received a sixth Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Mini-Series
or Movie for Jay Roach’s Game Change for HBO, which chronicled John McCain's 2008
presidential campaign.
Harrelson recently appeared as the on screen host for Pete McGrain's powerful political
documentary Ethos. In feature films, he starred in Rampart, which premiered at the 2011
Toronto Film Festival to critical acclaim. He also starred in Will Gluck's Friends with Benefits co-
starring Mila Kunis, Justin Timberlake and Patricia Clarkson; and, Gary Ross' blockbuster The
Hunger Games based on Suzanne Collins’ bestseller. He will reprise his role as Haymitch
Abernathy opposite Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hensworth in the upcoming sequel The Hunger
Games: Catching Fire, currently in pre-production. Additionally, he will be the voice of Jake in the
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upcoming animated comedy Turkeys with Owen Wilson.
Harrelson's extensive film credits include: Ruben Fleischer's blockbuster Zombieland;
2012; Semi-Pro; The Grand; Oscar® winner No Country For Old Men; Richard Linklater’s A Scanner
Darkly; Robert Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion; Defendor; Seven Pounds; The Prize Winner Of
Defiance, Ohio; Niki Caro’s North Country; The Big White; After The Sunset; Play It To The Bone;
Battle In Seattle; Ron Howard’s EDtv; The Hi-Lo County; Brad Anderson’s Transsiberian; Terrence
Malick’s The Thin Red Line; Wag The Dog; Michael Winterbottom’s Welcome To Sarajevo; Kingpin;
Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers; Adrian Lyne’s Indecent Proposal; and Ron Shelton’s White Men
Can't Jump.
Harrelson also wrote and directed the play Bullet for Adolph that opened Off Broadway
at the New World Theatre in July. He directed the play, which he co-wrote with his friend
Frankie Hyman and produced earlier at Hart House Theatre in Toronto.
Harrelson first directed his own play Furthest From The Sun at the Theatre de la Juene
Lune in Minneapolis in 1999. He followed that production with the Roundabout's Broadway
revival of The Rainmaker; Sam Shepherd's The Late Henry Moss and John Kolvenbach's On An
Average Day at London's West End. He also directed the Toronto premiere of Kenneth
Lonergan's This Is Our Youth at Toronto's Berkeley Street Theatre.
And, he starred in Tennessee Williams' Night of the Iguana at the Lyric Theatre in
London’s West End.
CHRISTOPHER WALKEN (Hans), who won an Academy Award® for Best
Supporting Actor in Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter and nominated for a second in Steven
Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can, is one of the industry’s most prolific and celebrated actors on
stage and screen.
Although it is his first film collaboration with Seven Pscyhopaths’ Director Martin
McDonagh, Walken was nominated for a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for starring in
McDonagh’s 2010 Broadway play A Behanding in Spokane, the first play the accomplished Irish
playwright set in America.
In film, for his seminal role as Nick in the 1978 Oscar® winner The Deer Hunter, a
soldier destroyed by the Vietnam War, he also won the New York Film Critics’ Circle Award in
what critics hailed as a disturbing and electrifying performance. He was also nominated for a
Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. For his role as Frank Abagnale,
Sr. in Catch Me If You Can, Walken won the BAFTA Award and the Screen Actors Guild Award
for Best Supporting Actor. That year, 2003, he also won the ShoWest Award for Best
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Supporting Actor.
In television, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for Lead Actor in a Mini-Series for
his performance as Jacob Witting in Glenn Jordan’s CBS series Sarah Plain and Tall opposite
Glenn Close.
In theater, Walken received the Clarence Derwent Award for The Lion In Winter, the
Obie Award for Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull and the Theatre World Award for The Rose
Tattoo. He also starred in James Joyce's The Dead and The Seagull at the New York Shakespeare
Festival.
To his credit, Walken has starred in more than 120 films and television series and
received 18 awards and 14 nominations.
His extensive film credits include: Woody Allen’s Oscar® winner Annie Hall, Herbert
Ross’ Pennies From Heaven, David Cronenberg’s The Dead Zone, At Close Range, Mike Nichols’
Biloxi Blues, King of New York, Man On Fire, Man of the Year, Wedding Crashers, Hairspray, Tony
Scott’s True Romance, Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and Tim Burton’s Batman Returns.
Walken also performed in Spike Jonze’s music video for Fat Boy Slim’s Weapon of
Choice.
He can next be seen in Yaron Zilberman’s A Late Quartet opposite Philip Seymour
Hoffman and Catherine Keener and as Zeus in Marc Turtletaub's Gods Behaving Badly co-starring
Sharon Stone, Oliver Platt and Alicia Silverstone.
TOM WAITS (Zachariah), whose career spans four decades, is a singer-songwriter
Academy-Award® nominee and winner of multiple Grammy Awards that has adventurously
delved into recording, literature, film and theater, as both actor and composer.
Waits’ music, recognized for its distinctive orchestrations and arrangements, has ranged
from country, blues, cabaret, waltz and field hollers to gospel, polkas and marches. He has
recorded over 20 albums, including 2011's “Bad As Me.” He is a member of the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame.
Waits has appeared in more than 20 films including: Ironweed, Dracula, Down By Law,
Short Cuts, Book of Eli, and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, working with such maverick directors
as Jim Jarmusch, Terry Giliam, Francis Ford Coppola, Hughes Brothers, Tony Scott and Robert
Altman.
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OLGA KURYLENKO (Angela) gained international prominence when she starred
opposite Daniel Craig in Marc Forster’s Quantum of Solace as Camille, a woman focused on
avenging the murder of her family.
She can be seen in Terrence Malick’s upcoming To The Wonder co-starring Javier Bardem
and Ben Affleck, set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
Other upcoming features include: Oblivion opposite Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman;
Philip Stolzl’s The Expatriate with Aaron Eckhart; and the Chinese epic 3D adventure Empires of
The Deep, a love story set in a mythical world. She will also reprise her role as Vera Evans in
Mitch Glazer’s critically acclaimed Starz series Magic City.
She recently appeared in Roland Joffe’s There Be Dragons, story of love, betrayal and
personal sacrifice set in the time of the Spanish Civil War. She also starred in Michale Boganim's
Land of Oblivion about the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Born in the Ukraine, Kurylenko took her first English-speaking role in the film
adaptation of the graphic novel Hitman. Directed by Xavier Gens and produced by Luc Besson,
she plays Nika Boronina.
Her other film credits include: John Moore’s Max Payne co-starring Mark Wahlberg;
John Beck Hofmann’s Tyranny; and Neil Marshall’s Centurion, an action thriller set in ancient
Rome and co-starring Dominic West and Michael Fassbender.
Kurylenko began her acting career in France. Her feature film debut was Diane
Bertrand’s L’Annulaire (released in the UK and US as The Ring Finger, for which she won the best
actress award at the Brooklyn International Film Festival). She then starred opposite Elijah
Wood in Paris Je T’aime, an independent film in which a cooperative of acclaimed international
directors told their stories of Paris. She also appeared in Eric Barbier’s acclaimed thriller, Le
Serpent co-starring French luminaries Yvan Attal, Clovis Cornillac and Pierre Richard.
Whilst training as an actress, Kurylenko modeled, working in Paris, Milan, New York
and London. By 18 she had appeared the covers of magazines such as Vogue and Elle.
Kurylenko is fluent in French, English, Russian, and has acted in German and Spanish.
ABBIE CORNISH (Kaya) received the Australian Film Institute’s (AFI) Best Lead
Actress Award for Somersault co-starring Sam Worthington and a nomination for Candy
opposite the late Heath Ledger, two performances that captured the attention of Hollywood.
She also received the Best Lead Actress awards from the Film Critics Circle of Australia
for the Australian productions. She was nominated for both an AFI and a British Independent
Film Awards for Best Actress for her role as Fanny Brawne in Jane Campion’s period drama
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Bright Star about poet John Keats’ love affair with Brawne. That performance brought her critical
praise in the U.S., U.K. and Australia. The film premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and
was nominated for a Golden Palm Award.
Cornish also received AFI honors for her performances in television. She received her
first honor for the Australian Broadcasting Company’s (ABC) series Wildside and her second for
a guest role on the ABC mini-series Marking Time. She made her acting debut in television at age
15 on the ABC series Children’s Hospital.
Cornish can be seen in José Padilha’s upcoming remake of RoboCop as Ellen Murphy, wife
of RoboCop Alex Murphy played by Joel Kinnamen and co-starring Gary Oldman, David Riker’s
drama The Girl, Bruce Beresford’s Whisperings and Lies, Brad Silberling’s An Ordinary Man and
Greg Mclean’s Kill Me Three Times.
She recently starred in Madonna’s romantic drama W.E. about the affair between King
Edward VIII and American divorcée Wallis Simpson and a contemporary romance between a
married woman and a Russian security guard. She appeared opposite Bradley Cooper and
Robert DeNiro in Limitless and co-starred with Jon Hamm in Zack Snyder’s 3D sci-fi action film
Sucker Punch.
Her other credits include: (voice work) Zack Snyder’s animated Legends of the Guardians:
The Owls of Ga’Hoole; Ridley Scott’s A Good Year opposite Russell Crowe; Shekhar Kapur’s
Elizabeth: The Golden Age with Cate Blanchett; and Kimberly Peirce’s drama Stop Loss.
ŽELJKO IVANEK (Paulo), who recently appeared in CBS Films’ The Words, marks
his second collaboration with Seven Psychopaths’ Director Martin McDonagh and Colin
Farrell. He also appeared in McDonagh’s In Bruges.
Ivanek earned a 2008 Emmy Award for his portrayal of Ray Fiske on Damages. He has
also received numerous awards and nominations for his stage work, including three Tony Award
nominations for Brighton Beach Memoirs and two Shakespearean Actors and a Drama Desk
Award for Cloud 9.
The Slovenia native is known for playing some of film and television’s most memorable
ruthless and morally ambiguous characters as well as authority figures.
His notable television work includes the HBO mini-series John Adams, Big Love, recurring
roles on Homicide: Life on the Street, 24 and Oz, Heroes and The Event as well as countless guest
appearances. He can be seen playing Dr. Stafford White in the Fox series The Mob Doctor.
Ivanek is also a veteran of over 20 feature films including Argo, Bourne Legacy, Live Free or
Die Hard, The Hoax, Dogville, Unfaithful, Black Hawk Down, Hannibal, Dancer in the Dark, A Civil
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Action and Donnie Brasco to name a few.
Ivanek’s extensive stage credits include the American, UK, and World premieres of
works by Martin McDonagh, Neil LaBute, Athol Fugard, Neil Simon, Richard Nelson, Caryl
Churchill and David Hare, as well as Peter Brook’s production of The Cherry Orchard.
He is a graduate of Yale University and The London Academy of Music and Dramatic
Art.
GABOUREY SIDIBE (Sharice) proves that it only takes one great part to put an
actress on the map. Nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Actress for her role as
Claireece “Precious” Jones in Lee Daniels’ Precious, based on the bestseller “Push” by Sapphire,
it was her first role as an actress and her breakout role in film.
The Brooklyn native would win 20 awards and be nominated for 15 others for her
hallmark portrayal of an illiterate, pregnant teen raped by her father and under constant physical
abuse by her mother. Sidibe, who grew up in Harlem and had been cast in school plays as a
child, was pursuing a degree in psychology when a friend urged her to audition for the part. It
became a role of a lifetime.
Among the Best Actress nominations she received were the BAFTA, Golden Globe and
Screen Actors Guild Awards. She won numerous awards from film critics’ organizations
including the Broadcast Film Critics. She received the National Board of Review’s Breakthrough
Performance Award as well as the Independent Spirit Award and the NAACP Image Award for
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. She also won the Santa Barbara International
Film Festival’s Vanguard Award for “taking artistic risks and making a significant and unique
contribution to film.”
Since the 2009 breakout performance, Sidibe has starred as the character Andrea
Jackson in the Showtime hit series The Big C opposite Laura Linney and Oliver Platt, hosted the
PBS series AfroPop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange and Saturday Night Live in 2010.
In film, she has also appeared in Brett Ratner’s comedy Tower Heist co-starring Ed
Murphy and Ben Stiller and in Victoria Mahoney’s drama Yelling to the Sky, which premiered at
Berlinale.
BONNY (Bonny) marks her feature film debut in Martin McDonagh’s Seven
Psychopaths. Although dozens had vied for the key role, it was the 10-month-old enchanting
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Shih Tzu adopted by the Performing Animal Troupe (PAT) for the film in October 2011 who
broke out of the pack for McDonagh. Not only was the small, quiet and somewhat indifferent
pooch perfect for the part, she was already in character – sharing both the same name as the
canine lead and being a little dog thrust into a challenging new situation, yet taking it all in stride.
Known for melting hearts, she had five weeks to bond with her PAT trainer and prep
for the role. The bonding proved infectious with the cast and crew with nary a shortage of
snuggles for the film’s diminutive star. After the production wrapped, she moved in with her
trainer for some down time until time to promote the film.
The thespian’s other credits include: an episode of Comedy Central’s comedy series Key
and Peele opposite Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele; a children’s video; and commercials
for Watch ESPN and Capital One.
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ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
MARTIN McDONAGH (Director/Writer/Producer), known for integrating dark
comedy into his films and plays, won an Academy Award® for Best Live Action Short Film for
Six Shooter, his first foray into film. He followed that project with his feature film debut, the
critically acclaimed In Bruges (starring Seven Psychopaths’ Colin Farrell), which premiered
at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008. He won the BAFTA Award and received an Academy
Award® nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
The Anglo-Irish McDonagh, who lives in London, is considered one of the best Irish
playwrights of his generation. Aside from a litany of theatre awards he has received in Europe
and the U.S., at 27 McDonagh was the first playwright since Shakespeare to have four plays
running simultaneously in London’s West-End. He has won two Laurence Olivier Awards and
received one nomination as well as four Tony Award nominations for his plays.
He won the prestigious Olivier Award for his 2001 play The Lieutenant of Inishmore and
2003’s The Pillowman. He has received four Tony Award nominations and his most recent play,
2010’s A Behanding in Spokane, was his first play set in America, teaming both of his Seven
Psychopaths co-stars Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken.
Other plays that received the Tony nods are The Pillowman in 2005, The Lieutenant of
Inishmore in 2006, The Lonesome West in 1999 and The Beauty Queen of Leenane in 1998.
He won an Obie Award in 2006 for the Off-Broadway The Lieutenant of Inishmore.
He won a Drama Desk Award in 1997 for The Beauty Queen of Leenane and was
nominated for a second one in 2005 for The Pillowman, a collection of his short stories.
He also wrote The Cripple of Inishmaan in 1997.
GRAHAM BROADBENT (Producer) marks his second collaboration with Writer /
Director Martin McDonagh following the critically acclaimed In Bruges, which also starred
Seven Psychopaths’ Colin Farrell and was nominated for an Academy Award®, Golden
Globe, and BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Broadbent partnered with Pete Czernin and formed London-based Blueprint Pictures in
2005. They recently produced John Madden’s comedy The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, starring Judi
Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson and Dev Patel. Written by Ol Parker, the film
centers on a group of British retirees in a Jaipur, India retirement home. The film, shot entirely
on location in India, grossed $45 million domestically and over $90 million internationally making
it the highest grossing independent film in 2012 to date.
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Blueprint also produced the upcoming Now Is Good, written and directed by Ol Parker,
starring Dakota Fanning and Jeremy Irvine. The film is based on Jenny Downham’s bestseller
“Before I Die,” a coming of age love story.
Other Blueprint productions include: Becoming Jane starring Anne Hathaway and James
McAvoy and Wind Chill starring Emily Blunt.
Known for working with cutting-edge filmmakers, Broadbent’s producing credits
include: Danny Boyle's Millions, Pete Hewitt's Thunderpants and Greg Araki's Splendor.
The first film he produced, Michael Winterbottom's Welcome to Sarajevo, screened In
Competition at the 1997 Cannes International Film Festival, receiving critical praise. He also
produced Simon Cellan Jones’ Some Voices, which played at Director's Fortnight in Cannes.
PETE CZERNIN (Producer) has been on the media’s “talent to watch” list since he
became President of Producer at Denise Di Novi’s company a decade ago. Seven
Psychopaths is his second collaboration with Academy Award® nominee Martin McDonagh
and the film’s star Colin Farrell.
Czernin and his Blueprint Pictures’ partner Graham Broadbent produced the critically
acclaimed In Bruges, written and directed by McDonagh. The film was nominated for an Oscar®,
BAFTA and Golden Globe Awards for Best Original Screenplay.
Czernin and Broadbent formed the London-based Blueprint Pictures in 2005. The
company produced the upcoming Now Is Good, starring Dakota Fanning and Jeremy Irvine.
Written and directed by Ol Parker, the film is based on Jenny Downham’s bestseller “Before I
Die.”
Blueprint recently produced John Madden’s comedy The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,
starring Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson and Dev Patel, which has grossed
over $100 million box office worldwide. Czernin also produced the 2007 release Wind Chill
starring Emily Blunt.
Czernin began his career in Los Angeles working for several production companies and
studios. As President of Di Novi's company, he was named "a talent to watch" in The Hollywood
Reporter's "Next Generation Executives" issue.
TESSA ROSS (Executive Producer), the Controller of Film and Drama at Britain’s
Channel 4, was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2010
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Queen's New Years Honours List for her services to Broadcasting. In 2009, Time Magazine
named Ross one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.
Ross has built a reputation developing and financing numerous Academy Award® and
BAFTA Award winning features including Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges. The film received an
Oscar® nomination and won a BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Under her stewardship, Channel 4 has financed such films as: Danny Boyle's Slumdog
Millionaire, winner of eight Academy Awards®, four Golden Globes, seven BAFTA Awards and a
BIFA for Best Film; Academy Award® winner The Last King of Scotland; Shane Meadows' BAFTA
winner This is England; Steve McQueen's debut Hunger, winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s
Camera d'Or, three BIFAs and BAFTA's Carl Foreman Award; The Motorcycle Diaries; Touching
the Void; and, The Road to Guantanamo.
Other Film 4 award winning films include: Phyllida Lloyd's Academy Award® winner The
Iron Lady, Danny Boyle's 127 Hours, nominated for six Academy Awards® and eight BAFTA
Awards, Mike Leigh's Academy Award® nominee Another Year and Golden Globe winner Happy-
Go-Lucky, BAFTA winners Chris Morris’ Four Lions, Peter Mullan's Neds and Paddy Considine's
Tyrannosaur and BAFTA winner Sex Traffic
Ross has served as executive producer on 58 films, television series and movies made
for television. She is producing Carol, to be released next year.
Her executive producer credits include: Ken Loach's Looking for Eric, Sam Taylor-
Wood's Nowhere Boy, Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones, Kevin Macdonald's Roman epic adventure
The Eagle, Richard Ayoade's Submarine, Steve McQueen's Shame, Andrea Arnold's Wuthering
Heights, Joe Cornish's Attack the Block, Carol Morley's Dreams of a Life, Lone Sherfig's One Day,
and Ben Palmer's The Inbetweeners Movie, which grossed nearly $100 million boxoffice
worldwide and is the second highest grossing British independent film of all time.
Upcoming features include: Walter Salles' On The Road, Bart Layton's The Imposter,
Sophie Fiennes' The Pervert's Guide to Ideology, Peter Strickland's Berberian Sound Studio, Roger
Michell's Hyde Park on Hudson, Ben Wheatley's Sightseers, Danny Boyle's Trance, and Michael
Winterbottom's Untitled Paul Raymond Story (working title), Kevin Macdonald's How I Live Now,
Steve McQueen's Twelve Years a Slave, Anton Corbijn’s A Most Wanted Man based on John Le
Carré's novel, James Griffiths' Cuban Fury, Richard Ayoade's The Double and Jonathan Glazer's
Under the Skin.
Other credits include: Shameless, Teachers, Not Only But Always, Bodily Harm, White Teeth,
No Angels, The Navigators, Buried, Forty, Second Generation, Peter Flannery's Civil War drama The
Devil's Whore, Longford starring Jim Broadbent and Samantha Morton, Elizabeth I starring Helen
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Mirren, and Pete Travis' Omagh.
Prior to Channel 4, Ross was Head of Drama for the BBC's Independent Commissioning
Group. There she developed and executive produced: Billy Elliot, Clocking Off, Hearts and Bones, In
a Land of Plenty, Talking Heads II, Liam, Playing the Field, Births Marriages and Deaths.
Ross is a BFI governor, an honorary associate of the London Film School and a member
of the National Theatre board. She was one of eight film industry representatives on the panel
of the 2012 Film Policy Review, chaired by Chris Smith.
She was formerly an NFTS governor, member of the ICA council and an external
examiner for the MA in Screenwriting at the Northern Film School.
BEN DAVIS (Director of Photography), who most recently worked on the 2012
Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony in London with Producer Stephen Daldry, previously
collaborated with Seven Psychopaths Producers Graham Broadbent and Peter Czernin on
John Madden’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Shot in India and known for its stunning
cinematography, the independent film stars Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson
and Dev Patel and grossed over $100 million box office worldwide.
Davis also shot The Tonto Woman, which received an Academy Award® nomination in
2008 for Best Live Action short film. His work can be seen in Jonathan Liebesman’s recent
blockbuster Wrath of the Titans.
Davis has teamed with Directors Madden and Matthew Vaughan on numerous films. He
was the cinematographer on Madden’s thriller The Debt with Helen Mirren, Ciaran Hinds and
Tom Wilkinson. He was the director of photography on three of Vaughan’s films including the
recent hit Kick Ass starring Nicolas Cage, the thriller Layer Cake, starring Daniel Craig and Tom
Hardy and, Stardust, starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Claire Danes and Ian McKellen.
He also shot Mikael Hafstrom’s The Rite with Anthony Hopkins, Stephen Frears’ Tamara
Drewe, Gerald McMorrow’s Franklyn, Sharon Maguire’s Incendiary and Peter Webber’s Hannibal
Rising, starring Gaspard Ulliel and Rhys Ifans.
Davis is a member of the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC).
DAVID WASCO (Production Designer), known for his frequent collaborations with
directors Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson and David Mamet, has designed the production for
some of the industry’s most successful and critically acclaimed independent films.
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He has teamed with Tarantino on six films, including Inglourious Basterds, which brought
him a B.A.F.T.A. nomination and an Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production
Design.
Wasco also designed the sets for Tarantino’s Academy Award© and Golden Globe
winner Pulp Fiction, cult hits Kill Bill Volume 1 and 2, with Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Daryl
Hannah and Lucy Liu, Jackie Brown and Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino’s breakout hit starring Harvey
Keitel.
His stellar production design on Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums, starring Gene
Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray, Ben Stiller and Gwyneth Paltrow, was featured in the
Smithsonian's prestigious National Design Triennial. He also designed Anderson’s Bottle Rocket
with Luke and Owen Wilson and Rushmore starring Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray.
He designed Mamet’s hit Heist with Gene Hackman and Danny DeVito and Oleanna
starring William H. Macy and Debra Eisenstadt.
Among his 33 feature credits: Michael Mann's critically acclaimed thriller Collateral
starring Jamie Fox and Tom Cruise, Joe Roth’s Freedomland starring Julianne Moore and Samuel
Jackson, Don Roos’ Bounce with Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow, Nick Cassavetes' She’s So
Lovely co-starring Robin Wright and Sean Penn and, Paul Schrader's Touch with Skeet Ulrich and
Seven Psychopaths’ co-star Christopher Walken.
LISA GUNNING (Editor), who recently edited CBS Films’ Salmon Fishing in the
Yemen directed by Lasse Hallstrom, starring Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt and Amr Waked, has
teamed repeatedly with the late director Anthony Minghella and the artist and filmmaker Sam
Taylor-Wood.
Her feature film debut as an editor was Minghella’s Breaking & Entering in 2006. It
starred Jude Law, Robin Wright and Vera Farmiga.
The Hong Kong native began her career in the late 1990s, editing commercials at the
established post-production company the Whitehouse. In 1998 she worked on a Comic Relief
short with Minghella, marking the beginning of a long running collaboration. Her first
collaboration with Minghella was his 2001 short Play starring Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman,
followed by Breaking & Entering and his flagship pilot for The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency
television series in 2008, which was nominated for three Emmy Awards.
Gunning has collaborated extensively with artist and filmmaker Sam Taylor-Wood,
editing her BAFTA Award winning short film Love You More with Harry Treadaway, which also
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received the Sundance Film Festival Short Filmmaking Award Honorable Mention and, her first
feature film Nowhere Boy with Kristen Scott Thomas, nominated for four BAFTA Film Awards
and one BIFA.
Gunning also edited John Madden’s 2008 crime thriller Killshot based on Elmore
Leonard’s novel. The film starred Thomas Jane, Diane Lane and Mickey Rourke.
KAREN PATCH (Costume Designer) was nominated for the prestigious David di
Donatello Award for Best Costume Design for her work in Paolo Sorrentino’s This Must Be the
Place starring Sean Penn, Frances McDormand and Eve Hewson.
She won a Costume Designers Guild Award for Excellence in Costume Design for her
iconic costumes in Wes Anderson’s critically acclaimed The Royal Tenenbaums, starring Gene
Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray, Ben Stiller and Gwyneth Paltrow. She also collaborated
with Anderson on his films Rushmore with Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray and Bottle Rocket
starring Luke and Owen Wilson. She teamed with Seven Psychopaths Production
Designer Dave Wasco on those three films.
Patch has designed the costumes for 33 films including: What to Expect When You're
Expecting; The Back-up Plan; Team America; Richard Linklater's School of Rock with Jack Black; Bad
News Bears with Billy Bob Thornton; Bride Wars starring Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway; The
Love Guru with Mike Meyers and Jessica Alba; How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days starring Kate Hudson
and Matthew McConaughey; You, Me and Dupree with Owen Wilson and Matt Dillon; Night At
The Museum with Ben Stiller; Drillbit Taylor with Owen Wilson; Simpatico; Chatahoochee;
Homeward Bound; The Incredible Journey; Aspen Extreme; My Girl; Bright Angel; and, The Big Picture.
She also designed hundreds of costumes for the international cast of puppets for Trey
Parker and Matt Stone’s World Police.
CARTER BURWELL (Composer), who previously teamed with Seven
Psychopaths Director Martin McDonagh on In Bruges, is known for composing the scores of
all the films directed by the Coen Brothers and Spike Jonze.
Burwell has received 13 awards and 20 nominations for his work including a Golden
Globe for Best Original Score nomination for Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are. He was
nominated for BAFTA’s Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music for the film O Brother, Where Art
Thou? For that film Burwell provided additional music to a score of traditional songs produced
by T-Bone Burnett. He won three ASCAP Awards for The Rookie, The Generals Daughter and
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Conspiracy Theory.
His dramatic score for the television series Mildred Pierce won an Emmy Award for
Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or Special. He received an Emmy
nomination for Outstanding Original Title Theme Music for the series.
He won the Venice Film Festival’ s ROTA Soundtrack Award for Before Night Falls.
He received four nominations for Belgium’s Ghent Festival World Soundtrack Award
for Best Original Soundtrack of the Year for True Grit, Where the Wild Things Are, Burn After
Reading and Before Night Falls. He was also nominated for the festival’s Soundtrack Composer of
the Year Award for A Knight’s Tale, Burn After Reading, Twilight, The Blind Side, The Kids Are Alright,
A Serious Man, Where The Wild Things Are and Howl. He won the festival’s Public Choice Award
for Twilight.
Burwell has also received numerous nominations and awards from critics’ organizations
for True Grit, Gods and Monsters, Where the Wild Things Are, Fargo and O Brother, Where Art Thou?
His work can be heard in Ruben Fleischer’s upcoming Gangster Squad starring Sean Penn
and Ryan Gosling.
Burwell composed the music for 85 feature film and television series. His feature film
credits include: The Coen Brothers films – Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Barton
Fink, Fargo, The Man Who Wasn't There, No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading, True Grit, A
Serious Man; Michael Caton-Jones’ Rob Roy; Mamet’s The Spanish Prisoner; Todd Haynes’ Velvet
Goldmine; David O. Russell’s Three Kings; Jonze’s films – Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Where
The Wild Things Are; Julian Schnabel’s Before Night Falls; Sidney Lumet’s Before The Devil Knows
You're Dead; Catherine Hardwicke’s Twilight; Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right; and Bill
Condon’s Gods and Monsters and Twilight: Breaking Dawn Parts 1 and 2.
GREG NICOTERO (Key Special Effects Makeup Supervisor), co-owner and founder
of KNB EFX Group, Inc., runs one of the most prolific Special Make-Up Effects studios in
Hollywood.
KNB’s contributions to the fantasy characters for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The
Witch and The Wardrobe won the Oscar® and also the British Academy Award for Best
Achievement in Make-Up. Its work on The Cell and Time Machine earned Academy Award®
nominations for Best Make-Up. KNB has won three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Prosthetic
Makeup for the realistic battlefield work on the HBO series The Pacific, for the Sci-Fi Channel’s
Dune and for Frank Darabont’s AMC series The Walking Dead, which has also received two
Emmy nominations.
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KNB also won two Saturn Awards for Best Make-Up from the Academy of Science
Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films for Andrew Adamson’s The Chronicle of Narnia: The Lion, The
Witch and the Wardrobe and John Carpenter’s Vampires. It also received seven Saturn Award
nominations for Adamson’s The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Splice, Drag Me To Hell, The
Book of Eli, Grindhouse, The Hills Have Eyes, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It won the 2005
Hollywood Film Festival Award for Make-Up Of The Year for its work on Sin City.
Founded in 1988, KNB EFX Group specializes in character prosthetics, animatronics,
creatures, and replica animals. Together Nicotero and KNB partner Howard Berger have
amassed more than 700 feature film and television credits including: The Grey, Water for
Elephants, Spy Kids 4, Dolphin Tale, I Am Number 4, Fright Night, Michael Apted’s The Chronicles of
Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, Transformers trilogy,
Tarantino’s Kill Bill 1 & 2, Predators, Splice, The Mist, The Hughes Brothers’ Book of Eli, Drag Me To
Hell, The Last Exorcism, Hostel 1 & 2, Darabont’s The Green Mile, and Piranha 3D, to name a few.
Nicotero was 2nd unit director on the feature films Land of the Lost, The Dead and The
Mist and AMC’s The Walking Dead, on which he was also a consulting producer.
Nicotero wrote and directed the short film The United Monsters Talent Agency, a1950's
newsreel homage to classic monsters to be distributed by AMC.