McDonagh calls 'Wild Horse Nine' his most political film at Zurich
Martin McDonagh has called 'Wild Horse Nine' probably his most political film.
He made the remark while receiving the A Tribute to... Award at the Zurich Film Festival, as reported by Variety. The writer-director built his screen career on crime stories. This one turns to history.
'Wild Horse Nine' is a black comedy about two CIA agents, played by John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, who travel to Easter Island before the 1973 Chilean coup. One of the men faces an existential crisis over his past actions, according to festival listings. The story plays out among the Moai statues of Rapa Nui. Zurich lists the English-language film at 118 minutes and describes it as a political thriller brimming with dark humour, per the Zurich Film Festival.
McDonagh said lines he wrote about 1973 are now heard by modern audiences as references to Venezuela a few months ago. He pointed to a second echo. Jokes about Russian interventions in Finland 100 years ago now connect to Ukraine.
The film is bowing at Zurich with a Gala Premiere. McDonagh accepted the tribute award in person at that screening. He also took part in a ZFF Masters conversation on Sept. 26, 2026.
He joked in Zurich: "I used to be a hit man. It was plays, killing and then films." The line nods to his path. He left school at 16 and spent a long stretch unemployed while trying to become a writer. Radio plays he sent out were rejected, mostly by the BBC.
His 2004 short 'Six Shooter' won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. He later made 'In Bruges', with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two hitmen hiding out after a mission goes wrong. Those crime roots still frame how he talks about his work.
What makes this stand out is the scale. The earlier films stayed close to small groups under pressure. Here the pressure comes from states and history.
'Wild Horse Nine' is written and directed by McDonagh and produced by Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and McDonagh. Distributor Searchlight Pictures lists the cinema release for Nov. 6, 2026.
