Oscar nominated film director Martin McDonagh has admitted he found it “hurtful” when critics called his movie, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, “racist”.
The flick suffered backlash because of its storyline involving a racist cop (played by Sam Rockwell) who finds redemption – but many critics thought the film was sympathetic towards Rockwell’s character
McDonagh said that the backlash was “hurtful.”
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He said: “I could see where that debate could come from.
“But I thought it was not seeing what I see in the film. The bait in the whole idea was: what’s a villain and what’s a hero? But I don’t know.
"Basically, if someone’s calling your film racist, and you wrote and directed it, that means they’re calling you a racist. And I’ve always been so anti-that, that, yes, it’s hurtful. No one wants to be called that,” he told the Guardian in a recent interview.
McDonagh’s new film The Banshees of Inisherin are among the "frontrunners" for Best Picture and Best Screenplay nominations, with the London Irish filmmaker also among the "major threats" for a Best Director nod at the Oscars.
Both McDonagh and Farrell were among the winners at the Venice International Film Festival earlier this month when their dark comedy made its world premiere.
The Banshees of Inisherin will be in cinemas from Friday 21 October. Women Talking is due to open on Friday 10 February 2023.
The Oscar nominations will be revealed on Tuesday 24 January 2023.
The 95th Academy Awards will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday 12 March next year.
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