Martin McDonagh, In Bruges

A blistering success at 26 with his dark Irish drama The Beauty Queen of Lenane, Olivier-winning playwright Martin McDonagh turns filmmaker, writing and directing In Bruges, which opened the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and stars three very good and rightly famous Irish actors, Coliln Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes. Set in Belguim's exquisitely preserved medieval town, In Bruges is another dark tale of hitman in hiding that is balanced by black humor and a supporting cast that features a dwarf, a prostitute, a movie in progress, a pregnant innkeeper and a lamentably smug Bruges tower keeper. McDonagh talks of why he's waited 11 years to make his first feature, his inspiration and why he didn't copy Tom DiCillo's Living in Oblivion.

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