The Second Death

John Michael McDonagh is an English-born film director and screenwriter of Irish descent. He wrote and directed The Guard and the upcoming Calvary. His brother is the playwright and filmmaker Martin McDonagh.

Films

McDonagh made his first foray into writing and directing with The Second Death, a short film released in 2000. Next McDonagh adapted Robert Drewe’s 1991 novel Our Sunshine into the screenplay for the 2003 film Ned Kelly, which was directed by Gregor Jordan.

McDonagh gained considerable attention in 2011, with the theatrical release of his feature film directorial debut The Guard, starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle. The film received critical acclaim, with a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and went on to become the most financially successful independent Irish film of all time.

Filmography

Future projects

McDonagh’s next film will be Calvary, a blackly comic drama about a good priest tormented by his community. Brendan Gleeson will play the main character.

McDonagh is currently developing several projects to follow Calvary. One is War on Everyone, a higher-budget film about two corrupt policemen in the Deep South. Another is The Bonnot Gang, a period gangster film based on the true story of a group of French anarchist bank robbers who operated before World War I. McDonagh has described this film as “a cross between The Wild Bunch and Le Samourai.” McDonagh is also developing Chaos Inc, a television series about a Buddhist private investigator based in Las Vegas. —Wikipedia