What begins as a series of public ads turns into an all-out war with the patriarchy in Ebbing.
That includes the Catholic Church, an institution that the Ireland-born McDonagh knows well.
We had already set up the cops, her main antagonists, McDonagh said.
Then its like, Who else is in authority in a small town?
Or who else do I as a writer want to tear a new ahole out of?
Obviously, the Catholic Church always springs to mind.
Below, McDonagh elaborates on the creation of the scene and Mildreds monologue.
I dont put hardly any sort of stage directions or image stuff into the script itself.
Theres hardly anything in the script because its mostly dialogue and very minor character details.
After a script is written, I always go off and storyboard it on my own.
Ive got it side-by-side with the script on each shooting day.
Martin the Writer is in the bar.
The main inspiration for the scene was to have Mildred going against another form of authority.
Obviously, the strength of her voice was going to have to counter that.
I just always had the knowledge of those laws in my mind as not being quite fair.
Thats the Catholic church, so it seems like a no-brainer now.
Even in my plays, I dont really have speeches as long as that.
It always was a centerpiece of the writing.
I know for Frances, it was the biggie.
Its the big monologue that was always sort of hanging over her.
Obviously, she had to memorize it in full.
On the page, it looked like a lot, but it was there for a reason.
That was part of the joy of writing it.
How long can you delay the punch in the guts to the priest?
He almost says nothing throughout.
But theres a sweet and more sarcastic way to finish, and that was with Robbie.
