Searchlight Pictures has released a new trailer for Martin McDonagh's 'Wild Horse Nine,' offering the clearest look yet at a film that folds espionage, political upheaval and McDonagh's trademark black humour into a story set on one of the world's most remote and symbolically charged landscapes. The film stars John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as veteran CIA operatives dispatched to Easter Island shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup, with the mission quickly becoming entangled in personal betrayals, revolutionary politics and the uneasy history between the two men.
Written and directed by McDonagh, 'Wild Horse Nine' follows Chris, played by Malkovich, and Lee, played by Rockwell, as they are sent from Santiago by their bureau chief MJ, portrayed by Steve Buscemi, on what initially appears to be a routine assignment. The trailer suggests otherwise almost immediately. The pair's trip to see the island's famous Moai statues becomes a pressure cooker of suspicion and moral compromise, with Chris developing a bond with two young rebels played by Mariana Di Girolamo and AilĂn Salas. As Chris begins revealing secrets from his CIA past, the relationship between the two agents grows increasingly strained.
The trailer leans into the tonal territory that has become synonymous with McDonagh's work: sharp dialogue, dark comedy and sudden violence. Chris is presented as unusually candid about his work and seemingly uninterested in preserving the secrecy that defines Lee's more controlled approach. Their exchanges hint at a long and complicated partnership, one that is being tested not only by the mission but by the political reality closing in around them. The historical setting gives the story added weight, placing the characters alongside the events that led to the military coup which brought Augusto Pinochet to power in Chile.
The supporting cast adds further intrigue. Alongside Buscemi, Di Girolamo and Salas, the film includes Tom Waits and Parker Posey, extending a cast that blends McDonagh regulars with actors known for bringing eccentricity and edge to their roles. Behind the camera, McDonagh has assembled a familiar creative team. Carter Burwell, who previously scored 'In Bruges,' 'Seven Psychopaths' and 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,' returns to provide the music. Ben Davis serves as cinematographer, while Mikkel E. G. Nielsen handles editing.
'Wild Horse Nine' also marks a reunion between McDonagh and Rockwell after 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,' the 2017 film that earned Rockwell the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. For McDonagh, it is the latest feature following 'The Banshees of Inisherin,' which received nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. The new film premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival before screening at Telluride and Toronto, signalling that it is being positioned not just as a commercial release but as a serious awards-season contender.
McDonagh has said the story grew out of his longstanding interest in the CIA's activities in Chile during the 1970s and from a trip he made to Easter Island. He developed the setting through several iterations before combining the political backdrop with the relationship between Chris and Lee, a pairing that appears central to the film's emotional and dramatic engine. That blend of geopolitical history and intimate character conflict has long been one of McDonagh's strengths, and the trailer suggests he is once again using genre elements to probe loyalty, guilt and the absurdity of power.
With its mix of historical tension, star power and McDonagh's distinctive sensibility, 'Wild Horse Nine' arrives as one of the more unusual and potentially provocative titles on the release calendar. The film opens in theatres on November 6.