Martin McDonagh says CIA has ‘done awful things all around the world’

McDonagh's new film, Wild Horse Nine, stars John Malkovich as an agent in 1970s Chile who feels guilt and regret' over his role in global interventions

The US's history of intervening in democratic processes around the world deserves more attention in the light of current political developments, playwright and film-maker Martin McDonagh has said, as his Oscar-tipped film about a rueful CIA agent premieres at the Venice film festival.

I've been very interested in the truth of what the CIA has been doing over the last 60 years, and the awful things they've done all around the world," McDonagh said about Wild Horse Nine, his first film since his 2022 tragicomedy The Banshees of Inisherin. I think maybe something that's not talked about enough. We know what the KGB are like, but we probably don't question the CIA's activity as much as we ought to."