Meet Martin McDonagh’s new bickering besties, Rockwell and Malkovich, in the Wild Horse Nine trailer

John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell join the pantheon of gruesome twosomes written and directed by Martin McDonagh for Wild Horse Nine, opening this November.

By Matt Schimkowitz  |  March 19, 2026 | 11:38am
Photo by Searchlight Pictures/Diego Araya Corvalán,
Film News Martin McDonagh
Meet Martin McDonagh’s new bickering besties, Rockwell and Malkovich, in the Wild Horse Nine trailer

After winning a few Oscars with the drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, writer-director Martin McDonagh got back to what he’s really good at: Two-handers between an annoying guy and an annoyed guy. The Banshees Of Inisherin reunited his In Bruges couple, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, for a finger-tossing good time in Ireland. With his upcoming new film, Wild Horse Nine, McDonagh is taking his Oscar-winning Three Billboards star, Sam Rockwell, and pairing him with one of Hollywood’s great assholes, John Malkovich, as a couple of loudmouth CIA agents. 

Here’s the synopsis:

Shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup, CIA agents Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell) are dispatched from Santiago to Easter island by their bureau chief, MJ (Steve Buscemi). Amongst the Island’s iconic statues, and as the longtime partners wrestle with their dark pasts and present conspiracies, Chris’s newfound bond with a pair of rebellious students (Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas) threatens to send everyone’s trip to this remote paradise sideways.

Unsurprisingly, McDonagh has amassed a worthy supporting cast as well, including Steve Buscemi, Mariana di Girolamo, Ailín Salas, Tom Waits, and Parker Posey. Yeah, we’re going to need to hear Tom Waits reading McDonagh’s dialogue immediately, but unfortunately we’ll have to wait until the fall. 

Wild Horse Nine opens on November 6.

 

 
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