Wild Horse Nine

 

Martin McDonagh: Wild Horse Nine (CL/US 2026). In the crosshairs: Sam Rockwell (Lee) and John Malkovich (Chris). Below: Parker Posey (Marge), Steve Buscemi (MJ), Mariana de Girólamo (Monica) and Ailín Salas (Alicia).

Fiche technique

    US/GB/CL © 2026 Searchlight Pictures. Sociétés de production : Blueprint Pictures, Film4 et Searchlight Pictures. Production : Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin, Martin McDonagh et Anita Overland. Production exécutive : Ben Knight et Diarmuid McKeown.

Réalisation et scénario : Martin McDonagh

Photographie : Ben Davis – shot on digital with some 16 mm and 8 mm footage – colour – scope

Direction artistique : Mercedes Alfonsín

Décors : Denis Schnegg

Costumes : Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh

Musique : Carter Burwell

Montage : Mikkel E. G. Nielsen

    Distribution

John Malkovich : Chris Carlisle, ancien agent de la CIA

Sam Rockwell : Lee Chesterfield, agent de la CIA et protégé de Chris

Steve Buscemi : MJ, chef de bureau de la CIA en poste au Chili

Tom Waits : Jim, le frère de Chris

Parker Posey : Marge, l'épouse de Lee

Mariana Di Girólamo : Monica, une étudiante

Ailín Salas : Alicia, une étudiante

Morgan Grace Shamp : une adolescente

Samuel Hayt : un adolescent

Aron Hernández : Víctor Jara

    Locations : Rapa Nui (= Easter Island), Santiago de Chile, Moab and Monument Valley (Utah)

    Langue originale : anglais

    Genre : comédie noire, espionnage et thriller

    Durée : 118 minutes

    Sociétés de distribution : Searchlight Pictures (États-Unis) et The Walt Disney Company (France)

    Dates de sortie :

Festival premiere Italy : 3 septembre 2026 (Mostra de Venise)

Festival premiere US : 4 Sep 2026 (Telluride)

France : 4 novembre 2026

Royaume-Uni, États-Unis : 6 novembre 2026

Finnish premiere: 6 Nov 2026 – distributor: The Walt Disney Company Nordic – Finnish / Swedish subtitles: Timo Porri / Janne Staffans

    Viewed at Finnkino Tennispalatsi Luxe 7, Helsinki, 6 Nov 2026

TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL, 4 SEP 2026. H/Fri 8:45PM - C/Sat 9AM - P/Sat 6:45PM Q&A. 9a Wild Horse Nine. Made possible by a donation from Roger Durling. Made possible by a donation from The Kiernan Family. Larry Gross (TFF 2026): "Chile, 1973: after Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell), two veteran CIA operatives, wrap up a subversive undercover mission—destabilizing the democratically elected Allende and prepping his opponents for a military coup—they head to Easter Island on a mission, where Chris hopes to write his memoir. An encounter with two students (Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas) hastens the erosion of their trust. Chris and Lee’s back-and-forth banter—a mix of nostalgic camaraderie and acerbic oneupmanship brilliantly performed by Malkovich and Rockwell—makes Martin McDonagh’s film a satirically funny buddy film for the ages, rivaling his own THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN. But McDonagh never shies from his clear-eyed and caustic view of the tragic consequences of America’s cynical, destructive interventions abroad: This is a comedy with blood on its hands. Parker Posey, Steve Buscemi and Tom Waits provide dazzling support." –LG (Chile/U.S., 2026, 118m) In person: Martin McDonagh, John Malkovich

AA: One of the finest films of the year, Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine is the story of the last trip of a CIA veteran, Chris Carlisle (John Malkovich), a demented morphine addict at a terminal stage of cancer. He is accompanied by his protégé Lee Chesterfield (Sam Rockwell) who has promised to perform the mercy killing for him when the time is right.

At the airport of Santiago de Chile, about to embark on a flight to Easter Island, they meet two young women, Monica (Mariana di Girólamo) and Alicia (Ailín Salas), who are enthusiastic about the victory of Salvador Allende, the first democratically elected Socialist President in the world. The women are offended by the cynical warnings of Chris, whom they scornfully suspect of being a CIA agent.

Indeed. Chris with his incoherent ramblings is turning into a loose cannon, revealing for strangers plans for the 11 September 1973 military coup. During the trip Chris dictates his memoirs which amount to a history of the CIA, with insider confessions about U.S. imperialism across the globe: coup d'état in Guatemala where Jacobo Árbenz tried to protect his country's interests against the United Fruit Company, involvement in the assassination of Patrice Lumumba in Congo in 1971 ("I loved Lumumba"), Bay of Pigs... and Dallas, 1963. 

Chris is carrying "the smoking gun", the long lost Dallas sniper rifle, which becomes crucial in the denouement. He even holds 8 mm footage about the Kennedy assassination shot from the front angle, to be used as leverage.

Wild Horse Nine is a tall tale connecting assassinations of three leaders (Lumumba, Kennedy, Allende), told by a notoriously untrustworthy narrator. Chris is darkly aware of the evil he has done. "We killed democracy in Africa for the next 50 years". Dallas: "You never should have killed him. The whole country has gone to shit since".

Cynical as Chris may be, the encounter with Monica and Alicia moves him. He saves Monica's life and gives her priceless advice. In the movie's dramaturgy, Chris and Lee are figures of the past, while Monica and Alicia represent the promise of the future.

The grandeur of the landscapes of the Easter Island and Monument Valley puts the violent story in the perspective of eternity. As do the human monoliths of the island juxtaposed with the sandstone buttes of the Colorado Plateau.

McDonagh sets in motion a current which seems tranquil but achieves an iron grip. The action has the relaxed accuracy of a professional. McDonagh avoids the excess and the meta-consciousness of the mainstream action movies of recent decades and instead builds on classic styles of masters such as Don Siegel.

Wild Horse Nine is pure cinema.

The dialogue is thick with expletives. Timo Porri translates it with inspiration into juicy Finnish.

...

SOUNDTRACK LISTING FROM IMDb

Gracias a la Vida

written by Violeta Parra Sandoval

Published by: Warner Chappell Music Argentina (SADAIC)

Courtesy of: Isabel Parra and Fundación Violeta Parra

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

performed by Hank Williams

written by Hank Williams Sr.

Published by: Sony Music Publishing

Courtesy of: Mercury Nashville

Island in the Sun

performed by Harry Belafonte

written by Harry Belafonte, Irving Burgie

Published by: Sony Music Publishing, Caribe Music, BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited, Reservoir Media Music

Courtesy of: RCA Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment

Ein Wahrheitslied

performed by Tölzer Knabenchor, Kölner Kinderchor

written by Carl Orff, Gunild Keetman

Published by: Schott Music, Mainz, Germany, BMG Entertainment

Courtesy of: Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited

Out of Time

performed by The Rolling Stones

written by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards

Published by: ABKCO Music Ltd, BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited

Courtesy of: ABKCO Music & Records, Inc

Zaunkönigs Winterklage

performed by Tölzer Knabenchor, Kölner Kinderchor

written by Carl Orff, Gunild Keetman

Published by: Schott Music, Mainz, Germany, BMG Entertainment

Courtesy of: Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited

Die Bettelfrau singt das kranke Kind in Schlaf

performed by Tölzer Knabenchor, Kölner Kinderchor

written by Carl Orff, Gunild Keetman

Published by: Schott Music, Mainz, Germany, BMG Entertainment

Courtesy of: Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited

Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)

performed by Diana Ross

written by Gerry Goffin, Michael Masser

Published by: Screen Gems-EMI Music Inc, Jobete Music Co Inc

Courtesy of: Motown Record Company L.P.

Cartas marcadas

performed by Rene Inostroza

written by Jesus Ramirez Monge

Published by: Promotora Hispano America De Musica, S.A

Courtesy of: CBS Records Ltd

Las campanas del rosario

performed by Rene Inostroza

Courtesy of: CBS Records Ltd

Both Sides Now

performed by Judy Collins

written by Joni Mitchell

Published by: TRO – Westminster Music Ltd.

Courtesy of: Warner Music UK Ltd.

Priests

performed by Judy Collins

written by Leonard Cohen

Published by: Sony Music Publishing LLC, BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited

Courtesy of: Warner Music UK Ltd.

Gracias a la vida

performed by Nicolás Patricio Carreño Castro

written by Violeta Parra Sandoval

Published by: Warner Chappell Music Argentina (SADAIC)

Some Other Wonder (No Vocal Version)

performed by Colman Brothers

written by Mat Colman, Andrew Colman, Sara Colman

Published by: Cacophony Ltd.

Courtesy of: Colman Brothers

Volver a los 17

performed by Nicolás Patricio Carreño Castro, María Catalina Plaza Antunovic

written by Violeta Parra Sandoval

Published by: Warner Chappell Music Argentina (SADAIC)

Blaserstucke: Pastourelle – Passion

performed by Tölzer Knabenchor, Kölner Kinderchor

written by Carl Orff, Gunild Keetman

Published by: Schott Music, Mainz, Germany, BMG Entertainment

Courtesy of: Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited

Remember the Alamo

written by Jane Bowers

Published by: Vidor Publications

Both Sides Now

performed by John Malkovich

written by Joni Mitchell

Published by: TRO – Westminster Music Ltd.

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

performed by John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell

written by Hank Williams Sr.

Published by: Sony Music Publishing