John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as loose-lipped CIA agents on a mission to test their trust and loyalty on Easter Island quickly find trouble in paradise in the trailer for Wild Horse Nine, the latest film from director Martin McDonagh.
The pair’s visit off the coast of Chile comes ahead of a planned 1973 military coup d’etat in that country, a change of power that could potentially be in jeopardy if Malkovich as wisecracking agent Chris blows their cover. That prompts Lee, played by Rockwell, at one point in the trailer to ask: “Okay, listen up. Can we just keep a low profile while we’re here?”
Doesn’t happen, naturally, as dark pasts and a looming coup lead to blowback from their CIA bureau chief, played by Steve Buscemi, gunfire and a team of stampeding horses on a highway.
McDonagh’s skill at crisp dialogue and character in his movies is evident in the opening scene for the teaser trailer where Chris boasts of his body count as an assassin worldwide, which has Lee warning against talk of killing people on an airplane.
Wild Horse Nine also stars Parker Posey, Tom Waits and Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas as rebellious students. The movie is McDonagh’s first since Banshees of Inisherin — another dark comedy that starred Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson — and he wrote the Wild Horse Nine script and helmed the feature for Searchlight.
Wild Horse Nine is produced by Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, McDonagh and Anita Overland.