Biographie

Frequently integrates dark comedy into his films

Frequently collaborates with Brendan Gleeson

Frequently uses actors who have also appeared in the orignal runs of his stage plays

Realistic and gory violence

Frequently mentions Vietnam and the Vietnamese people in his films.

At the age of 27 he was the first playwright since Shakespeare to have four plays running simultaneously in London's West-End

His greatest influences are not in theatre but film. He cites Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Terrence Malick and Quentin Tarantino.

In a relationship with writer and actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge since 2018.

Directed 7 Oscar nominated performances: Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan, and Kerry Condon. McDormand and Rockwell won for their performances in Trois affiches tout près d'Ebbing, Missouri (2017).

Although all his plays except for the Pillowman are based in Ireland and he regards himself as an Anglo-Irish playwright he has never lived full time in Ireland.

I can't stand up in front of people. It just fills me with horror.

I've been on a treadmill of plays in London and here [New York]. It's a great treadmill to be on, but I finally had to step back and maybe live a little bit more and grow up and travel and see what kind of writer or person I've become.

I suppose I walk that line between comedy and cruelty because I think one illuminates the other. We're all cruel, aren't we? We are all extreme in one way or another at times and that's what drama, since the Greeks, has dealt with. I hope the overall view isn't just that though, or I've failed in my writing. There have to be moments when you glimpse something decent, something life-affirming even in the most twisted character. That's where the real art lies.

Bienvenue à Bruges (2008) was relentless and exhausting. I had to deal with them [Focus Films, the production company] trying to change anything they could change. And Focus are supposed to be supportive, indie-filmmaker-friendly people. Scumbags. It was constant war, but they never won.[2015]

...the amount of control for a playwright is almost infinite, so you have that control over the finished product. But in film, you're the lowest form of life. So that was half of the job of directing, was not letting someone else come in and fuck it up. And then the other half is to learn how the hell you actually do it, which is another kettle of fish.[2012]