Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri to close LFF

Michael McDonagh, Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell expected to attend.

by Amber Wilkinson

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri Photo: Courtesy of London Film Festival

Michael McDonagh's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, will close the 61st edition of the London Film Festival on October 15.

It is expected that the director and stars Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell will attend the screening, which will be the UK premiere after it makes its debut in Venice this August.

The film charts the story of Mildred Hayes (McDormand), who decides to take matters into her own hands after her daughter's murder remains unsolved after months - taking on the town's police chief William Willoughby (Woody Harrelson). When his second-in-command Officer Dixon (Rockwell), an immature mother’s boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing’s law enforcement goes from bad to worse.

The film also features Abbie Cornish, Lucas Hedges, Zeljko Ivanek, Caleb Landry Jones, Clarke Peters, Samara Weaving, John Hawkes and Peter Dinklage.

LFF director Clare Stewart said: “We are thrilled to be closing the 61st BFI London Film Festival with Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. By turns riotously funny and deeply sobering, this all-too-relevant film confronts division and conflict in small-town America and is driven by a blistering performance from Frances McDormand.”

McDonagh added: “I’m excited to bring this film back to my home town for its UK premiere. I’m more than proud of it and if there are any fans of In Bruges still out there, I don’t think they’ll be disappointed.”

The festival has previously announced that the European premiere of The Battle Of The Sexes, starring Emma Stone, will be the American Express gala. The full line-up will be announced on August 31.

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