The writer and director of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri tells how his brilliant new film was conceived.

Den of Geek: So what came first, the billboards or Mildred?

But it stuck in my mind, and I didnt do anything about for 10 years or more.

Because I knew she would be just different, you know?

You have to have some kind of bravery to put those things up, along with rage and pain.

What usually gets a screenplay or a play going, is it a character or an incident?

Its usually character, I think, actually.

Yeah, its more character based.In Bruges, that was the town and the two characters almost simultaneously.

I was in Bruges and wandering around and half thinking this is boring and half thinking is beautiful.

Then the plot fell into place.

And thenSeven Psychopathswas kind of character based too.

So yeah, its always that way.

I never plot things out or structure them beforehand.

(Three Billboards) in particular was completely organic.

I mean, thats the whole story, you know.

Writers will sometimes say that the characters take on their own life and do things that they dont expect.

Does that happen for you?

It certainly feels like that would be the case with this movie especially.

When its going good, writing wise, its all that.

Hopefully at the start, you check that the characters are quite different from each other.

So Sams character in this is quite the opposite of Mildred in a way.

But yeah, the best times of writing are when theyre just running away from you, interacting.

Youre trying to see the human being behind all those details.

And those things will take a film into a completely different place.

This film is sort of about finding hope out of hopelessness.

Does it feel relevant to 2017 and the larger world around us?

It does feel much more zeitgeist-y than Id have ever imagined.

We were filming it just before the election was happening.

But the film doesnt stay in that place, because there is humanity and hope in it.

Could this be a small town anywhere?

If it was set in a small town in Ireland, are the social politics the same there?

I think the size of it, the sort of cinema of it.

The size of the characters too.

I dont think you could believe a Mildred figure in Europe or in Britain.

I dont think you could believe it as much as it’s possible for you to over here.

You saw Francis as Mildred fairly early on.

It was written for her, completely.

What qualities does she have that made you think that?

Shes a brilliant actress.

Shes got a complete integrity, both on screen and off screen.

I like that she doesnt do all the awards stuff.

I like that she cares more about the acting than the publicity side, or the fame side.

Because that shows itself on screen, I think.

You know, she inhabits characters rather than displays them for awards purposes.

But shes got enough of a dexterity with comedy that she doesnt have to overplay the comedy.

Also, we both come from kind of a working class background.

So that was part of it too.

Youve worked with Woody and Sam before inSeven Psychopaths.

Did you see them as Willoughby and Dixon off the bat?

Yeah, very much so.

Sam particularly; his voice was in my mind for both this andSeven Psychos.

I read that you prefer filmmaking to playwriting.

I go back and forth.

Now, the writing of both are kind of equal.

When I write a play, I dont usually direct them.

Ive never directed one.

Whereas its all on you as the director of a film.

But especially with this one, it was the happiest experience of making the three.

And thats partly because the non-interference from the financiers was perfect.

Dreamy (laughs).

So the making of this was pretty joyous.

So Im kind of even about the two now.

But I do love movies more than I love plays.

Do you know what the next movie might be yet?

I kind of want to get Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson back together at some point, in Ireland.

So Ive got a script thats kind of ready, but not as good as it could be.

So thats another thing I kind of want to write.

But I want to have a choice of three films to go before I decide what to do next.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouriis in theaters Friday (November 10).