" THE GUARD " Written & Directed by John Michael McDonagh Official Selection: 2011 Sundance Film Festival 2011 Tribeca Film Festival 96 min | Release Date (NY & LA): 07/29/2011 THE GUARD is a comedic fish-out-of-water tale of murder, blackmail, drug trafficking and rural police corruption. Two policemen must join forces to take on an international drug-smuggling gang - one, an unorthodox Irish policeman and the other, a straitlaced FBI agent. Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleason) is an eccentric small-town cop with a confrontational and crass personality and a subversive sense of humor. A longtime policeman in County Galway, Boyle is a maverick with his own moral code. He has seen enough of the world to know there isn’t much to it and has had plenty of time to think about it. When a fellow police officer disappears and Boyle’s small town becomes key to a large drug trafficking investigation, he is forced to at least feign interest when dealing with the humorless FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) assigned to the case. Left to run his territory to his liking for many years, he is not at all impressed when the FBI comes to town. Agent Everett has led an American life of privilege, complete with the highest levels of formal education. Consumed with his pursuit of justice, Everett has no interest in the district of Connemara other than as a backdrop to solve the case. He underestimates the townspeople, especially Sergeant Boyle. Everett looks down on Boyle as a low-level provincial policeman with a limited and flippant view of the world. Boyle sees Everett as a by-the-book policeman with a chip on his shoulder and no understanding of how the real world runs. Despite the fact that Boyle seems more interested in mocking and undermining Everett than in actively working to solve the case, Boyle finds that circumstances keep pulling him back into the thick of it. First, his tiresomely enthusiastic new partner disappears. Then his favorite hooker attempts to blackmail him into turning a blind eye to the case. Finally the drug-traffickers he’s trying to find try to buy him off - as they have every other member of the local police force. As unconventional as Boyle is, these events unwittingly offend his murky moral code. He realizes that he needs to take matters into his own hands, and that Everett is the only person he can trust. And so the scene is set for an unlikely friendship and explosive finale. THE GUARD stars Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, David Wilmot, Rory Keenan, Mark Strong, Fionnula Flanagan, Dominique McElligott, Sarah Greene and Katarina Cas. Shot by Larry Smith against the epic grandeur of Ireland, the scenery juxtaposes with the inventive soundtrack from Americana/alternative country band Calexico. Written by John Michael McDonagh (Ned Kelly), THE GUARD marks McDonagh’s feature directorial debut. The film is produced by Chris Clark, Flora Fernandez Marengo, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe; Executive produced by Martin McDonagh, Don Cheadle, Lenore Zerman, Ralph Kamp, Tim Smith, Paul Brett, David Nash.
"A raucous comedy!" --Dave Karger, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY! LIZ GALLACHER (Music Supervisor) started her career as a music researcher and associate producer for a number of UK-based TV companies. She then created Liz Gallacher Music Supervision in 1996 and quickly established herself as one of the most experienced and creatively diverse music supervisors in film and television today. Her work on projects such as The Full Monty (winner of a Brit Award for Best Soundtrack) and Resident Evil (Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance) has garnered praise from producers, directors and the press. 24 Hour Party People was short-listed for Film Music at the 2003 NME Awards. Liz's film credits also include the Oscar®-winning documentary One Day in September, the Golden Globe® winner The Gathering Storm and feature films such as Layer Cake, Calendar Girls and Bend It Like Beckham. Her recent film credits include The Damned United, Is Anybody There?, Fishtank and the Sundance 2009 award-winning documentaries, We Live In Public (Grand Jury Prize: US Documentary) and The Cove (Audience Award: US Documentary). CALEXICO (Music) is a rock band based in Tucson, Arizona and is named after the border town of Calexico, California. The band's two main members, Joey Burns and John Convertino, first played together in Los Angeles as part of the group Giant Sand. They have recorded a number of albums on Quarterstick Records, while their 2005 EP In the Reins, recorded with Iron & Wine reached the Billboard 200 album charts. Their musical style is influenced by traditional sounds of mariachi/Tejano music and the music of the Southwestern United States and they have been described by some as indie rock. Calexico had its origins in 1990 when Burns, who was studying music at the University of California in Irvine, met up with Convertino, who was playing drums with Howe Gelb in Giant Sand. Burns joined them, after first playing upright bass on a European tour. Giant Sand moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1994. John and Joey formed the Friends of Dean Martin (later the Friends of Dean Martinez) which scored a record deal with Sub Pop. However, the pair split up with Bill Elm, the co-founder of The Friends of Dean Martinez in 1996. The band subsequently became a kind of indie rhythm section for hire, working with the likes of Victoria Williams, Barbara Manning and Richard Buckner before forming Calexico. Their most recent album is Carried To Dust and their music was previously featured in the German film Lammbock. © 2011 Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved.
THE GUARD (World Dramatic Competition): TRAILER #1 (VOSTFR) - TRAILER #2 (VOSTFR) - TRAILER (VO) - SELECTED CLIPS FOR SUNDANCE (VO): " CONFERENCE" - " DON & BRENDAN BREAKFAST" - " DON & BRENDAN DRUNK AT BAR" - " CONFESSION" - " VILLAINS" - CLIPS REEL: " STREET VALUE" - " DISNEY WORLD" - " DAY OFF" - " GAELIC" - " IT HURTS" -