THREE BILLBOARDS
OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
Martin McDonagh
Contents
Title Page
Main Cast and Crew
Screenplay
Also by the Author
Copyright
MAIN CAST AND CREW
FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES AND FILM4
present
A BLUEPRINT PICTURES PRODUCTION
A MARTIN MCDONAGH FILM
MILDRED Frances McDormand
WILLOUGHBY Woody Harrelson
DIXON Sam Rockwell
ANNE Abbie Cornish
ROBBIE Lucas Hedges
DESK SERGEANT Željko Ivanek
RED WELBY Caleb Landry Jones
ABERCROMBIE Clarke Peters
PENELOPE Samara Weaving
with
John Hawkes as CHARLIE
and
Peter Dinklage as JAMES
Written and Directed by Martin McDonagh
Produced by Graham Broadbent
Pete Czernin
Martin McDonagh
Executive Producers Bergen Swanson
Diarmuid McKeown
Rose Garnett
David Kosse
Daniel Battsek
Director of Photography Ben Davis, BSC
Production Designer Inbal Weinberg
Film Editor Jon Gregory, ACE
Costume Designer Melissa Toth
Music by Carter Burwell
Co-Produce Ben Knight
Casting by Sarah Halley Finn, CSA
Three Billboards
Outside Ebbing, Missouri
EXT. BILLBOARD ROAD – DAY
Mildred Hayes, a woman in her early fifties, driving along a country road, passes an old billboard, roadside. Whatever advert was on it is long since faded and torn. Mildred drives on, to a second billboard a few hundred feet along the road.
She notices this one a little more, though its old adverts are equally ramshackle. She slows to a stop.
After looking up at the billboard a while, she slowly reverses and stops at the first, then looks at all three, stretching away to the quiet horizon.
Makes a mental note of EBBING BILLBOARD ADVERTISING, then drives on again, leaving the three old billboards alone like tombstones on the dusty road.
INT. WELBY’S OFFICE, EBBING ADVERTISING – DAY
Red Welby’s office, window looking on to Main Street and the town’s police station. Red, a cool-looking young guy, pretends to read a Penguin Classic as he observes the office hottie, Pamela, pass in a cute dress. Mildred strides on in.
MILDRED
You Red Welby?
RED
Yes, ma’am. How may I …?
MILDRED
They said those three billboards out on Drinkwater Road, you’re in charge of renting them out, that right?
RED
I didn’t know we had any billboards out on … Where is Drinkwater Road?
MILDRED
Road out past the Sizemore turn-off no one uses since the highway got put in.
Red checks a file. Mildred observes a beetle on its back on the windowsill, trying to right itself.
RED
You’re right. Got three billboards out there. Nobody’s put nothing up out there since …… 1986. That was ‘Huggies’.
MILDRED
How much to rent out all three of ’em the year?
RED
The year? You wanna pay for three billboards on a road no one goes down unless they got lost or they’re retards, for a year?
MILDRED
Quick, ain’t ya, Welby?
RED
Well … since what I say goes these days down at the Ebbing Advertising Desk, I’m gonna strike you a real good deal on those billboards, now, what was it you said your name was, Mrs …?
MILDRED
What’s the law on what ya can and can’t say on a billboard? I assume it’s ya can’t say nothing defamatory, and ya can’t say, ‘fuck’, ‘piss’ or ‘cunt’. That right?
RED
(taken aback)
Or … ‘anus’.
MILDRED
Well, I think I’ll be alright then. Here’s five thousand for the first month. I assume that’ll cover it.
She plonks down five thousand dollars cash.
And here’s what the billboards oughta say.
She hands him three index cards, then moves to the window. He reads the first, the second, the third. Stunned.
MILDRED
Why don’t ya draw up a little contract betwixt us while you’re at it, make sure no one rents them billboards out from under me?
Welby looks up at her sadly.
RED
I guess you’re Angela Hayes’ mother.
MILDRED
That’s right, I’m Angela Hayes’ mother.
Mildred, at window, gently sets the beetle back upright. It waddles off happily. Behind it, the US flag flutters above the police station, as a couple of laughing cops enter it.
MILDRED
Name’s Mildred. How long before you’ve got ’em put up?
RED
(checking calendar)
Oh, shall we say by … Easter Sunday?
Mildred stares out at the police station.
MILDRED
That’d be perfect.
EXT. COP CAR DRIVING ON BILLBOARD ROAD – NIGHT
Officer Dixon, thirty-five, drives up the billboard road and approaches, from behind, the third billboard. Two Latino workmen work on it, buckets and squeegees. As he passes he looks up at the posters on it, double-takes, screeches to a halt.
The billboard reads, in large, stark letters HOW COME, CHIEF WILLOUGHBY?
DIXON
Hey! What the hell’s this?!
LATINO
Que?
DIXON
‘How come, Chief Willoughby?’ what?
LATINO
What?
DIXON
Yeah!
LATINO
Huh?
DIXON
How come what?
LATINO
What?!
DIXON
Listen, I better start getting some straight answers outta you Mexican sons of bitches …
The second Latino has pointed to the distant second billboard, making an odd little gesture, and Dixon looks over …
Dixon’s point-of-view: the back of the second billboard, and the black guy finishing up with the posters there. End point-of-view.
Dixon sighs, drives off towards it.
EXT. BILLBOARD ROAD, SECOND BILLBOARD – CONTINUOUS
Dixon swings his car around to the front of the billboard. It reads AND STILL NO ARRESTS? The black guy, Jerome, is emptying out his buckets.
DIXON
(to himself)
What the Hell is this? (To Jerome.) Hey you? What the fuck is this?
JEROME
What the fuck is what?
DIXON
This! This!
Jerome turns around and reads, as if for the first time.
JEROME
Advertising, I guess.
DIXON
Advertising what?
Jerome reads it again.
JEROME
Something obscure?
DIXON
I’ll say!
JEROME
Don’t I know your face from some place?
DIXON
I dunno, do ya?
JEROME
Yeah. Yeah, I do.
Jerome spits on the ground, looks at him with disdain. Dixon stares back; a vicious edge between them.
DIXON
I could arrest yo
u right now, if I wanted to.
JEROME
For what?
DIXON
For … emptying out your bucket there. It’s against the … being-bad-against-the-environment laws.
JEROME
Well, before you do that, Officer Dixon, why don’t you go have yourself a look at that first billboard over there, and then we can have ourself a talk about the motherfucking environment. How about that?
Dixon looks at the distant first billboard, standing all alone, back to us, the dark sky behind it. Dixon sighs, starts his car, pulls away.
We go with him, staying on his face, as he comes to the first billboard and slowly stops in front of it. His face falls.
DIXON
Fuck me.
He takes out his cellphone, and presses ‘Willoughby (home)’.
INT. WILLOUGHBY HOUSE – CONTINUOUS
Chief of Police BillWilloughby, fifty, having dinner with his young wife, Anne, mid-thirties, and his two daughters, Polly, five, and Jane, seven. The telephone rings.
ANNE
Don’t, William …
Willoughby, sheepish, answers it.
WILLOUGHBY
Dixon, you goddam asshole, I’m in the middle of my goddam Easter dinner …
EXT. BILLBOARD ROAD, THIRD BILLBOARD – CONTINUOUS
Dixon is out of the car now, pacing.
DIXON
I know, Chief, and I’m sorry for calling ya at home and all, but uh, I think we’ve got kind of a problem …
As Dixon passes out of frame, the first billboard is revealed. It reads RAPED WHILE DYING.
Wide shot of the three billboards stretching away to the distance.
EXT. BILLBOARD ROAD – DAY
Mildred drives Robbie, her seventeen-year-old son, past the billboards – checking his reaction. He sees them but gives nothing away.
EXT. SCHOOL – DAY
She drops him at school. He heads off without a goodbye.
EXT. MAIN STREET – DAY
She drives up Main Street. Sees activity outside the police station – Willoughby with his Desk Sergeant, forcibly telling Dixon to stay behind, then crossing street to Red’s place.
EXT. GIFT SHOP – DAY
She continues to the other end of town, a gift shop she works at. Mildred’s co-worker, Denise, black, twenty-eight, smokes outside.
MILDRED
Sorry I’m late, Denise.
DENISE
Did you put up those billboards to fuck with the cops yet?
MILDRED
They’re up.
DENISE
You go, girl! You go fuck those cops up!
She pats Mildred on the back, tosses her cigarette away, and they go inside.
INT. WELBY’S OFFICE – DAY
Quick-fire dialogue, Red at desk, Desk Sergeant and Willoughby standing.
DESK SERGEANT
What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Welby? Buncha billboards like that, you didn’t think there’d be some kinda ramifications? Legally?
RED
What’s the legal ramifications, Cedric?
DESK SERGEANT
You want me to explain the legal ramifications, a little punk like you? And don’t call me Cedric.
RED
Ain’t contravening no laws on propriety, ain’t contravening no laws on any fucking thing. I checked all this up.
DESK SERGEANT
Oh yeah, where’d you check all this up?
RED
In a … book.
DESK SERGEANT
Which book, genius?
RED
Book called ‘Suck my ass, it’s none o’ your business’.
Willoughby gives him a long cold stare.
WILLOUGHBY
How long has this person, or persons, rented these billboards out for?
RED
Oh, the year.
WILLOUGHBY
And how long she actually paid for?
RED
The year.
WILLOUGHBY
So it’s a ‘she’, is it?
RED
(pause)
Ain’t at liberty to divulge that kinda information, Chief.
WILLOUGHBY
Mildred Hayes, perhaps?
RED
Ain’t at liberty to divulge that kinda information, Chief.
WILLOUGHBY
Do you really wanna fuck with the Ebbing Police
Department, Red? Do ya?
RED
I guess.
INT. POLICE STATION, WILLOUGHBY’S OFFICE – DAY
Willoughby, Desk Sergeant and Dixon.
DIXON
He said what?! To your face?!
DESK SERGEANT
No crime has been committed here.
DIXON
Defamation of character ain’t a crime?
DESK SERGEANT
It isn’t defamation if she’s simply asking a question.
DIXON
What are you, an idiot?
DESK SERGEANT
Don’t call me an idiot, Dixon.
DIXON
I didn’t call you an idiot. I asked if you was an idiot. It was a question.
WILLOUGHBY
(smiling)
He got ya there, Cedric!
DIXON
Well, I’m gonna do something about it if yous two ain’t.
WILLOUGHBY
Where you going? Don’t fly off the handle!
But Dixon has already stormed out.
DESK SERGEANT
Why in hell you keep that man on, Bill?
WILLOUGHBY
He’s a good man. At heart.
DESK SERGEANT
He tortured a guy in custody, Bill.
WILLOUGHBY
There was no … real evidence to support that.
As Welby is coming out of his building, Dixon crosses the road towards him.
DIXON
Take ’em down.
RED
Hah?
DIXON
Take ’em down.
RED
Take what down?
DIXON
You think I wouldn’t take you out, right here on Main Street, Red?
RED
Thought you only take out black dudes, Dixon …
Dixon goes to punch him, but Willoughby is suddenly there, grabs his punching arm and shoves him towards the station. People on the street are staring, especially the blacks.
DIXON
(to Welby)
Ain’t nobody never goes down that road, anyways. Unless they got lost, or they’re retards.
EXT. BILLBOARD ROAD – DAY
Mildred interviewed by Gabriella, cameraman filming, all three billboards in the background.
GABRIELLA
This your first time on TV?
MILDRED
Uh-huh.
GABRIELLA
Well, don’t be nervous, is the main thing, and it’ll be fine. Just don’t look into the camera, obviously.
Mildred just stares at her.
In three, two, one. So, Mildred Hayes, why did you put up these billboards?
MILDRED
Well, my daughter, Angela, she got abducted, raped and murdered seven months ago, on this self-same stretch o’ road here, and, to me, it seems like the local police department is too busy goin’ round torturing black folks to be bothered doing anything about solving actual crime, so I kinda thought these here billboards might concentrate their minds some.
INT. DIXON’S HOUSE – NIGHT
Dixon sits beside his momma on the couch and is just to bite into a sandwich …
DIXON
Whatcha watching, Momma? The stupid news?
… when he’s stopped by Mildred’s appearance on TV.
MILDRED
(on TV)
Seems like the local police department is too busy goin’ round torturing black folks to be bothered doing anything about solving actual crime …
Dixon’s momma look
s at him.
DIXON
(mouthing)
Fuck.
INT. WILLOUGHBY HOUSE – NIGHT
Willoughby and Anne watching the end of the interview.
MILDRED
(on TV)
I don’t know what these policemen are doing, to be honest with you. I just know my daughter’s burnt body’s lying six feet under the ground while they’re eating Krispy Kremes and busting eight-year-olds for skateboarding in parking lots.
GABRIELLA
(on TV)
And what has Chief Willoughby to do with all this, why single him out?
MILDRED
(on TV)
Well, he’s the head of ’em, ain’t he? The buck’s gotta stop at somebody, don’t it?
GABRIELLA
(on TV)
And the buck stops at Willoughby?
MILDRED
(on TV)
Yeah, the buck stops at Willoughby. Dead right it does.
He clicks it off, gets up, goes out of the house without a word.
EXT. WILLOUGHBY’S STABLE – NIGHT
Willoughby moodily tending the horses in the stable just outside the house. Anne comes up.
ANNE
You alright there, fella?
WILLOUGHBY
Looks like we got a war on our hands.
EXT. MILDRED’S HOUSE – DAWN
Willoughby pulls up outside Mildred’s poor, clapboard house. From here we can see that the billboards puncturing the dusty horizon are only a mile away. Mildred sees Willoughby from the kitchen window, as he knocks. She opens the door.
WILLOUGHBY
Can we talk?
EXT. MILDRED’S GARDEN – DAY
Mildred sitting on a creaky swing-set, Willoughby with hat in hand.
WILLOUGHBY
I’d do anything to catch the guy who did it, Mrs Hayes. But when the DNA don’t match no one who’s ever been arrested, and when the DNA don’t match any other crime nationwide, and when there wasn’t a single eyewitness from the time she left your house to the time we found her, well, right now there ain’t too much more that we can do, except …
MILDRED
Could pull blood from every man and boy in this town, over the age of eight.