War On Everyone director: Don't watch this film if you're easily offended

John Michael McDonagh, the acclaimed director of ‘The Guard’ and ‘Calvary’, has a warning for the politically correct: don’t watch his new film ‘War On Everyone’ (in cinemas Friday) if you’re easily offended.

“It’s setting out to be deliberately, comedically offensive towards as many people as possible,” the writer-director tells Yahoo Movies.

“Whatever your race, religion, or country you’re from, whether you’re able bodied, disabled or whatever, everyone gets a jibe against them.”

The films sees a pair of corrupt cops, played by Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Peña, who investigate a criminal mastermind while hustling, blackmailing, drinking, taking drugs, and generally causing chaos across Albuquerque, New Mexico. It pokes fun at blacks, whites, asians, latinos, muslims, christians, transexuals, homosexuals, and everyone else in between, which is how it gets away it, at least that’s what Skarsgård thinks.

“That’s why the movie is egalitarian in a way,” he explains.

“They really do offend everyone. It’s not racial profiling, they’re not a specific group, or creed or colour.”

But are we, as a society, too easily offended these days?

“I think we’re very anxious and very worried about being a bit too politically correct,” muses Skarsgård, “and it’s quite refreshing – for me at least – reading a script that’s so out there.”

McDonagh, the writer of that script, thinks it’s “obvious” that people are too easily offended, but that any “backlash” is often blown out of proportion.

“A lot of that is white noise on Twitter and social media,” he says, “I don’t go anywhere near social media because I drink far too much bourbon, so there’s no point me even attempting it. There’s an outrage industry, but it usually only lasts two or three days though. So it’ll be interesting to see what the Twitterati make of this film, but we’ll wait and see.”

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‘War On Everyone’ is in UK cinemas from Friday, 7 October. Watch the NSFW red band trailer below.