Contents

Main Characters ........................................................................................................................................................ 3

Secondary Characters ............................................................................................................................................. 4
The film ........................................................................................................................................................................ 5
Part one........................................................................................................................................................................ 7
Part two........................................................................................................................................................................ 8
Part three..................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Final activities ......................................................................................................................................................... 10

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Main Characters

Mildred, played by Frances McDormand. An American cinema and theatre actress, she
has won numerous prizes, including the Academy Award, the Emmy, the Tony, the
Golden Globe and the British Academy. She has starred in films such as Fargo (1996),
Burn After Reading (2008), This Must Be the Place (2011), Moonrise Kingdom (2012),
Nomadland (2020).

Chief Willoughby, played by Woody Harrelson. An American actor and playwright, he

has won an Emmy Award and has been nominated for several Academy Awards and
Golden Globes. He has starred in films such as Natural Born Killers (1994), The Thin Red
Line (1998), Austin Powers (1999), No Country for Old Men (2007), The Hunger Games
(2012-2015).

Dixon, played by Sam Rockwell. An American actor, he has won numerous prizes, in-
cluding the Academy Award, the Emmy, the Golden Globe and the British Academy.
He has starred in films such as The Green Mile (1999), Charlies’ Angels (2000), The Hitch-
hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005), Iron Man 2 (2010), Jojo Rabbit (2019).

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Secondary Characters

James, “the town midget”

Charlie, Mildred’s ex-husband

Dixon’s mother

Robbie, Mildred’s son

The suspect, a violent man

Welby, billboard agent

Penelope, Charlie’s girlfriend

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The film was directed by Martin McDonagh in 2017. McDonagh is a British-Irish
playwright, screenwriter, producer, and director. Three Billboards is his most success-
ful film, preceded by In Bruges (2008) and Seven Psychopaths (2012).

While traveling through

the Southern United
States in around 1998,
Martin McDonagh
came across a couple of
accusatory billboards
about an unsolved
crime, which he de-
scribed as "raging and
painful and tragic" al-
leging the murder of a
woman named Kathy Page by her husband Steve Page in Vidor, Texas. The billboards
highlighted the incompetence of the police work and deeply affected McDonagh; he
said that the image "stayed in my mind [...] kept gnawing at me" and presumed that
they were put up by the victim's mother. This incident, combined with his desire to
create strong female characters, inspired him to write the story for Three Billboards.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri premiered in competition at the 74th Ven-
ice International Film Festival on September 4, 2017, and it grossed a worldwide total
of $160.2 million. At the 75th Golden Globe Awards, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing,
Missouri won for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Actress – Drama (McDormand),
Best Supporting Actor (Rockwell), and Best Screenplay, and was nominated for Best
Director and Best Original Score.

In 2017 and 2018,

people used in real
life billboards simi-
lar to the ones of
the film to raise
awareness on
crimes that hadn’t
received sufficient
attention from the
authorities.

5
➢ Where is Missouri?
➢ What kind of state do you think it is?
➢ What are the Ozarks?

6
PART ONE (00.00 – 00.35)

1) Huggies a) between
2) defamatory b) make them think clearly
3) betwixt c) dwarf, short person
4) beaner d) to be resolutely opposed to
5) ramifications e) to complain
6) concentrate their minds f) consequences
7) Krispy Kremes g) stop that
8) the buck stops with him h) strange, unusual
9) to whine i) brand of donuts
10) to croak j) to move from side to side
11) midget k) money
12) snotty l) diaper brand
13) left field m) talking about unimportant things
14) yakking n) to die
15) consummate o) racial slur used against Hispanics
16) to be dead set against p) annoying (said of children)
17) lay off that q) cohabitating with
18) to waggle r) words intended to harm sb
19) dough s) expert, skilled
20) shacked up t) he has to take responsibility

1 ___, 2 ___, 3 ___, 4 ___, 5 ___, 6 ___, 7 ___, 8 ___, 9 ___, 10 ___, 11 ___, 12 ___, 13 ___,

14 ___, 15 ___, 16 ___, 17 ___, 18 ___, 19 ___, 20 ___

➢ The film starts in me-

dias res, what does that
mean?
➢ Why is nobody with
Mildred about the bill-
boards?
➢ Do you agree with what
Mildred says to the priest?
That all members of the
gang are to blame for the
crime of one member?
➢ Why does Willoughby
let Mildred go?

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PART TWO (00.35 – 01.09)

1) to swing by a) older actort

2) self-explanatory b) persuade her
3) Rice Krispies c) to take care of it
4) Donald Sutherland d) prison
5) kooz e) to interrupt
6) bring her around f) slur for women
7) clanger g) pure, absolute
8) draw up h) careful work/great effort
9) to butt in i) to make a casual visit
10) to ebb away j) to think too much about
11) to tend to it k) write something carefully
12) to dwell on l) to gradually disappear
13) diligence m) obvious
14) sheer n) brand of cereal

1 ___, 2 ___, 3 ___, 4 ___, 5 ___, 6 ___, 7 ___, 8 ___, 9 ___, 10 ___, 11 ___, 12 ___, 13 ___

➢ Are the billboards working as Mildred wishes?

➢ Describe how the scene becomes emotionally chaotic when Charlie appears.
➢ How does Mildred explain why she's not going to church anymore?
➢ Why does Chief Willoughby shoot himself?
➢ How does Dixon act after Willoughby's death? Why?

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PART THREE (01.09 – 01.50)

1) to be laid off a) expression of embarrassment

or pain
2) arson b) make something happen
3) to have the makings of c) crime of deliberately setting
fire to st
4) wince d) to be removed from employ-
ment
5) beget e) to have the qualities to be-
come st

1 ___, 2 ___, 3 ___, 4 ___, 5 ___

➢ What does it symbolise when Mildred grabs the extinguisher from Robbie's hand?
➢ James says: "I know I'm not much of a catch. I know I'm a dwarf who sells used cars
and has drinking problem. But who the hell are you man?". What do you think
about it?
➢ The "suspect" bragging about a rape doesn't seem very credible at first. However,
if we put it in context, it's more credible. what's the context?
➢ What do you think of the ending?

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FINAL ACTIVITIES

➢ Dixon and Mildred have more in common that it seemed initially. What is it?
➢ The film revolves about one main emotion. Which one?
➢ What are the roles of damnation and redemption in the film?
➢ Describe the conflicts in the film.

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