From the sounds of it, Mulligan is close to signing on, and she’d be the latest high-profile piece of casting, which is hardly surprising given Gerwig’s post-‘Barbie’ clout.
2005’s ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’. Photo: Walt Disney Pictures.
In case the various film and TV adaptations have passed you by (the TV series was largely on the BBC in the UK, but the movies were big fantasy productions by 20th Century Fox in an era when studios were looking to capitalize on the success of ‘The Lord of the Rings’), the ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ is a series of seven books by British author C.S. Lewis.
Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, the series is set in the fictional realm of Narnia, a fantasy world of magic, mythical beasts, and talking animals.
It narrates the adventures of various children who play central roles in the unfolding history of the Narnian world. Except in ‘The Horse and His Boy,’ the protagonists are all children from the real world who are magically transported to Narnia, where they are sometimes called upon by Aslan to protect Narnia from evil. The books span the entire history of Narnia, from its creation in ‘The Magician’s Nephew’ to its eventual destruction in ‘The Last Battle.’
Possibly the most famous tome in the set (and the one more normally adapted) is ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.’
Then there’s Jadis, she’s a nasty sort known for freezing Narnia in an endless winter (where Christmas never comes –– boo! hiss!) and turning her enemies into statues. She’s the main antagonist of both ‘The Magician’s Nephew’ and ‘The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.’ And in ‘Nephew,’ the young central characters accidentally unleash the dangerous sorceress upon early 20th century London.
What’s the story of Greta Gerwig’s ‘Narnia’ movie?
‘Barbie’ Director/Writer Greta Gerwig attends a Photo Call at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. Photo Credit: Caroline McCredie Photography.
Gerwig’s movie will adapt the sixth novel in the ‘Narnia’ series, the aforementioned ‘The Magician’s Nephew,’ which chronologically takes place first in the series. The novel tells the origin of Narnia and is centered on youngsters Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer, who discover the magical world through Digory’s uncle’s magic.
Daniel Craig has been in talks to play Uncle Andrew, while Charli XCX had been linked to potentially playing Jadis –– the role that Emma Mackey has since landed.
Mulligan will play the very sick mother of Digory, while Meryl Streep is on board to voice Aslan, the heroic, magical lion of the books.
If Gerwig’s first ‘Narnia’ movie is a success, she may end up adapting the others.
The biggest development for the movie before casting started was that Gerwig had managed to swing an exclusive two-week Imax global run in 90 countries across 1,000 auditoriums in advance of the movie’s drop on Netflix.
That’s pretty much unheard of in terms of Netflix releases, which has been loathed to give even its biggest talents more than a cursory theatrical release, mostly preferring to drive subscribers to its servers. So it’s a big vote of confidence in the writer/director (but then, again, when you’ve made a billion-dollar hit like ‘Barbie,’ you can make other things happen.)
Mulligan has enjoyed a successful career on screens big and small, following her one-two punch of a BBC series based on of Charles Dickens’ ‘Bleak House’ and Jane Austen movie adaptation of ‘Pride & Prejudice.’
Mulligan has also enjoyed a fruitful collaboration with filmmaker Emerald Fennell since starring in ‘Promising Young Woman,’ popping up in a memorable role in the director’s ‘Saltburn.’
Coming up, she has animated adventure ‘Wildwood’ and a key role in the second season of Netflix comedy drama series ‘Beef.’
And further ahead, in more of a developmental state, is war drama ‘On the Other Side’ and ‘An Uncivil War,’ in which Mulligan would play journalist and social activist Gloria Steinem.
When will Greta Gerwig’s ‘Narnia’ movie be on screens?
Narnia will release in Imax on Thanksgiving Day 2026, so November 26th and debut on Netflix on Christmas Day 2026.
(L to R) Tilda Swinton and Skandar Keynes in ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.’ Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures.
List of Movies and TV Shows in the ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ Franchise:
‘The Ballad of Wallis Island’ receives 7 out of 10 stars.
Opening in theaters in limited release on March 28th before opening wide on April 18th, ‘The Ballad of Wallis Island’ looks set to appeal to audiences who enjoy low-key, charming British fare where the stakes are pretty low, but the laughs are plentiful and the emotions welcome.
Based on a short film by comedy duo Tim Key and Tom Basden, the new movie doesn’t have giant set pieces or a big VFX budget, but it’ll nevertheless entertain you if you’re after a quiet, heartwarming comedy that has bigger themes on its mind.
On the face of it, ‘The Ballad of Wallis Island’ might seem of a piece with several other small-scale British movie comedies to arrive in the last few years, especially 2022’s ‘Brian and Charles,’ which itself focused on a similarly unlikely hero with big aims and less success than he might hope.
Instead of a quirky inventor and his robot friend, here we have an eccentric lottery winner living on a remote island off the coast of the U.K. who has decided that what’ll make him truly happy is to reunite his favorite music duo years after the pair –– who were together in life as well as music –– have gone their separate ways.
As it turns out, while the lure of the money is enough to get them back in the same place (despite one having become a slightly pretentious solo artist on the verge of self-financing his latest album and the other having given up the musical spotlight for a quieter life in America with her husband), sparking those collaborative fires again won’t be as easy as that.
The result is an oddball comedy that has deeper emotions at its core, exploring love, loss and the place that memory has in our lives.
Stars Tim Key and Tom Basden had a head start on the basic concept, having brought it to screens (alongside director James Griffiths) in short film ‘The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island.’
Yet the movie version is far from simply an expanded take on the short, here deepening the ideas and adding characters –– the Carey Mulligan role, for example, doesn’t exist in the original. Instead, they’ve carefully crafted a story of love and loss, of searching for something that once made your life whole and ultimately realizing that sometimes it’s better to move on.
It’s also a funny film, Key in particular drawing laughs as a very British sort of eccentric. And while it’s initially troubled by the two main characters sometimes sounding like they’ve been written the same way, as the scope expands and the story evolves, that fades away and what you’re left with is a satisfying tale that doesn’t opt for easy answers or a pat finale.
Griffiths, more known for his work on the small screen on series such as ‘Episodes,’ ‘A Million Little Things’ and ‘Bad Sisters’ (though he has one other movie to his credit via 2014’s ‘Cuban Fury’), here brings a gentle touch to the film, taking full advantage of the dramatic, beautiful Welsh coastline and its unpredictable weather.
‘The Ballad of Wallis Island’ was never a movie crying out for incredibly inventive visuals, but he shoots the film in an entertaining, grounded style, focusing on the characters, but also giving them room to breathe.
Tim Key is one of our focal here, and while he’s a gracious scene partner who interacts well with everyone else (particularly Basden, though it’s not surprising given their shared history in comedy).
Charles Heath is a character who so easily could have come across as pathetic and needy, but in Key’s hands, he’s a well-rounded weirdo, a man who has largely closed himself off from the world, but hasn’t let that turn him bitter or spiteful. He’s a cheery sort, socially awkward and endlessly pushing buttons he’s not even aware he is, but never in a mean way.
His dynamic with the obviously frustrated and dissatisfied Herb McGwyer, played by Basden is a highlight of the film. While Charles is naturally thrilled to be spending quality time with one of his heroes, Basden gives Herb a slightly anxious, sometimes dismissive quality that is nevertheless nuanced beyond the portrayal of a musician who thinks he’s a true original.
And playing Nell Mortimer, the woman who was once his great love and muse, Carey Mulligan brings all her skills to bare on the role. She’ll win your heart, but also make you understand why she chose to take the path in life that she’s on. Mulligan is typically superb here.
Like the island on which it is set, this is a sparse film in terms of inhabitants, but there is excellent support from ‘Fleabag’ veteran Sian Clifford as local shop owner Amanda, who may turn to mean more to Charles than just making sure he’s supplied with tennis balls. And Akemnji Ndifornyen is great as Nell’s friendly husband Michael, who vibes instantly with Charles but also figures Herb out fairly quickly.
Final Thoughts
(L to R) Director James Griffiths, Carey Mulligan, Tim Key and Tom Basden talk ‘The Ballad of Wallis Island’.
‘The Ballad of Wallis Island’ seems likely to find more of a niche audience, but those who go along with its cheery, earnest and honest vibe will find what they’re after.
It’s wryly funny, uses slapstick comedy well strategically and boasts some superb performances.
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What’s the story of ‘The Ballad of Wallis Island’?
Charles (Tim Key) is an eccentric lottery winner who lives alone on a remote island and dreams of getting his favorite musicians, McGwyer Mortimer (Tom Basden & Carey Mulligan) back together. His fantasy turns into reality when the bandmates and former lovers accept his invitation to play a private show at his home on Wallis Island. Old tensions resurface as Charles tries desperately to salvage his dream gig.
Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan are in talks for ‘Beef’ Season 2
Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny are still attached to the show.
Creator Lee Sung Jin and his team have written the scripts.
Though it was a little surprising, given that Netflix’s ‘Beef’ was entered for –– and won a slew of awards in –– the limited series category, we’ve known for a while that creator Lee Sung Jin has found an idea that works for him, and he and his writers had been busy on a new batch of scripts.
And they’re going the anthology route, focusing on a fresh group of characters.
The first batch of ‘Beef’ episodes charted the aftermath of a road rage incident between two strangers.
Danny Cho (Steven Yeun), a failing contractor with a chip on his shoulder, goes head-to-head with Amy Lau (Ali Wong), a self-made entrepreneur with a picturesque life. The increasing stakes of their feud unravel their lives and relationships.
Netflix has yet to confirm anything about the new season –– beyond the potential existence of a new season. All that we’ve heard so far is that it’ll be focused on feuding couple.
Which means that, assuming they sign on, Isaac and Mulligan would play one side of the argument, with Melton and Spaeny on the other.
Mulligan nabbed an Oscar nomination for her role in Bradley Cooper’s ‘Maestro’ and was seen opposite Adam Sandler in sci-fi movie ‘Spaceman’. She’s lent her voice to new Laika animated movie ‘Wildwood’ and will show up in British comedy ‘The Ballad of Wallis Island’.
Melton, who was best known for ‘Riverdale’, broke out big last year in movie terms with ‘May December’, for which he was nominated for a slew of awards.
Netflix has yet to give this one a formal greenlight, but production company A24 will no doubt hoping it can now get moving.
(L to R) Lee Sung Jin, Ali Wong and Steven Yeun attend Netflix’s Los Angeles premiere of ‘BEEF’ at Netflix Tudum Theater on March 30, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix.
Launching on Netflix on Friday, March 1st, ‘Spaceman’ represents Adam Sandler headlining a very different sort of movie, something more along the lines of ‘Solaris’ or ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, but though it reaches for the sort of emotional and intellectual depths explored by those movies, it ends up more stifling than inspiring.
We’ll still give Sandler credit, though, for trying something different –– which he’s been fully exploring under his deal with Netflix, hopping from the sort of broad comedy that made his cinematic name to coming-of-age stories and animated work.
Though its director has gone on record to say that ‘Spaceman’ doesn’t fall within the sci-fi genre, the hallmarks are certainly there –– a space exploration mission to a mysterious cloud of particles that has dominated the Earth’s night sky for the last few years. An astronaut (though in the movie, Sandler’s Jakub Prochazka describes himself as a cosmonaut) on a mission where emotional and philosophical issues are discussed. An alien creature.
But while all of that is worthy of note, none of it really adds up to a truly satisfying experience. True, it doesn’t dig down into the technical minutiae of how the mission works, but the actual storyline for the most part doesn’t get the job done, leading to patches of cod-metaphysical journeys into Jakub’s past.
While Colby Day’s career has mostly been in the comedy sphere, he’s clearly on something of a speculative fiction kick of late, since as well as adapting Jaroslav Kalfar’s 2017 novel ‘Spaceman of Bohemia’, he’s also worked on original sci-fi script ‘In the Blink of an Eye’, which ‘Wall-E’ director Andrew Stanton is filming right now.
Day takes the usual streamlining liberties with the book’s story, though it’s mostly faithful to the original. It offers quite the character for Sandler to take on –– Jakub Prochazka is more along the lines of his work in movies such as ‘Punch Drunk Love’ or ‘Uncut Gems’ (though it’s certainly not as intense as that Safdie brothers effort).
Jakub is a morose, haunted man, one with a painful troubled past and a marriage that is disintegrating –– though it was already on life support even when he was on Earth.
On the positive front, the script does have some interesting, satirical things to say about the commercialization of space travel, with Jakub endorsing products and, at one point, required to spout a sponsor’s ad copy before he can use a pivotal part of his ship. And it’s not a joke that is run into the ground. Talking of jokes –– there really are not many in this film, which isn’t designed to be a laugh-fest, but if you’re a fan of classic Sandler, there is at least an early running gag about a toilet on board the ship.
Director Johan Renck, who has worked on a variety of music videos, commercials, shorts and movies, scored acclaim for ‘Chernobyl’ on the small screen. Here, he brings a retro sensibility to both the spaceship and Earth-set scenes, while the effects team works to make sure that the arachnoid extraterrestrial Jakub meets on his journey doesn’t clash with the chunky, old school ship –– it feels practical and tactile.
His work with the actors is perhaps less effective; Carey Mulligan in particular feeling like she’s left more adrift than Sandler.
This is very much Sandler’s show, and he brings a heartbroken, deflated power to Jakub. This is a man who is carrying some very heavy weight from his past, both years ago (thanks to his father’s Communist background and fiery fate) and more current (his relationship to Mulligan’s Lenka, which has become distant in more ways than the miles across space).
The actor has long proved he can handle dramatic roles, though Jakub doesn’t always give him the fuel he needs –– with the film spending chunks of time on silence and imagery that wants to be more meaningful than it is, it doesn’t always do his commitment justice.
As Lenka, Carey Mulligan does what she can with the role, but her whole character appears to be motivated by her feelings towards her husband and the impending birth of their child. She has little function outside of that, but the actor still proves that she’s one of the best at what she does.
Paul Dano, meanwhile, is the voice of Hanuš, the spidery alien, eons old, who is fascinated by humanity. Dano brings a pleasingly calm authority to the voice, and makes you feel for the creature almost more than most of the humans in the story.
Beyond those two, there are small roles for the likes of Isabella Rossellini (as the steely yet compassionate chief of the space program), Kunal Nyyar (playing Peter, who communicates with Jakub from Earth) and Lena Olin as Zdena, Lenka’s mother.
The movie thinks it has more on its mind than it does, leading to long meditations on marriage and metaphysics that are never as revelatory as it thinks it is.
Still, it’s a mostly worthy showcase for Sandler and to a lesser degree Dano, even if the rest of the cast feel like they’re following in the two leads’ wake.
‘Spaceman’ receives 6.5 out of 10 stars.
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What is the Plot of ‘Spaceman’?
As an astronaut (Adam Sandler) is sent to the edge of the solar system to collect mysterious ancient dust finds his earthly life falling to pieces, he turns to the only voice who can help him try to put it back together. It just so happens to belong to a creature (Paul Dano) from the beginning of time lurking in the shadows of his ship.
(L to R) Carey Mulligan and Adam Sandler Talk Netflix’s ‘Spaceman’.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of sitting down in-person with Adam Sandler and Carey Mulligan to talk about their work on the new Netflix movie ‘Spaceman.’ They discussed the new film, their characters and their complex relationship, working together and what it was like for Sandler to be isolated from the rest of the cast.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Sandler and Mulligan, and director Johan Renck.
Moviefone: To begin with, Adam can you talk about your approach to playing this character and going to the emotional places of loneliness and regret that you had to for this role?
Adam Sandler: Well, that’s good. Yes, it made sense to the character to be alone as much as possible. Johan, when we were shooting the alone stuff, kind of just put me in my own world. The cameras were far away, and he let me just feel the sadness on my own. Everybody on the set was nice to me, they kind of left me alone, let me be in my own little weird world. That’s not a place that I tend to be in much. I tend to try to run away from those feelings and just be as happy as possible or try to get back to happiness. This is a place where you just say, “Let’s just feel those feelings,” and I’m not that great at that, but I did it.
MF: Carey, they say that distance makes the heart grow fonder, but that’s not the experience your character has. Can you talk about the loneliness and fear that she’s experiencing?
Carey Mulligan: I think she’s feeling that. I think she’s also just feeling fed up. That’s what I liked about the character, and the idea was that she’s really annoyed that he’s decided that he needs to do this thing for himself, but to the exclusion of everything else. I think there are tons of films about brave men going off and fulfilling their dream or their huge mission in life, but you don’t see the reality of how people really feel about that, which is not always like cheerleading. It’s the reality, which is, this is massively inconvenient and painful for me to be left alone when I’m going through something which I think arguably is bigger, which is bringing a new life into the world. Ultimately, he figured it out, but it took a minute. But that’s what I liked is that it felt kind of honest to be like, “This is grossly unfair.” That was really where she was coming from.
MF: Adam, can you talk about the relationship that Jakub creates with Hanuš, and technically, what was it like shooting those scenes? Who were you acting opposite of?
Adam Sandler: Well, Paul (Dano), who plays (the voice of) Hanuš, we did a bunch of rehearsals together, so we got to kind of lock into something that we were connecting on. So, he wasn’t there when I was shooting it, but I felt his warmth throughout it, and it was kind of like a subconscious, or a spirit that I was able to talk to and be truthful with or run away from the truth. It was very cathartic.
MF: Carey, I know you did not have a lot of scenes with Adam, but what was it like working separately and together with him to create this relationship?
Carey Mulligan: Oh, it was the best. We had so much fun. We got on well, most of the time. We were filming in these beautiful places, and we both love our boss, we had a great time with Johan. We loved him. (We had a) wonderful crew, the whole thing was just such a lovely job. We were in Prague, and we were coming out of COVID, so it was still kind of empty. It felt sort of magical to be there without tons of people around. So, it was wonderful. I loved it.
MF: Finally, Adam, what was your experience like working with Carey. Did you feel like you had to bring you’re A-game while filming with her?
Adam Sandler: Yes, she is incredible. (She’s a) great human being, and great actress, and I didn’t want to let anybody down. I was more excited watching her act than saying my stuff. I was like, “Let’s get back to Carey quick.” She’s exceptional.
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What is the Plot of ‘Spaceman’?
As an astronaut (Adam Sandler) is sent to the edge of the solar system to collect mysterious ancient dust finds his earthly life falling to pieces, he turns to the only voice who can help him try to put it back together. It just so happens to belong to a creature (Paul Dano) from the beginning of time lurking in the shadows of his ship.
There is no way that a single movie could encompass the musical influence and accomplishments of Leonard Bernstein, one of the 20th century’s most important composers and conductors. And director-star Bradley Cooper doesn’t try, focusing instead on Bernstein’s loving if complicated relationship with his wife Felicia (Carey Mulligan) and the toll his many dalliances with men took on it. But while their performances are enjoyable and there are moments of greatness throughout, ‘Maestro’ bounces from one era to the next without giving us time to truly savor Bernstein’s story.
After a brief opening showing Leonard Bernstein being interviewed at home in his later years, ‘Maestro’ begins in earnest in 1943. Bernstein is living above Carnegie Hall with his lover, David Oppenheim (Matt Bomer), and achieves his first success when he is suddenly called upon to conduct the New York Philharmonic. A short while later he meets Costa Rican actress Felicia Montealegre (Mulligan), and the two begin a whirlwind courtship that results in marriage and three children – even as Bernstein continues to sleep with men throughout the years and Felicia pragmatically tolerates it.
The tension inherent in the Bernsteins’ marriage — between their seemingly genuine affection for each other and the toll taken by Leonard’s closeted life and many affairs – is at the core of ‘Maestro’ as it rolls in sometimes disorienting fashion through the decades. In his second feature behind the camera (as well as in front of it) following ‘A Star is Born,’ Bradley Cooper displays confidence in his choices, even if they’re not always the right ones.
The opening scenes of ‘Maestro,’ set primarily in the 1940s, are filmed in a 1:33:1 ratio and shot in black and white, befitting the way most filmed entertainment was viewed at the time. As the film progresses through the ensuing decades, color comes into the picture and the frame expands to modern widescreen dimensions. It’s a kind of visual shorthand, but it doesn’t help us get involved or even understand the rush of events onscreen.
That may be the biggest problem with ‘Maestro’: the story could be too big for a movie that runs slightly over two hours. Cooper may know every detail of Bernstein’s life (as evidenced by his performance), but the rest of us have to play catch-up. And in many cases, the things the composer was best known for – ‘West Side Story’ in particular – are left almost completely offscreen or mentioned in passing, with much more time spent on Bernstein’s personal travails.
Mulligan and Cooper keep us interested, however, especially during a lot of poorly paced or fragmentary scenes in the film’s first half, and the director finally seems to find the magic formula in the third act. That’s when Felicia and Leonard’s marriage is nearly destroyed for good by his personal problems, only for him to redeem himself with his truly thrilling, transcendent conducting of Mahler’s 2nd Symphony at Ely Cathedral – which Cooper films and performs in one astounding 6 ½ minute take of sheer musical joy. Things take a tragic turn after that, enough to make the homestretch of ‘Maestro’ moving even if the rest of the film isn’t nearly as satisfying.
Even with its issues, ‘Maestro’ is anchored by the two performances at the center of the film: Carey Mulligan as Felicia and Bradley Cooper as Leonard. While he’s terrific, Cooper’s work in a way is the showier, more “look at me, I’m acting” performance: from the subtle prosthetics on his face (more on that later) to his uncanny vocalizations, Cooper is utilizing some surface tricks, even as he is talented enough to inhabit the character of Leonard Bernstein without them.
Mulligan is operating on a different, higher plane. While she too recreates Felicia’s voice, her work comes from a more interior place, and as a result is the more emotionally affecting and deeply felt performance (we suspect that Cooper knows this as well, which is why Felicia is in many ways the heart and soul of the story). There is no doubt that the two have tremendous chemistry, which shines through brightly as Lenny and Felicia still manage to share extended moments of fun and love even as they ride the turbulent waters of their marriage.
Before ‘Maestro’ came out, there was controversy over the use of prosthetic makeup to give Bradley Cooper the same large nose as Leonard Bernstein – which led to accusations of Cooper wearing an antisemitic prosthetic for the role and questions of why he didn’t hire a Jewish actor to begin with. The latter is silly: actors inhabit many roles with which they have little in common. That’s why they’re actors. As for the makeup by Kazo Hiro, it’s subtle and tasteful, and pictures comparing Cooper to the real Bernstein will attest to its accuracy.
That’s a short way of saying that ‘Maestro’ and its director pay loving, careful attention to detail through the film. Cooper, costume designer Mark Bridges, production designer Kevin Thompson, and many others do a superb job of carrying this story through decades of changes in fashion, interior design, and more, and that immersive visual quality of ‘Maestro’ is one of its strongest assets.
The same goes for the music. While we don’t get to hear enough of it, what we do hear of Bernstein’s music is recorded, mixed, and produced in such a way to bring it grand, powerfully emotional life. There is no better example of this than the scene in which he conducts Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra at England’s Ely Cathedral, in which the viewer feels the force of the music in a way that perhaps Bernstein himself felt it that night.
‘Maestro’ is going to solidly be in the Oscar mix this year. Nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Production Design, Best Sound, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling are all pretty much in the bag for this one, with a win fairly certain in that latter category and perhaps Best Sound (ironically, ‘Maestro’ cannot be nominated for its music since it’s all pre-existing).
The Academy loves portrayals of real people, and Bradley Cooper really does an incredible job of transforming himself into Bernstein, so there’s a good chance he can take home the Best Actor trophy (which will also ease the sting of being skipped over for Best Director). And perhaps in any other year, Carey Mulligan would walk away with Best Actress for her luminous performance as Felicia. But this isn’t any other year: she faces tough competition from the likes of Emma Stone (‘Poor Things’), Lily Gladstone (‘Killers of the Flower Moon’) and Sandra Huller (‘Anatomy of a Fall’).
There seems to be an abundance of biopics out there at the moment, and they all seem to offer up the same positives and negatives: a great, even masterful central performance or two and wonderful style in a story that can be hard to follow or get fully immersed in.
‘Maestro,’ thanks to the extraordinary work of Carey Mulligan in particular and – just slightly less so – Bradley Cooper, does manage to involve us in their epic if troubled love story, and does feature moments in which Bernstein’s rapturous relationship with music comes soaring through. But its hopscotch approach to the man’s life and times keeps us at a distance until the film’s third act, which keeps ‘Maestro’ from achieving the greatness of the iconic figure at its heart.
‘Maestro’ receives 7 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Maestro’?
This fearless love story chronicles the complicated lifelong relationship between music legend Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Carey Mulligan).
The first images and teaser are online for Adam Sandler’s new movie.
‘Spaceman’ sees the actor playing an astronaut who meets a creature.
The movie will debut on Netflix on March 1st.
We’re more used to seeing Adam Sandler starring in and producing comedy movies, even under his big deal with Netflix. But he has been mixing things up in the last few years, adding more drama to the mix.
From the looks of new movie ‘Spaceman’, a sci-fi pic that sees him playing an astronaut, he’s on board something that looks more like it could come from the 1970s.
Six months into a solitary research mission to the edge of the solar system, an astronaut, Jakub (Sandler), realizes that the marriage he left behind might not be waiting for him when he returns to Earth.
Desperate to fix things with his wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), he is helped by a mysterious creature from the beginning of time he finds hiding in the bowels of his ship. Hanuš (voiced by Paul Dano) works with Jakub to make sense of what went wrong before it is too late.
Johan Renck, more known for commercials and music videos (but also directed 2008 thriller ‘Downloading Nancy’), is behind the camera for this one, working from a script by Colby Day, who adapts Jaroslav Kalfar’s book.
‘Spaceman’: See the Teaser
A brief first teaser, which focuses on Sandler’s character (though we hear Dano’s voice), is now online.
Here’s what Renck had to say about working with Sandler:
“I really wanted to have a performance from him that had nothing to do with the Adam Sandler we all know. I don’t think people understand how [although] he may come across as funny and sweet and all that, he’s very intelligent, really smart, profound.”
And here’s what he has to say about Mulligan:
“Carey Mulligan is incredible, both in terms of her technical skills and her tremendous authenticity. I love her as Lenka. She’s such a big part of this film and does such an extraordinary job.”
Finally, here’s Renck’s thoughts on Paul Dano:
“Paul was the first thing that came up in thinking about [the creature]. He has this peculiar cadence when he’s speaking, his careful formulation of words, and his very unique voice.”
When will ‘Spaceman’ be on our screens?
‘Spaceman’ is due on Netflix on March 1st.
Paul Dano at London Special Screening of ‘The Batman.’
Although Bernstein was known for operas, symphonies, film scores (‘On the Waterfront’) and several iconic musicals (‘West Side Story’), as well as being a teacher and ceaseless advocate for music education, Cooper’s film – just his second as a director after 2018’s acclaimed ‘A Star is Born’ – focuses primarily on the relationship between Bernstein and Felicia. The couple had three children and shared a lifelong love for each other, despite Bernstein’s many dalliances with men and his abuse of drugs and alcohol.
‘Maestro’ probes into the peaks and valleys of their longstanding romance, while also providing an overview of Bernstein’s colorful life and career, and the sheer joy and passion he had for making music.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of attending both a live and virtual press conference for ‘Maestro.’ Taking part in the first were Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan, while Mulligan returned for the second with Jamie Bernstein, daughter of Leonard Bernstein.
Here are 10 things we learned from the ‘Maestro’ press conferences, edited for clarity and length.
Bradley Cooper did not actually know a whole lot about Leonard Bernstein when he first came aboard the project. He was more interested in the art of conducting music.
Bradley Cooper: I did not know about Leonard Bernstein. I had an absolute obsession with fake conducting [laugh] when I was a kid. But I was obsessed with it. Like oddly obsessed with it. I spent hundreds of hours conducting. So I always felt this calling, quite honestly. Then when there was a project about a conductor…I asked Steven Spielberg, who was in control of the property at the time, if I could maybe take that on. That’s how it began. Then I started to research trying to figure out what was the script that I could write, what’s the story that I felt that I could tell. It was these two wonderful characters, Felicia and Lenny, and their relationship.
Even though Bradley Cooper was directing the movie and in almost every scene, Carey Mulligan says that there was one thing about him which she never noticed.
Carey Mulligan: I couldn’t tell you a day I saw him be tired. He must have been, because he was getting to work at two in the morning to be there to do the prosthetics and fully become Lenny five hours before anyone else got there. But I didn’t see tired, ever. Sarah Silverman was talking about this — the joy in the way that Bradley made the film. Every day. Just so delighted to be doing it, and to be making it, and to be able to tell this story. That was so infectious. So that part of it, it was only ever energizing to be around him.
One of the most distinctive characteristics of Leonard Bernstein — well-documented in interviews and recordings — was his voice. Cooper started working on it six years ago.
Bradley Cooper: Six years ago it was terrifying, and just became a little bit easier. There’d be like five steps back at certain points when I was, “I’m never going to get the voice.” I mean I don’t know what I sounded like, but it certainly didn’t sound like a human. But I just worked so hard for years. I mean, I really had the benefit of years. Six years of prep. I started working on Lenny’s voice before ‘A Star is Born’ even came out. Then Tim Monich, this incredible dialect coach that I started working with on ‘American Sniper‘ — and then we did ‘A Star is Born’ and ‘Nightmare Alley,’ and we have a wonderful way of working together — he moved basically into my house in New York. We worked five days a week for four and a half years until it was an organic thing where I could just inhabit the voice.
4) Bradley Cooper Cast Personal Friends in the Film
For a number of supporting roles in the film, Bradley Cooper cast people — mostly longtime friends — from his own private life.
Bradley Cooper:Aaron Copeland is [played by] my best friend since I’m 10 years old, Brian Klugman. They were best friends, Leonard and Aaron, and I thought, well, we don’t have to act. I just try to do anything I can not to act. The doctor in the film is actually my doctor. That’s Bernard Kruger, who was my doctor for years. Four and a half years ago, I was like, “Bernard, there’s going to be a scene. Will you play a doctor?” Actually, the first day of shooting, the first scene that we shot was the scene where older Lenny teaches William conducting. It was such a terrifying day just because it was the first time I was really being Lenny in front of a crew and having to direct. So I asked one of my best friends, Gabe Fazio, who I went to grad school with, to play Lenny’s assistant who arrives with him in the Jaguar. Just knowing Gabe was there, I thought I was going to be okay.
Bradley Cooper revealed that the scene recreating Leonard Bernstein’s legendary 1973 conducting of the London Symphony Orchestra at Ely Cathedral — in which Bernstein seems almost transcendently possessed by the music as he conducts Mahler’s 2nd Symphony — was the scene he was most afraid of.
Bradley Cooper: If I mess that up, the whole movie doesn’t work…That’s me conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, and that’s six minutes and 21 or 23 seconds of music that luckily, I had Gustavo Dudamel and Yannick Nézet-Séguin (music directors of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra, respectively) who were kind enough for years to teach it to me. I had the video of him conducting that orchestra in the ’70s in that space. But even with all that, conducting is impossible. So the first day I messed up, I kept getting behind tempo. I was forgetting where the time change happened. It was that moment where you’re like, “I can’t believe actually I’m messing it up in front of one of the top three orchestras in the world.” I went to bed, texted Steve Morrow, the sound mixer. “Do we have it?” He wrote back like, “I think we have it.” I knew we didn’t…I asked everybody back in, I actually said a prayer in front of everybody to Lenny, thanking him, and we did it one more time. That’s what’s in the movie. I did conduct them and it was crazy.
It can be a nerve-wracking experience for actors to meet the real person they’re portraying, or in the case of Carey Mulligan, the children of the woman she plays in ‘Maestro,’ Felicia Montealegre Bernstein. But Mulligan’s experience with the Bernstein kids was incredibly helpful to her.
Carey Mulligan: I think it just helped, honestly, having the family. Once I’d met them and they were so sweet, and once we did our first couple of Zooms where they were just full of the most amazing anecdotes and stories about Felicia, I suddenly just felt like all I had from them was blessing and encouragement, so I didn’t feel like they were waiting for me to not get her right. I just felt like they were like, “Here’s more about her. Here’s why we loved her. Here’s more things that you should know about her,” and all of that stuff was just like gold.
Jamie Bernstein: One of the elements that we anticipated would make it difficult to portray our mother is that she had this weird combination of confidence and fragility, and that was what Carey was so good at conveying, this very tricky combination. It’s like a tightrope walk, really. Somehow both of those elements were very palpable in her performance.
Jamie Bernstein says that her dad was a multifaceted, complicated man, and that Bradley Cooper nailed the performance because he operates on much of the same wavelength.
Jamie Bernstein: Bradley’s portrayal is incredibly multifaceted, which made it very authentic to the way my father actually was. He himself was incredibly multifaceted, and it was a complicated business to have him for a father. He was, in many ways, a fantastic dad, and he loved having us around. I never felt, and neither did my brother and sister, unwelcome in his presence. He loved having us around. He took us with him on the road and loved taking trips with us and hanging out in the swimming pool with us and playing tennis and word games, so there was this conviviality that was really there. But he was also a larger-than-life public figure with an ego to go along with that, and he was very competitive, so that made things complicated as well. It turns out that Bradley actually is quite a lot like our dad, principally in his open-heartedness and his emotionality. We didn’t see that in the beginning. We didn’t grasp it until the whole process was underway. Then the more time went by, the more we realized that everything he did came from this essential emotional core. That was so like our own dad, because that was the way he worked with everyone, all his colleagues, and his process with orchestras and collaborators always came from this incredibly open-hearted emotional place.
8) Carey Mulligan Shared Similar Feelings About Acting with Felicia
Before she married Leonard Bernstein, Felicia Montealegre was a screen star with her own career — although she was ambivalent about the craft of acting herself. Carey Mulligan says she and Felicia were alike in that way.
Carey Mulligan: She talks about how she went to the Actor’s Studio as a young actress, and she was sort of forced to go, because she didn’t want to go, and she found the whole thing really embarrassing. It was all actors pretending to be animals or fried eggs and writhing around on the floor and crying a lot. She said it just seemed sort of psychotic, and she was sort of really dismissive of it. I remember thinking that sounds exactly like the way I felt as an untrained actor. I didn’t go to drama school. My first job was when I was 18, and then I went into theater and I felt like these people are all crazy and I have no idea what they’re doing. For years and years, I would keep work at somewhat of a distance, like, “Well, I’m not going to stay in the accent all time, and I’m not going to do this. I’m not going to do that,” all the things that make you a proper actor, like, “That’s not for me,” and for some reason was just always really afraid of it — until this job. I really felt like ‘Maestro’ was the first job where I felt like I gave my craft everything, and it was the most amazing experience because of it, but it was terrifying to do it.
9) The Movie Became About Both Leonard and Felicia
As he and screenwriter Josh Singer dove into their research for the film, Bradley Cooper realized that it wasn’t just about Leonard Bernstein, but about Felicia Montealegre as well.
Bradley Cooper: I would come away from a day of research just sort of filled with their energy. I mean, they really were very powerful people. They were always spoken about as “Lenny and Felicia.” They never said “Lenny and his wife.” It was always clear that both had made an impact on people. That’s what seemed very fascinating: this unorthodox, mysterious, also very open, wistful, haunting, funny relationship that I thought, wow, if we can really explore this truthfully, it’s, number one, cinematic because it will be [set] to his music…and then if we could really be truthful to them, we have a shot at making something [where you say], “I wouldn’t think I would have anything in common with Leonard, this iconic, sort of mythological figure.” But hopefully with this movie, you do.
10) The Journey From ‘A Star is Born’ to ‘Maestro.’
(L to R) Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga in 2018’s ‘A Star Is Born.’
Bradley Cooper’s only other directorial effort before ‘Maestro’ was ‘A Star is Born,’ and he says that he took lessons from that film — and other movies on which he was solely an actor — and applied them to ‘Maestro.’
Bradley Cooper: I learned so much in making that film, and then also shooting ‘Nightmare Alley’ after that with Guillermo Del Toro and then ‘Licorice Pizza‘ with Paul Thomas Anderson. He was kind enough to let me be a part of his prep. I spent three weeks with him just looking at lenses and watching camera tests and just soaking up everything I could…each project I’ve ever been involved with, I’ve just soaked up everything I can and I think hopefully I just keep evolving as a filmmaker. With ‘A Star is Born,’ more than anything, I found something that felt like this is exactly what I’m supposed to do. My major takeaway from ‘A Star is Born’ was, “Oh, wow, I finally have found my center as an artist.”
‘Maestro’ will be in theaters in limited release on November 22nd before it premieres on Netflix December 20th.
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What is the plot of ‘Maestro’?
This fearless love story chronicles the complicated lifelong relationship between music legend Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Carey Mulligan).
After making a striking feature debut in 2020 with ‘Promising Young Woman,’ a bracing if sometimes heavy-handed stew of revenge thriller, psychological drama, black comedy, and feminist messaging, writer-director Emerald Fennell returns with ‘Saltburn.’ Like her first, ‘Saltburn’ is a hybrid of several genres, including satire, mystery, erotic thriller, and class-based drama. While it may not offer anything substantially new beyond its gorgeous visuals and pulsing rhythms, it will lock you into its spell thanks to its sharp tone and a sumptuous cast, with Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, and Carey Mulligan all at the top of their game.
Story and Direction
(L to R) Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick and Archie Madekwe as Farleigh in ‘Saltburn.’ Photo: Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon MGM Studios.
As ‘Saltburn’ begins, we meet Oliver Quick (Keoghan), a lonely, awkward, and clearly fashion-deficient new student at Oxford who yearns to somehow integrate himself with the cool kids, and become friends – and perhaps more – with their leader, the effortlessly charismatic, beautiful, and privileged Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). Circumstances provide Oliver with just that opportunity, and soon he and Felix do indeed become friends – despite the misgivings of fellow student and Felix’s cousin Farleigh (Archie Madekwe).
Seemingly genuinely empathetic toward Oliver and the tragic family life he shares, Felix invites the young man to spend the summer with him and his family at their palatial estate, Saltburn. Once there, Oliver meets Felix’s imperious yet insipid mother Elspeth (Pike), who runs the household with an iron fist yet revels in memories of her days as a model and A-lister. Also there is Felix’s permanently distracted, one-sandwich-short-a-picnic father James (Grant), his sexually available yet troubled sister Venetia (Oliver), Farleigh, and a dissolute family friend known as Poor Dear Pamela (Carey Mulligan).
The brooding, maze-like house (complete with massive hedge maze out back), its sinister head of staff Duncan (Paul Rhys), the ever-present servants, and the play of light and shadow throughout Saltburn’s mahogany-walled corridors provide a classic archetype of the British country estate, almost always with a secret or five hidden within its overbearing walls. Fennell sets up a somewhat standard class conflict, with the Cattons – who never want for anything but are all damaged and oblivious in their own ways – eager to put a little charge into their own semi-vacant lives by bestowing luxury and decadence upon Oliver. Yet they never realize how condescending and dismissive they are (“She’d do anything for attention,” sniffs Elspeth upon learning of a friend’s suicide), and even the kind-hearted Felix can turn on a dime from compassionate to selfish.
Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick in ‘Saltburn.’ Photo: Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon MGM Studios.
Yet, as one might suspect fairly early on, things aren’t quite what they seem at Saltburn, and the story takes some twists and turns in its second half that are best left undiscussed here. With a bacchanalian birthday party for Oliver at the center of the action, events take a darker turn that may be somewhat predictable from the start – think ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ and another Keoghan starrer, ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer’ — but are nonetheless compelling to watch thanks to Fennell’s expert direction and her brilliant cast.
The third act of ‘Saltburn’ is where Fennell might lose some viewers, as certain reveals are telegraphed pretty clearly, a few plot points stretch credibility, and most importantly, the movie struggles with its point of view. While ‘Saltburn’ may for most of its running time seem to be a scathing indictment of lifestyles of the rich and not-really-famous, its concluding scenes are far more ambivalent about who we’re empathizing with.
(L to R) Jacob Elordi as Felix Catton in ‘Saltburn.’ Photo: Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon MGM Studios.
The casting for ‘Saltburn’ is superb up and down the board, starting with lead actor Barry Keoghan. The Irish actor is known for his breakout role in ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer,’ as well as his Oscar-nominated turn in ‘The Banshees of Inisherin,’ his role as Druig in Marvel’s ‘Eternals,’ and his eerie cameo as the Joker in ‘The Batman.’
In his first major lead, Keoghan is nothing short of riveting. His Oliver Quick is enigmatic, unsettling, and off-putting in an amorphous way, and Keoghan – who takes several bold, big swings throughout the film – keeps the audience off balance for most of the movie. Even when you have his number, the actor is so magnetic to watch that you don’t take your eyes off him.
Equally fantastic is Rosamund Pike, who continues the red-hot career streak that started in 2014 with ‘Gone Girl,’ and has encompassed films like ‘Hostiles’ and ‘I Care a Lot.’ Her Elspeth is perfectly repulsive yet hilarious, spewing out inappropriate opinions no one asked for (“I have a complete and utter horror of ugliness ever since I was very young”), vain enough to think that she singlehandedly inspired an entire British music scene, and making sure that lunch is served on time even in the wake of tragedy. Elspeth is a monster, and Pike plays her with an exquisite, complete lack of self-awareness.
Beyond Keoghan and Pike, Jacob Elordi’s Felix continues the Australian actor’s terrific year after his outstanding work as Elvis Presley in ‘Priscilla,’ both performances fueled by his physical presence and formidable good looks but utterly different in their emotional tone. Richard E. Grant is reliably amusing as always, and ‘Promising Young Woman’ star Carey Mulligan has a brief, darkly hilarious turn as Poor Dear Pamela, an utterly lost soul who manages to maintain her own distinct fashion sense.
Production Design, Editing and Music
‘Saltburn’ opens in theaters on November 22nd. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon MGM Studios.
‘Saltburn’ is a gorgeous film, from the beautiful young bodies on display both at Oxford and the Catton family home to the latter itself, an ostentatious, labyrinthine monster of a house that can blaze with sensual color or plunge into claustrophobic shadows within the space of one vast room.
There is a hedge maze that can put that of the Overlook Hotel to shame, sprawling fields and lawns where one might stumble across a nude sunbather, and other surprises all brought to vivid life by production designer Suzie Davies and cinematographer Linus Sandgren, who make ‘Saltburn’ into a decadent visual meal. They are aided and abetted by costume designer Sophie Canale, whose work here ranges from Oliver’s initially drab study hall duds to Elspeth’s shimmering, slinky dresses and Venetia’s seductive see-through nightwear.
All this is tied together and seamlessly paraded before the viewer’s eyes by the sure hand of editor Victoria Boydell, who works with Fennell to give Saltburn both a languid, lazy pace of life in some scenes and an urgent, throbbing rhythm in others, especially the centerpiece of Oliver’s birthday party.
The film’s music is key as well, with Anthony Willis’ sultry score pulsating along to the same rhythms as the film and highlighting the story’s complex psychological and sexual dynamics. Complementing Willis’ work is a series of tight needle drops from the mid-2000s (in which the film is set), including cuts from Bloc Party, MGMT, the Killers, and for the jaw-dropping final scene, Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dancefloor.”
Is ’Saltburn’ An Oscar Contender?
Rosamund Pike as Lady Elsbeth Catton in ‘Saltburn.’ Photo: Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon MGM Studios.
Emerald Fennell won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for ‘Promising Young Woman,’ which was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Editing. While ‘Saltburn’ may not rise to the level of Best Picture, and Fennell won’t make the cut in what looks like an already mostly locked Best Director race, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor (for Barry Keoghan), and either Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress for Rosamund Pike seem like possible nods for the film.
Keoghan delivers a tour de force, as we mentioned above, and Pike is equally sensational, but with less screen time we might see her compete for Best Supporting instead. ‘Saltburn’ should easily compete in the categories for Production Design, Costume Design, and Editing as well, and may score a few wins in those fields even if it doesn’t land any of the bigger trophies of the night – unless the raunchier aspects of the film turn off some of the more staid Academy voters altogether.
Final Thoughts
Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick in ‘Saltburn.’ Photo: Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon MGM Studios.
Yes, it’s derivative of other films and arguably not as clever or surprising as it thinks it is, but we had a blast watching ‘Saltburn’ nonetheless. As we said earlier, it’s sumptuous to look at, backed with great music, and features one of the best ensemble casts we’ve seen in a film this year – with Barry Keoghan once again proving himself to be one of the finest rising young actors of his generation. The movie may not be especially shocking (well, maybe a little) but it’s certainly perverse in a gleeful way, and Emerald Fennell manages to keeps us entertained and even a bit titillated for two hours.
‘Saltburn’ receives 8 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Saltburn’?
Lonely new Oxford student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), desperate to make friends, is drawn into the social circle of popular, rich, and powerfully attractive Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). When Felix invites Oliver to spend the summer at Saltburn, the Catton family’s country estate, Oliver finds himself in the midst of a truly eccentric family whose wealth and privilege mask the emptiness of their existence – until Oliver is added into the mix.
Who is in the cast of ‘Saltburn’?
Barry Keoghan (‘The Banshees of Inisherin’) as Oliver Quick
Oliver manages to work his way into Felix’s good graces – and empathy – and wins himself an invite to spend the summer at Felix’s family estate, Saltburn. There, Oliver meets Felix’s imperious mother Elspeth (Rosamund Pike), absent-minded father James (Richard E. Grant), and troubled yet sexually available sister Venetia (Alison Oliver).
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of attending a virtual press conference for ‘Saltburn.’ Taking part in the two-part Q&A were star Rosamund Pike, writer-director Emerald Fennell, and producer Josey McNamara.
Here are 10 things we learned from the ‘Saltburn’ virtual press conference, edited for clarity and length.
1) Emerald Fennell First Came Up with the Character of Oliver Quick Years Ago
(Center) Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick in ‘Saltburn.’ Photo: Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon MGM Studios.
The film’s ostensible protagonist, Oliver Quick, is a slippery persona to grab hold of. He’s awkward and lonely yet also much more manipulative than he first lets on. He’s also a working-class bloke who is exposed to an entirely different way of life at Saltburn, and that almost certainly has an effect on him. In some ways, according to Fennell, he’s the audience.
Emerald Fennell: Oliver feels incredibly relatable to me. He kind of announced himself about seven or eight years ago, kind of persistently. He’s sort of an imaginary friend. He was just there all the time, and I couldn’t get him out of my head. It’s no accident to me, I think, that I finished writing this during COVID, because if Oliver’s anything, as well as being the person he is, this is a film about looking constantly and not being able to touch, and what it does to you if you’re not allowed to touch the thing you want to touch. We were living in a world where we could only look at each other through screens, that we were constantly voyeuristic, that we were absorbing things that couldn’t see us back. So I think that for me, Oliver seems to be all of us, really. Yes, he’s an outsider. Yes, he’s a person driven by love and desire and all of those things. But he’s also trying to scratch an itch that just cannot be sated. It can’t be scratched. So what do you do? You scratch your skin till you get down to the bone. You do it till it hurts.
2) Barry Keoghan Was Willing to Go to Any Lengths
Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick in ‘Saltburn.’ Photo: Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon MGM Studios.
From ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer’ to ‘The Banshees of Inisherin,’ not to mention his eerie cameo as a certain Clown Prince of Crime in ‘The Batman,’ Barry Keoghan has taken on a slew of provocative roles in his still-young career. But his first lead, in ‘Saltburn,’ may be his boldest performance yet.
Emerald Fennell: [Barry] is a force of nature. Barry is like lightning in a bottle. It’s a very unique and specific talent that he has. The thing that you’re always looking for is that element of surprise. The texture of a performance as much as the texture of, you know, the couch they’re sitting on. That is something that is really important, and what I love is things and people that go against the grain. That’s what Barry does. We as humans are not consistent characters. We have our own idiosyncrasies. We respond to things surprisingly. We are turned on by the things that we don’t like, and we’re disgusted by the things we should [like]. That’s this movie, and that’s what Barry does.
Rosamund Pike: Barry’s a maverick. He has so many different temperatures. And you never quite know what you’re going to get.
3) About Barry’s Nude Dance Scene…
Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick in ‘Saltburn.’ Photo: Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon MGM Studios.
We won’t give away too much to avoid spoilers, but Barry Keoghan does a nude dance through Saltburn to the tune of Sophie Ellis-Bextor‘s ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ that is a guaranteed showstopper (and jaw-dropper).
Emerald Fennell: The scene was always from the beginning going to be a complicated, technical, and precise thing, because it’s the inverse of Felix’s tour at the beginning. So technically, it was always going to be precise. And it’s absolutely about making sure that somebody feels safe and relaxed and all of that sort of thing. We had Polly Bennett, who is an unbelievably talented choreographer. She does a lot of movement as well as dance — she did ‘Elvis‘ and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody‘ and ‘The Crown,’ all those sorts of things. What I was really looking for was something that felt spontaneous, that felt loose enough that it was a kind of burst of evil joy that we could really relate to, but that also had enough kind of precision that it just didn’t feel messy. And the thing with Barry, again, that is so wonderful is that when he gets it, he gets it. When you say to him, “I don’t think the end can be a naked walk through the house, I think it needs to be a dance to Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s ‘Murder on the Dancefloor,’” Barry just says, “Yeah.”
4) Carey Mulligan Insisted on Playing Poor Dear Pamela Even Though She’s Only in Three Scenes
(L to R) Carey Mulligan, Emerald Fennell, and Laverne Cox on the set of ‘Promising Young Woman.’
After giving a bravura, Oscar-nominated performance as the lead of Fennell’s first film, ‘Promising Young Woman,’ Carey Mulligan collaborates with the director again for ‘Saltburn,’ this time in the relatively small role of Poor Dear Pamela, a dissolute friend of the Cattons who’s staying at Saltburn while she tries to put her life back together.
Emerald Fennell: She’s an extraordinary person and the most gifted actress. I sent her the script just as my friend, you know, once it was finished. I wanted to talk to her about it. She immediately called me up and said, “I have to be Poor Dear Pamela.” I was like, “You’re only in three scenes.” She was like, “I don’t care.” You know, the thing is, you have a shorthand. You have the trust built in. Then the thing about Carey, the thing about Poor Dear Pamela is she’s an unbelievably important character in this film because she could so easily be an object of derision. She’s treated so abominably. She’s the person who knows she’s outstayed her welcome and has nowhere to go, so has to suffer the indignity of their derision every day. Carey is so gifted as a comic actress, it is such a genius comic performance, but it is also one of the most devastating, kind of poignant ones. She’s the human collateral, I think, of this family.
Carey Mulligan in ‘Promising Young Woman’
Josey McNamara: She is incredibly gifted comedically, which I don’t think she gets credit for enough, and willing to go and to be transformative as well. I think with this role, it’s such a small amount of time that we had her, but she threw herself into it in terms of how she changed her appearance and the little details with the tattoos and all the different things she brought to it. She really wanted to kind of push outside of the box with it.
5) ‘Saltburn’ Was the First Film Allowed to Shoot at the Real British Estate That Fennell Discovered
‘Saltburn’ opens in theaters on November 22nd. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios.
Although the filmmakers are not allowed to identify the location by name, ‘Saltburn’ was shot primarily at Drayton House, a vast country estate in the East Midlands of England. Constructed in the early 14th century, the house has been owned by the same family for generations. Nothing had ever been filmed there before, which made it perfect for Saltburn.
Josey McNamara: The house is actually the first thing that Emerald and I spoke about, I think, after I read the script. We had the conversation about how important it was we find somewhere that had never been seen before and that would feel original to people and fresh. It was also incredibly important that we had somewhere that we could organically move throughout so we had a fluidity to the way we could shoot the movie. I think Emerald was the one who actually managed to kind of find the house and have all the original conversations, so thank God she managed to do that. I think it really allowed us to embed ourselves with the family, have everyone set themselves up in their characters, and also for the crew to kind of grow with the movie as well and everyone to get to know each other. It allowed us to shoot things in as much story order as possible so people could kind of grow into their characters, grow into the feeling of the movie. It allowed us to feel where the tension was in the movie and adjust and react. We got incredibly lucky with the family who owned the house, and they were really phenomenal with us and became a part of the crew themselves.
‘Saltburn’ opens in theaters on November 22nd. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon MGM Studios.
Rosamund Pike: I had opted to stay in the house itself, and I thought, oh, have I made a terrible mistake? Just like that line in the movie, ‘many people get lost in Saltburn.’ I was like, I’m never leaving, because the grounds are huge and I don’t have a car. I’m stuck here.’ It was kind of mad and intense. But it was a wonderful decision because the family were so generous. I had a bedroom in the house [but] I never saw all the rooms in the house. I mean, there were whole staircases I never even entered upon. Whatever you’re picturing as to the scale of this house, just quadruple it.
6) Margot Robbie is Not Just a Producer on the Film, But Was a Driving Force Behind It
Actor/Producer Margot Robbie attends the ‘Barbie’ Press Junket Photo Call at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA. Photo by Eric Charbonneau.
Actors get producing credits on films all the time. But in the case of ‘Saltburn,’ ‘Barbie’ superstar Margot Robbie, her husband, Tom Ackerley, and Josey McNamara produced the movie through their LuckyChap company, and Robbie was very much involved in its creation.
Emerald Fennell: She’s the greatest ever. She’s exceptional. The company that she runs with these guys is unbelievable. She produced ‘Promising Young Woman’ as well as ‘Saltburn.’ I really honestly never want to work with anyone else. Josey, Margot, Tom, they’re all incredible. What’s so remarkable about what she does and what they’re doing is that they have proved, this year more than any, that subversive, smart, complicated, difficult movies can make a serious amount of money, and can be hugely popular. Everyone said, for example, that ‘Barbie’ was unmakeable. ‘Promising Young Woman,’ lots of people wanted to change it, make it more palatable, make it more marketable, or what they perceived would be those things, and Margot and Josey and LuckyChap said absolutely not. They’re resolute. They know what they’re doing. She’s a powerhouse. She’ll take over. They’ll take over, and then they’ll dance on the embers of Hollywood and build it into a nice, beautiful, pink palace. You can count on it.
7) Rosamund Pike Prepared for Her Role by Reading Magazines From 2007
Rosamund Pike as Lady Elsbeth Catton in ‘Saltburn.’ Photo: Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon MGM Studios.
Rosamund Pike says she’s met people like Elspeth and prepared for the role by immersing herself in the kinds of things that the matriarch of Saltburn would do.
Rosamund Pike: My research for this role was quite intense. Because Elspeth does absolutely nothing. So it was very important for me to clear my decks. Go on vacation, sit by a pool, decide what swimsuit to wear, order a few cocktails, and order some magazines on eBay from 2007 — it’s not that easy — and read them. As Elspeth, think about all the people who are in the magazines who weren’t her. Because her vanity knows no bounds. That was preparation. I definitely have [met people like Elspeth] — growing up in the UK, and at various times being in those sort of milieus — people who’ve made me uncomfortable [laugh]. For all those times when I’ve been made to feel uncomfortable, it was a kind of payback. You know, the people who you don’t quite know what you’ve done wrong, but you know that there’s something about you that doesn’t fit…I’ve been around it. All the bizarre ways in which the English have this codified social behavior, and nobody tells you what the code is. You certainly know when you break a rule, but you don’t quite know what it is.
8) Emerald Fennell Insisted That the Cast Hang Out Together
(L to R) Alison Oliver as Venetia Catton, Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick and Jacob Elordi as Felix Catton in ‘Saltburn.’ Photo: Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon MGM Studios.
Much of the time on a movie, the cast members will scatter to their dressing rooms or trailers in between takes or setups. But with the ‘Saltburn’ cast members all supposed to be family (or their inner circle), Emerald Fennell wanted them to spend as much time together as possible.
Rosamund Pike: One thing is that Emerald insists that nobody goes off set into their own kind of world while we’re shooting. You know, there’s no kind of retreating to a trailer or a dressing room or something. She wants everybody to hang out in the same space. So, we had a kind of sitting room in the house that was our green room. And everybody was there. Everybody. From the family to the guys playing the footmen, and Paul Rhys playing the butler, Duncan. So I think that’s one thing. We laughed a lot. We just laughed. We played games, played cards, and played kind of silly word games. My children were around, which is a great icebreaker for everybody. They played with everybody. Just having children on set takes your mind off things. There was a very familial atmosphere. It’s this curious thing where you’re comfortable, and companionable, and very at ease in one another’s company. But nobody really knows how one another is feeling. It’s a very odd thing in these families. The same is when we did sort of, like, little montage things of all of us one evening just watching ‘The Ring.’ They put ‘The Ring’ on the telly, and that was it. We just sat and watched ‘The Ring’…we kept having these things to do as a family that sort of brought us together.
9) The Party Scene Got Very Intense
‘Saltburn’ opens in theaters on November 22nd. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon MGM Studios.
The centerpiece of the film’s second half is a costumed birthday party that the Cattons throw for Oliver at Saltburn, a huge bash that gets quite debauched. Apparently it got a little bit that way in real life as well.
Rosamund Pike: The party was so extreme. I mean, even the extras, you know, started hooking up with each other. It was that kind of environment where you felt like anything could happen, and you almost forget you were making a film. It felt that you were at a kind of three-day festival or something. To the point where, I had finished my role because Elspeth was sort of retiring to bed. Then I went back to the place we had for hair and makeup, and I saw this enormous, feathered headdress on the wall. I said, “You know what? I don’t think Elspeth would go to bed. I think she’d put that headdress on, put her dressing gown on, and go back to the party.” So, that’s what I did. [laugh] There’s this shot where they’re dancing to techno later in the night, and you just see this kind of feathered headdress and these sunglasses, and that’s Elspeth up by the DJ probably, you know? I just felt that’s what she’d do.
10) Jacob Elordi Blew Away Both Rosamund Pike and Emerald Fennell
(L to R) Jacob Elordi as Felix Catton in ‘Saltburn.’ Photo: Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon MGM Studios.
‘Euphoria’ star Jacob Elordi is having one hell of a year: he’s not only garnering raves for his portrayal of Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppola’s ‘Priscilla,’ but the young Australian nails the pivotal role of Felix Catton in ‘Saltburn.’
Emerald Fennell: He’s absolutely amazing. In many ways, Felix is the hardest part in this movie because he’s sort of the emotional center. He’s put immediately on a pedestal by not just Oliver, but the film, so it was about finding someone who had this unbelievably magnetic charm and charisma, but who was also sort of a gifted actor who understood that this person is still a person, still just a guy. That is profoundly what Jacob did. He came in and he gave this performance for his screen test, and it was exactly what I was looking for, which was that he was kind of mortal. He looked like a god, but he’s mortal.
(L to R) Jacob Elordi as Felix Catton in ‘Saltburn.’ Photo: Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon MGM Studios.
Rosamund Pike: Emerald had said that she’d cast this incredibly handsome Australian. I thought, “Well, how’s that going to work?” Then she said, “No, no. He came in and he read, and it just blew us all away.” I still thought, “Yeah, but how is he going to capture the specificity of this English public school boy?” Then I was in L.A., and I met him, and we went for lunch. I was kind of oblivious to quite what a massive star he is. So, of course, poor guy, we were constantly besieged by people coming up to talk to him. He was very gracious and kind. But I realized in that meeting that he’s the real deal. That he’s a proper actor who puts the work in… what he does in the film, for me, is totally astonishing. He gets it pitch perfect.
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What is the plot of ‘Saltburn’?
Lonely new Oxford student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), desperate to make friends, is drawn into the social circle of popular, rich, and powerfully attractive Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). When Felix invites Oliver to spend the summer at Saltburn, the Catton family’s country estate, Oliver finds himself in the midst of a truly eccentric family whose wealth and privilege mask the emptiness of their existence – until Oliver is added into the mix.
Who is in the cast of ‘Saltburn’?
Barry Keoghan (‘The Banshees of Inisherin’) as Oliver Quick
(L to R) Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick, Jacob Elordi as Felix Catton and Alison Oliver as Venetia Catton in ‘Saltburn.’ Photo: Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon MGM Studios.
