(L to R) Rami Malek as Lt. Col. Douglas Kelley, Russell Crowe as Hermann Göring in ‘Nuremberg’. Photo: Scott Garfield. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
Russell Crowe as Hermann Göring in ‘Nuremberg’. Photo: Scott Garfield. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
The Nuremberg trials were a major turning point in world history: they not only exposed the atrocities of the Nazi regime to the world on a large scale, but they laid down the foundations for what would become international law and the concept of crimes against humanity itself.
The saga of how the trials came together – a mammoth effort that involved the cooperation of the four main Allied nations – and their complex ethical and moral implications (and failings) is certainly ripe material for filming, as 1961’s ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’ so ably proved. James Vanderbilt’s ‘Nuremberg’ has moments where it approaches greatness – and one spectacularly unsettling performance at its core from Russell Crowe – but the director-writer often focuses on the wrong subject or goes off on tangents that lessen the film’s power.
Story and Direction
(L to R) Leo Woodall and James Vanderbilt on the set of ‘Nuremberg’. Photo: Scott Garfield. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
As World War II ends, one of the chief architects of the Third Reich and its campaign of genocide against the Jews, Hermann Göring (Crowe), turns himself in to the Allied forces. A number of other Nazi officials are captured as well. While Supreme Court Associate Justice Robert H. Jackson (Shannon) prepares the groundwork for what will be an unprecedented international tribunal, psychiatrist Douglas Kelley is tasked with analyzing the mental state of the men who will stand trial – particularly the slippery, effortlessly charming Göring.
At two and a half hours in length, ‘Nuremberg’ feels like its reaching for epic status. But it also feels like a truncated version of what might have been a longer limited series, with Vanderbilt cramming so many aspects of the story into his film that it’s hard for any of them to stand out. That makes his decision to focus on Kelley’s relationship with Göring even more puzzling (even though the film is based in part on a biography of Kelley).
Despite Crowe’s excellent work as portraying Göring as a suave, sophisticated, and even witty sparring partner, the exchanges between him and Kelley never come to life, playing instead like an enervated version of Clarice-vs-Lecter from ‘The Silence of the Lambs.’ Göring plays with Kelley, gaining his friendship, but all their repartee in the end feels pointless. Kelley (whose own life came to a grim end in 1958, after his report on the Nazis he studied at Nuremberg was largely dismissed) also strikes up a relationship of sorts (platonic) with Göring’s wife, another unnecessary (and, frankly, rather queasy) side road that the film takes while the most compelling part of the narrative – Jackson’s buildup to the trial and the moment he almost lost it – is frequently left in the background.
Russell Crowe as Hermann Göring in ‘Nuremberg’. Photo: Scott Garfield. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
Despite a number of absorbing moments and heroic work by Crowe, Shannon, John Slattery, and Leo Woodall (Malek’s Kelley, unfortunately, is simply a cipher), Vanderbilt tries to do too much. Scenes in which the other Nazi officers are interrogated or treated by Kelley and the German Jewish soldier Howie Triest (Woodall) barely make an impact because of the film’s ‘this-happened-and-then-happened’ structure. The most powerful moment, of course, is when film taken by Allied soldiers from inside the liberated Nazi concentration camps is unspooled during the trial – nothing can ever lessen the impact of that (and people should be reminded of it now more than ever).
This is a beautifully mounted production – from the sets to the costumes to the insignia on both Nazi and Allied uniforms, this is finely detailed technical filmmaking that immediately brings one back to this period of history. But Vanderbilt – whose only other directorial effort was 2015’s ‘Truth’ – seems overwhelmed by the material, and handles it in a pedestrian way that dilutes its full impact.
Cast and Performances
Michael Shannon as Robert H. Jackson in ‘Nuremberg’. Photo: Scott Garfield. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
Russell Crowe’s career trajectory has been so strange in recent years, as he’s chomped the scenery and flaunted extreme accents in films ranging from ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ to ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ to ‘Kraven the Hunter,’ that watching his restrained, charismatic, and utterly chilling performance as Hermann Göring makes you remember just what a powerful actor he can be. His work here is the single best aspect of the movie and riveting throughout.
Just as strong is national treasure Michael Shannon, who brings gravity, eloquence, and humanity to the deeply flawed Robert H. Jackson, and some of the best supporting work comes from dependable scene-stealers Richard E. Grant and John Slattery. As for Rami Malek – who seems to have a hard time finding the right roles lately – he’s good to some extent, but uneven in certain moments and not given enough to make the part of Kelley a truly distinctive character.
Final Thoughts
(L to R) Richard E. Grant as Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, Michael Shannon as Robert H. Jackson, Rami Malek as Lt. Col. Douglas Kelley in ‘Nuremberg’. Photo: Scott Garfield. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
‘Nuremberg’ has the patina of a certain kind of film that would dominate both awards season and critical discussion had it come out perhaps 10 or 15 years earlier. It’s handsomely mounted and James Vanderbilt seems to want to give it the sweep of a true historical epic. Its haunting coda also reminds us that the horrors perpetrated by the Nazi regime remain relevant – perhaps increasingly so – today. But so much time is spent on peripheral matters that the story only comes into focus part of the time. But when it does, it’s powerful stuff.
‘Nuremberg’ receives a score of 65 out of 100.
Russell Crowe as Hermann Göring in ‘Nuremberg’. Photo: Scott Garfield. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
What is the plot of ‘Nuremberg’?
The Allies, led by chief prosecutor Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon), have the task of ensuring the Nazi regime answers for the horrors of the Holocaust — while a U.S. Army psychiatrist (Rami Malek) is locked in a dramatic psychological duel with former Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe).
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Michael Shannon and John Slattery about their work on ‘Nuremberg’, Slattery’s first reaction to the screenplay and collaborating with director James Vanderbilt on set, as well as Shannon’s approach to his character and working with Rami Malek.
(L to R) Michael Shannon and John Slattery star in ‘Nuremberg’.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews.
(L to R) Rami Malek as Lt. Col. Douglas Kelley, Colin Hanks as Dr. Gustave Gilbert, John Slattery as Col. Burton C. Andrus in ‘Nuremberg’. Photo: Scott Garfield. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
Moviefone: To begin with, John, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and the importance of telling this story?
John Slattery: My first reaction was I don’t think I’m the man to play this part. I thought, I don’t have it in me. I said to James, “If you want what’s on the page, then you probably should find someone else because how am I going to run that room and preside over that group?” He convinced me to do it my own way, or we’d figure out a way to do it. That’s coupled with, of course, wanting to be in it and wanting to be a part of such a great story. So, I was daunted by the challenge of it, but certainly wanted to be a part of it. I think Michael, Rami and Russell were already set. So, who wouldn’t want to be a part of that group?
MF: Michael, can you talk about your approach to playing Robert H. Jackson, the pressure on him to win this trial and what’s at stake if he doesn’t?
Michael Shannon: Well, I just did a lot of research. I didn’t know much about Robert Jackson, or hardly anything really, going into it, so I had a lot to learn. Obviously, you know, he kind of brings this all upon himself because the trials are his idea. A lot of people in the American government thought if we caught Nazis, we should just execute them, and he went out of his way to establish this tribunal and so he reaped what he sowed to that extent. But thank God he did it because it was a brilliant idea, and he was right. But he sacrificed a bit of his own professional trajectory to accomplish it. I wish what he had set in motion was as strong now as what he established back then.
Michael Shannon as Robert H. Jackson in ‘Nuremberg’. Photo: Scott Garfield. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
MF: Michael, can you also talk about Jackson’s working relationship with Douglas Kelly as it’s depicted in the film and creating that relationship on screen with Rami Malek?
MS: Well, I’m so charmed by Rami all the time. I mean, he’s so alive. He’s so much fun to work with, even in in a story and situation like this. You know, in the book, ‘The Nazi and the Psychiatrist’, which the film is based on, you don’t really see too much interplay between Jackson and Kelly. It really focuses on his time with the Nazis in the prison, but I really love doing that scene in the stadium where I lay out to him why what we’re doing is so important. I’m glad it’s in the story and I loved shooting that with him because he was such an amazing listener to play off. Anytime you have a speech like that, you hope whoever you’re saying it to is listening to what you’re saying, and he was always. Yeah, I love him.
MF: Finally, John, what was it like collaborating with writer and director James Vanderbilt on set and helping him to execute his vision for this project?
JS: I mean, you couldn’t find a more enthusiastic leader who fortunately had written the script, so we had a resource and wealth of ideas. He was collaborative, excited, tireless and funny, and I couldn’t have had a better experience from the moment I met him till now. He was willing to try things. He was willing to adjust and to accommodate. This cast has very different energies between Russell, Rami, Michael, Richard Grant, Leo (Woodall) and me. There’s a lot of different methods of working and he accommodated all of them, at least speaking for myself. I couldn’t have had a more willing partner.
(L to R) Leo Woodall and James Vanderbilt on the set of ‘Nuremberg’. Photo: Scott Garfield. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
What is the plot of ‘Nuremberg’?
During the Nuremberg trials, chief psychiatrist Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) interviews Nazi military members to determine whether they are fit to stand trial. There, he enters a “battle of wits” against Adolf Hitler’s right-hand man, Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe).
(L to R) Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan star in ‘The Thursday Murder Club’.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan about their work on ‘The Thursday Murder Club’, their first reactions to the script, their characters, collaborating with director Chris Columbus on set, and working with the all-star cast.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Mirren, Brosnan, Sir Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie, and director Chris Columbus.
Moviefone: To begin with, Helen, had you read the novel before you read the script, and what excited you about playing Elizabeth Best on screen?
Helen Mirren: Well, I had read the book. I’ read the book at least a year before, and thought, “Oh, my goodness, this would make a great movie.” I did feel that when I read the book. Immediately on the heels of that, I thought, “I’m the right person to play Elizabeth. I’m right. If there is a role in this for me, I think that’s my role.” But you have no idea what’s going to happen, and then I heard that Steven Spielberg had bought the rights to the script. Which on the one hand, was great news because we knew then the movie was going to be in wonderful hands. But at the same time, I thought, “Oh, my God, well, that means I’ll never get the role, because some much bigger movie star, than me will play it.” So, I was very pleased when they did approach me and I said yes, immediately, without any question. Then I don’t know if I read the script before that. I think maybe I hadn’t even read the script. I can’t remember. But possibly not. So, it didn’t come from the script for me. It came from the book.
(L to R) Celia Imrie, Ben Kingsley, Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan in ‘The Thursday Murder Club’, which will launch on 28th August 2025 exclusively on Netflix. Photo: Netflix.
MF: Pierce, what was your first reaction to the screenplay and why did you want to be a part of this project?
Pierce Brosnan: I wanted to be part of it because this is a beloved book, Ron Ritchie is a great character. It’s always good to be a surprise. Chris Columbus, you know, I played in his movies, ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ and ‘Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief’. The company of Sir Ben, Dame Helen, Celia, and it was a glorious summer, just the most magnificent time with this company of actors. You’re dealing with a great nuanced story of characters who are aging, who are dealing with the challenges of life, and who are alive and passionate about what they do. They solve cold cases and then ultimately a murder, right on their doorstep.
MF: Helen, what was your experience like working with director Chris Columbus for the first time?
HM: We all fell in love with Chris Columbus. But I would add, absolute encouragement and joyfulness, but also incredible expertise. We knew we were in the hands of an experienced filmmaker, who understood what was needed when he hadn’t got it yet, he went on until he did have it, but in the most encouraging ways. You never felt like you were failing but that you could trust him because he knew.
Chris Columbus attends the NYC Special Screening of ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ on August 14, 2025 in New York City. Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Netflix.
MF: Pierce, as you mentioned, you’ve worked with Chris Columbus before, so what was it like to reunite with him on this film and has his process as a filmmaker changed since the last time you worked together?
PB: I think we just picked up where we left off, on ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ and ‘Percy Jackson’. He’s a pal, and he’s such a great filmmaker. He knows where to put the camera, he knows how to tell the story, so when you walk in front of the camera, you feel like you’re on stage and your preparation, your homework, your study, and the words that you have to say, have a meaning and have a power. Then there’s also the great surprise element of your fellow actors, and being beside Ben and him playing Ibrahim Arif, we became a duo, and I didn’t really see that or think that when I was studying the script of preparing the work. It evolved just because of the positioning of the two of us by Chris, where you put your characters or how you find the blocking in a scene is very important. It can speak volumes, the way you move or the way you stand.
MF: Finally, Helen, what was it like for you to work with this incredible cast of actors, and is it fun making a movie with your friends?
HM: Oh, I mean, it could be a disaster making a movie with your friends. You know, it could be, because maybe you’ll get too cozy together and you’re not sufficiently objective about what you’re doing. There is a danger there. But I have to say with this group, who are absolutely friends, Ben, I knew when I was in my early 20s. Celia, I worked with it seems to me a few years ago, but she tells me it was 20 years ago. Pierce, I knew. But you never really know how the chemistry will come together at work. I think Ben puts it very well, he says, “We’re like a quartet and we each bring our individual instruments, that we each play very well and together those instruments make music.” So, we’ve all been trying to decide which instrument we play, we haven’t quite settled on that yet. But we do make good music.
‘The Thursday Murder Club’ will launch on 28th August 2025 exclusively on Netflix. Photo: Netflix.
What is the plot of ‘The Thursday Murder Club’?
Elderly amateur sleuths attempt to solve a murder. One was a spy (Helen Mirren), one was a nurse (Celia Imrie), one was a trade union official (Pierce Brosnan) and one was a psychiatrist (Sir Ben Kingsley).
(L to R) Celia Imrie, Ben Kingsley, Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan in ‘The Thursday Murder Club’, which will launch on 28th August 2025 exclusively on Netflix. Photo: Netflix.
“Cozy Crime” is a genre appellation that some storytellers bristle at, invoking images of basic British TV detective series featuring quirkily named old folk digging into crimes in bucolic countryside landscapes. But when fully embraced and exploited for full entertainment value, it’s one that pays dividends.
And, on the face of it, ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ could feel like it slots right alongside those sorts of shows –– you could even imagine it airing as a series on Sunday nights on the BBC. Yet this is a big-budget, star-driven movie that has even more to offer.
Script and Direction
Chris Columbus attends the NYC Special Screening of ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ on August 14, 2025 in New York City. Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Netflix.
Osman’s book launched a successful series of books and a healthy reading audience, so naturally there was pressure from the start to get the adaptation right. Fortunately, screenwriters Katy Brand (‘Good Luck to You, Leo Grande’) and Suzanne Heathcote (‘Killing Eve’) nail the tone and the basics while making any necessary changes as the story shifts mediums.
The mystery itself is solid and intriguing, and while you might be able to guess some of the elements, it doesn’t spoil the enjoyment.
In reality, it’s the characters you end up rooting for, and the screenplay features more than enough wittiness and charm to make them work on the page, even before considering the quality cast attached.
Chris Columbus certainly has experience bringing beloved British books to screens, and with ‘Thursday Murder Club’ he largely keeps things balanced and stays out of the way of the plot. Aside from some stylish flashbacks to another case, and some great tricks to keep you guessing on the crime front, the movie unfolds without fuss.
It’s not every murder mystery that can boast the talents of Academy Award-winning actors, and this one really makes the most of its cast.
Helen Mirren is the perfect Elizabeth, a former MI6 operative who can’t shake her investigative training even if she is now living in a retirement home. Imperious, impatient and occasionally impolite (though usually only when she’s frustrated with others), Elizabeth also has a vulnerable streak, not least when dealing with her husband Stephen (a superb Jonathan Pryce), who is struggling with creeping dementia.
Pierce Brosnan, meanwhile, gets to show off his comedy chops along with his trademark gruff charisma as Ron, a trade union leader who is a key member of the club.
Also on the team is retired psychologist Ibrahim, played by Ben Kingsley, who applies his training to figuring out motives and schemes. It’s a welcome change of gear for the actor, who puts in an appealingly nervy, quiet performance.
Celia Imrie’s former nurse Joyce is the new recruit, brought aboard for her medical background and willingness to go along with Elizabeth and co’s ideas –– even when they conflict with local law enforcement.
Around the core cast, a solid group of British character actors adds flavor and spice to the story, including the likes of Ackie (who is a friendly police constable) and David Tennant (as a loathsome property developer whose latest deal threatens the sanctity of the Club’s Cooper’s Chase retirement home.
Others include Daniel Mays as DCI Chris Hudson, endlessly confounded by our heroes’ meddling and Tom Ellis, who is Ron’s son Jason, a famous fighter sidelined by injury who has found fame on TV.
Final Thoughts
(L to R) Henry Lloyd Hughes and Helen Mirren in ‘The Thursday Murder Club’, which will launch on 28th August 2025 exclusively on Netflix. Photo: Netflix.
‘The Thursday Murder Club’ is an effective, well-crafted example of the murder mystery genre, one that celebrates its source material while also making smart decisions about turning the story into a movie.
Chances are the film will have you hoping for a spin-off series, but with a batch of books in Osman’s novel series, we may have to settle for more movies.
But if any further movies can keep up the blend of crafty mystery and genuine emotion on display here, it’ll be a good day for Cozy Crime in general.
‘The Thursday Murder Club’ receives a score of 85 out of 100.
Four irrepressible retirees spend their time solving cold case murders for fun, but their casual sleuthing takes a thrilling turn when they find themselves with a real whodunit on their hands.
(L to R) Ben Kingsley, Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan in ‘The Thursday Murder Club’, which will launch on 28th August 2025 exclusively on Netflix. Photo: Netflix.
Preview:
The first look at Netflix’s crime novel adaptation ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ has landed.
Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren and Ben Kingsley lead the cast.
That’s quite a murderer’s row of casting –– pun entirely intended, since the book and resulting film will fall cleanly into the cozy murder mystery genre that the UK does so well –– and cements the latest big move for Osman, whose novel series has been a massive bestseller.
With Chris Columbus calling the shots, we now have the first look at the movie, and particularly the leads in the middle of their latest case. And if this one is a success, we can surely expect more.
Other books in the series include ‘The Man Who Died Twice,’ ‘The Bullet That Missed,’ and ‘The Last Devil to Die,’ as well as the newest installment ‘The Impossible Fortune,’ which is released later this year.
Here’s Osman’s statement on his inspiration for the stories –– spending time at his own mother’s retirement home:
“You just sit and chat with these people and they’ve lived these extraordinary lives. You hear these amazing stories and gossip and wisdom. You think, ‘These people are so overlooked.’ The idea that these people with their wisdom and their invisibility would be the perfect people to solve a crime is exactly where ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ comes from. Take these people who are underestimated but who have these incredible skills, put them together, and they can achieve anything.”
What’s the story of ‘The Thursday Murder Club’?
(L to R) Celia Imrie, Ben Kingsley, Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan in ‘The Thursday Murder Club’, which will launch on 28th August 2025 exclusively on Netflix. Photo: Netflix.
Osman’s book, the first in a series follows four irrepressible retirees –– Elizabeth (Mirren), Ron (Brosnan), Ibrahim (Kingsley) and Joyce (Imrie) –– who spend their time solving cold case murders for fun.
When an unexplained death occurs on their own doorstep, their casual sleuthing takes a thrilling turn as they find themselves with a real whodunit on their hands.
And this is no ordinary group of retirees –– they all bring a particular set of skills to the table. Mirren’s Elizabeth is a former spy, Kingsley’s Ibrahim worked as a psychiatrist, Brosnan’s Ron spend his days as a union activist and Imrie’s Joyce was a nurse.
Here’s what Columbus said about that main cast:
“This is the finest cast I’ve worked with since ‘Potter.’ They’re just so incredibly well-prepared, and it’s because they do everything. They do theater, they do television, they do film, and they’ve developed those sorts of muscles.”
(L to R) Tom Ellis and Helen Mirren in ‘The Thursday Murder Club’, which will launch on 28th August 2025 exclusively on Netflix. Photo: Netflix.
Osman sold the rights to Spielberg’s Amblin company in 2020, shortly after the first book became a hit, and development quietly proceeded along.
So, who did the company chose to adapt a popular series of novels set in the UK it hopes will spawn a successful franchise (and has form working with Spielberg)? That would be Columbus, who helped kick off the gigantic ‘Harry Potter’ film series!
With Osman aboard as an executive producer, production happened last year and the first trailer should be on the way before we know it.
And though the concept might seem more niche than the adventures of a boy wizard, the casting will certainly help push the idea here and beyond.
Who else is appearing in ‘The Thursday Murder Club’?
(L to R) Celia Imrie, Naomi Ackie and Ben Kingsley in ‘The Thursday Murder Club’, which will launch on 28th August 2025 exclusively on Netflix. Photo: Netflix.
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.
c0ev1JoVm2Kc8enPiSfue7
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.
c0ev1JoVm2Kc8enPiSfue7
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.
Fans of Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino, the rest of the ‘Loki’ gang (and multiverses in general), get ready to be happy. Because the Marvel Disney+ series about the character is back in just a few days’ time.
Yet Season 1 screened back in 2021, so what if you’ve forgotten some of the pertinent details and need a refresher? Never fear, we are here to help. Like the Time Variance Agency, we will make sure you are on the right track (and we won’t prune you out of existence, either).
Created and run by Michael Waldron (who would end up spending more time in parallel dimensions when he was hired to re-write Marvel movie sequel ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’, ‘Loki’ picks up the story of Tom Hiddleston’s title character back at a time when he was very much more a villain than the heroic character he has become in the likes of ‘Avengers: Infinity War’.
You’ll recall that Loki spotted a chance to escape custody at the end of ‘The Avengers’ when heroes such as Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) travel back in time looking for the Tesseract. Instead of them getting it then, Loki grabs it and uses it to transport himself away.
But he is picked up by agents of the Time Variance Authority, where he has been deemed a dangerous “variant”, a chaotic version of himself that disrupts the timeline that the authority –– or so it claims –– is working to protect. A bureaucratic, retro-futuristic organization that exists outside of time and space, it gives Loki a choice: face being erased from existence due to being a or help fix the timeline and stop a greater threat.
Loki ends up in his own crime thriller, traveling through time hunting a female version of himself named Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino).
Sylvie, as mentioned, is a female Loki Variant. Targeted for “pruning” (AKA removing from the timeline), she’s been fighting back across time and space, looking to discover the truth behind the TVA.
She’s causing chaos to attract the organization’s attention and ends up crossing paths with our Loki.
The two actually start to fall for each other, realizing their innate connection. But after figuring they could hide in apocalypses (as Sylvie has been doing), their burgeoning relationship is interrupted when they are brought before He Who Remains (but more on him later) and ends up killing him, shoving Loki into a portal.
She will be back for Season 2, so we’ll find out what happens between the two Lokis. Let’s be honest: “it’s complicated” barely begins to encompass this one.
One of the first faces that any arriving prisoner sees is Miss Minutes, an animated clock who cheerily greets people. Voiced by Tara Strong, this mascot provides information –– but she’s also got a hidden agenda.
The authority is overseen by the “Timekeepers”, mysterious creatures represented by statues in a hidden chamber that some at the TVA see as godlike. As it turns out, that’s a giant lie crafted by He Who Remains (again, more later).
The Timekeepers are androids created to control the TVA and its employees, who, it is revealed, were not specially created to work there, but were in fact all variants themselves, with their memories wiped.
Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson): An agent of the TVA who specializes in the investigations of particularly dangerous time criminals. He befriends Loki, and the two work the Sylvie case. But once he learns about his variant nature, he helps Loki and Sylvie battle his former employers.
Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw): A former TVA Hunter known as A-23, who rose from the ranks to become a respected judge; she oversees the Loki variant investigation. An ambitious, fervent believer in the TVA’s mission, she’s forced to face hard truths about the organization. And when they are revealed, she vanishes into a portal in search of free will.
Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku): A high ranking Hunter of the TVA determined to stop the variant that has been killing Minutemen troops. She’s among those who believe the Timekeepers are gods.
Hunter C-20 (Sasha Lane): A TVA Hunter kidnapped and enchanted by Sylvie to reveal the location of the Timekeepers.
At one point, Loki is “pruned” and banished to an apocalyptic, ruined New York, and meets a host of other variants of himself, including Classic Loki (Richard E. Grant) who wears a comic-accurate costume and has more extensive illusionary powers than Hiddleston’s version.
There are various others, including Kid Loki (Jack Veal), Boastful Loki (DeObia Oparei) and, of course, Alligator Loki (himself), who we can all agree is the best Loki.
That is being complicated for Marvel by the allegations surrounding Majors’ personal life, but he is back for Season 2, playing Victor Timely, yet another Kang variant. He has been somewhat downplayed in the promos for the new season, but we’ll see how much he appears in the show itself.
‘Loki’ will launch with its first episode (of a planned six) on October 6th. Will the producers announce a third season at the end of the second? Only time will tell…
(Left) Himesh Patel in Max’s ‘Station Eleven.’ Photograph by Ian Watson/HBO Max. (Right) Aya Cash as Stormfront in season 2 of Prime Video’s ‘The Boys.’ Credit: Jasper Savage. Copyright: Amazon Studios.
Though they certainly seem to be going through more of a rough patch right now, giant movies featuring caped crusaders, men of steel and other costumed characters continue to be a force at the box office.
And while satirizing the idea of superheroes is nothing new –– Prime Video alone has ‘The Boys’ and the animated series ‘Invincible’ –– poking fun at the machinations of companies and people who make movies based on comic book properties is still an idea ripe with promise.
Who better, then to oversee such a project as Armando Iannucci, the British comedian and writer/producer who has brought us the likes of ‘Veep’ and ‘Avenue 5’ and spent years before either show working on politically-skewed series in the UK?
Yet while he will be an executive producer on the new series, ‘The Franchise’, the actual showrunner is Jon Brown, who worked with Iannucci on ‘Veep’ and ‘Avenue 5’ but has also spent years on ‘Succession’.
With HBO ordering the show to series after a successful pilot, the creative team is rounded out by ‘American Beauty’ and ‘Skyfall’ director Sam Mendes, a man more known for producing TV than calling the shots on it, but who did so for ‘The Franchise’.
What is the story of ‘The Franchise’?
Aya Cash as Stormfront in season 2 of Prime Video’s ‘The Boys.’ Credit: Jasper Savage. Copyright: Amazon Studios
According to HBO’s official description, the show follows “the crew of an unloved franchise movie fighting for their place in a savage and unruly cinematic universe,” while it also “shines a light on the secret chaos inside the world of superhero moviemaking, to ask the question — how exactly does the cinematic sausage get made? Because every fuck-up has an origin story.”
It’ll definitely be taking pot shots at the big comic book-based studios, then, and potentially mega-budget filmmaking in general. Possibly along the lines of Judd Apatow’s satire ‘The Bubble’ last year (though hopefully more successfully).
Himesh Patel in Max’s ‘Station Eleven.’ Photograph by Ian Watson/HBO Max.
That is a much bigger question to answer; while the pilot was shot before the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes took effect, the series itself will have to wait for them to be resolved before it can get moving in any creative capacity.
Still, given the talent involved, you know HBO will want to get moving on this as soon as possible, especially since it’ll want the series out before the superhero movie genre goes completely off the bubble.
Aya Cash as Stormfront in season 2 of Prime Video’s ‘The Boys.’ Credit: Jasper Savage. Copyright: Amazon Studios.
yYmwyD6h
Opening in theaters on July 7th is the British thriller ‘The Lesson,’ which was written by Alex MacKeith (‘Exit Eve’) and directed by first time feature filmmaker Alice Troughton (‘Doctor Who,’ ‘Legends of Tomorrow’).
What is the plot of ‘The Lesson’?
‘The Lesson’ stars Daryl McCormack as Liam, an aspiring and ambitious young writer, eagerly accepts a tutoring position at the family estate of his idol, renowned author J.M. Sinclair (Academy Award nominee Richard E. Grant). But soon, Liam realizes that he is ensnared in a web of family secrets, resentment, and retribution. Sinclair, his wife Hélène (Academy Award nominee Julie Delpy), and their son Bertie (Stephen McMillan) all guard a dark past, one that threatens Liam’s future as well as their own. As the lines between master and protégé blur, class, ambition, and betrayal become a dangerous combination in this taut noir thriller.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Oscar-nominee Richard E. Grant about his work on ‘The Lesson,’ the film’s story, why he related to it, working with Julie Delpy and the rest of the cast, collaborating with director Alice Troughton, and the idea of class warfare.
Richard E. Grant in Bleecker Street’s ‘The Lesson.’ Credit: Anna Patarakina. Courtesy of Bleecker Street.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Grant and Julie Delpy.
Moviefone: To begin with, J.M. Sinclair is a much darker character than audiences are used to seeing you play. How did you approach and prepare for this role?
Richard E. Grant: I think that more than anything that it’s a hermetically sealed family world that Daryl McCormack, who is hired as a tutor, to come and teach my screen teenage son. He’s the cooker that comes into the nest and causes havoc. I think because the family are dealing with the grief of the loss of their eldest son, who’s committed suicide, rather than grief being something that unifies people, and having been through that with the loss of my wife (Joan Washington) six months before making this film, in this story, it goes off like a grenade and it catapults them in the opposite direction. So they’re very isolated. I think that saying that isolation that each character goes through was something that informed the way that the whole film was made is correct. I’ll put it like this, it is a chamber piece with four characters in one location, and Hamburg was standing in for Oxfordshire. Normally when you’re on location with a very small cast, there’s enormous socializing that goes on. But apart from a cast and producers/director dinner that we had at the beginning of the shoot, nobody socialized. I think that this instinctively happened that we mirrored in real life what was happening (in the script), and the characters in the story because there were very intense scenes that we had to do on a daily basis. I think that at the end of the day, everybody retreated just instinctively into their own hotel/apartment, and that’s what happened, which was unusual. I’ve never experienced it quite like that on a movie before.
(L to R) Julie Delpy and Daryl McCormack in Bleecker Street’s ‘The Lesson.’ Credit: Gordon Timpen. Courtesy of Bleecker Street.
MF: J.M. and Hélène Sinclair’s relationship is already damaged when the film begins. Did you work with actress Julie Delpy before filming to create that relationship or did you just find it on set?
REG: No, we literally did not socialize whatsoever. It wasn’t as though somebody said, “Would you like to have dinner?” And I said, “No, God, no. I’m working on my character.” It just didn’t happen. Maybe instinctively as actors, we reflect exactly what is happening in the story. So it was method by happenstance rather than by any design. It wasn’t conscious. It was only the end of the movie, when we finished shooting, that I realized this. We didn’t really get to know each other on a personal basis outside of the story.
Daryl McCormack in Bleecker Street’s ‘The Lesson.’ Credit: Anna Patarakina. Courtesy of Bleecker Street.
MF: Can you talk about collaborating with director Alice Troughton on set to create the character of J.M. Sinclair?
REG: Well, what is very exciting about when you are at the veteran end of your career, which I am at 66, everybody on every job is now half my age or even younger. So the kick and the excitement is to work with Alice, who had never directed a feature before. She’d done television. So she was very passionate and had been attached to this project for five years. Likewise, the producers, which is not unusual with an indie film, as you know. Daryl had, I think, done a couple of movies, but his ‘Leo Grande,’ it was his big screen break. Stephen McMillan had been in ‘Boiling Point.’ I’d seen him in that movie. So when you’ve got people that are passionate and that are hungry about making a story, you avoid all the journeymen tire directors. They’ve seen it, done it, and got the t-shirt 100 times before. It means that everything is done with a kind of virgin passion, and that is very exciting. I felt a bit sometimes like being an old vampire, getting blood from the younger people around me, and that’s a real transfusion. It ups your game because I think young actors, the way that they act and the level of talent is so extraordinary. That every time I went to work, I thought, I’m going to learn something from these guys. I hope I can keep up with them. This has liberated me.
(L to R) Richard E. Grant, Daryl McCormack, Julie Delpy, and Stephen McMillan in Bleecker Street’s ‘The Lesson.’ Credit: Anna Patarakina. Courtesy of Bleecker Street.
MF: Filmmaker Alice Troughton has described the dinner scenes as “scenes of warfare.” Can you talk about that and did you see those scenes that way too?
REG: Yeah, they are. I mean, people didn’t use their knives or forks, but they used their tongues to absolutely send poison darts in every direction, or looks without even speaking. Their contempt or their accusation or blame was absolutely inherent in the scenes. Inevitably, when somebody dies within a family, somebody is going to feel that they’ve either been ignored, left out, usurped or whatever. So challenging all of that was, I’ve never done a (Harold) Pinter play, but it reminded me of that, of what mundane things are being said, “Pass the salt. Could I have some more of this?” (Those lines) are loaded with what they really are feeling underneath it. Whereas if you took that dialogue in isolation, you’d think, well, you just asked to pass the salt. What is there on that? It’s not charged. But when you are in the scene and circumstances as they are, they’re like verbal and visual bombs that are being thrown in all directions.
Richard E. Grant stars in Bleecker Street’s ‘The Lesson.’
MF: Finally, with their knowledge of culture, it seems like J.M. and Hélène are really testing Liam in a form of class warfare. Is that correct?
REG: The ammunition of pulling cultural references or trying to humiliate somebody intellectually is, I don’t know whether that’s a particularly an English thing, but it’s something like what people say and what they mean are two different things. I always think it’s the equivalent of when I’ve been in New York and I’ve been in a restaurant and the food hasn’t been up to standard. Because it costs so much, a New Yorker will just tell it straight out like it is, “I’m not paying for that. I want a refund. Get the chef out here. I’ll get it sorted out.” In England, people will vetch and moan about how awful it is and the waiter would come over and say, “How was your meal?” We’d go, “Oh, it’s actually marvelous. Thank you so much.” Of course they will never go back again. I always think it’s the equivalent of in Australia or in America, when somebody says, “Oh, you must come and stay, or you must come and have lunch.” They mean it. In England, if somebody says that to you, it means, “You will never cross this threshold or draw breath ever again. You are never seeing me.” Now, you recognize that. I don’t know whether that’s because we’re on a very small island with a very large number of people compared to countries that could happily fit into Kansas. I don’t know. But it is the doublespeak of English life that is absolutely nailed in this screenplay, I think.
Bleecker Street’s ‘The Lesson’ opens in theaters on July 7th.
