World

Emerald Fennell on ‘Saltburn,’ class and Barry Keoghan: Fall Movie Preview

Published

1 year ago

September 7, 2023

Emerald Fennell on ‘Saltburn,’ class and Barry Keoghan: Fall Movie Preview

NEW YORK (AP) — Countless English protagonists have for decades been making their way to grand country estates where their lives are irrevocably changed. “Brideshead Revisited.” “The Go-Between.” “Remains of the Day.” “Rebecca.”

These are some of the books that Emerald Fennell grew up devouring. And when the dust had settled on “Promising Young Woman,” her incendiary Oscar-winning directorial debut, Fennell, too, wanted to make her way to a fictional stately manor.

“I really wanted to make a movie that was a take on the classic English gothic story,” Fennell says. “It felt like an incredibly well-worn and therefore intriguing genre to start looking at and applying pressure to.”

In “Saltburn,” which opens in theaters Nov. 24, Fennell applies her particular and potent brand of pressure to the one of the longest standing British genres. And given the bleakly vengeful conclusion of her provocative debut, it’s safe to say that things get quite a bit bumpier at Saltburn than they ever did at Downton Abbey.

Fennell has already been a memorable part of one conversation-starting film this year. That was her as Midge, the pregnant doll, in Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.” (Fennell, alas, said she couldn’t comment on her role in “Barbie” due to the actors strike.)

Like that film, “Saltburn,” which Fennell wrote and directs, includes Margot Robbie as a producer. It stars Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick, an Oxford University freshman on a scholarship who’s drawn to a dashing, aristocratic classmate named Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). Their relationship has strong echoes of “The Talented Mr. Ripley” to it.

In the summer of 2006, Felix invites Oliver to his family’s estate where he fits in sometimes awkwardly and sometimes smoothly but increasingly eerily with the extravagant flow of life. Things get steamy, weird and dark as Fennell toys with class as she did with gender in “Promising Young Woman.”

Several in the cast give standout performances — especially Rosamund Pike, who plays Felix’s mother. But it’s also a rare leading performance for Keoghan, himself coming off an Oscar nomination for “The Banshees of Inisherin.” Already some of his scenes — one involving some leftover bathtub water, one a fresh grave — have added to the early buzz around “Saltburn.”

“I saw Barry in ‘Killing of a Sacred Deer’ and I just couldn’t believe it,” Fennell said in a recent interview from London. “That performance was so amazing. It’s a kind of once-in-a-lifetime arresting performance. I just thought immediately: Who is that?”

The opportunities were many for Fennell after the success of “Promising Young Woman.” The film, a blackly comic feminist revenge thriller starring Carey Mulligan, was one of the most talked about movies of 2020. In that first pandemic year, it went on to be nominated for five Oscars including best picture and best director. Fennell won for her script.

“None of us had anticipated how amazing the response would be,” Fennell says. “Because of COVID, I was in a bubble with my young family. So it maybe didn’t feel as surreal as it might. I mean, everything was surreal, so it kind of felt like another surreal thing.”

Once the pandemic subsided, Fennell’s focus turned to “Saltburn,” a film that seemingly could have pulled from her own experiences. Fennell, who attended the elite boarding school Marlborough College and studied at Oxford, is the daughter of jewelry designer and socialite Theo Fennell and author Louise Fennell.

Fennell, though, is reluctant to draw any connections between the high society of her youth and “Saltburn.” Yes, the 37-year-old grants, she attended Oxford around the same time as the characters in the film.

“But I’m afraid the similarities end there,” she says. “It definitely wasn’t quite as sexy.”

Did she consider herself an outsider like Oliver or more of an insider like Felix?

“I was kind of like Oliver, mostly outside of it but occasionally having seen it as well,” Fennell says. “The fascinating thing about these sorts of systems in general, both in America and in England, is that nobody ever really knows whether they’re in or out.”

To her, “Saltburn” is more about those anxious undercurrents among family, friends and hangers-on, each playing by unspoken codes of money, class and privilege.

“There was a world where ‘Saltburn’ might have been set in the Hamptons,” Fennell says. “If you’re allowed in these places, it’s never a one-way ticket. Honestly, it could be set anywhere. It could be set in Los Angeles and the court, rather than being a stately home, is a compound of an incredibly famous actor and actress. It all works the same way. It’s power. Who wants it and who’s got it.”

Fennell, who was the showrunner and an executive producer for the second season of “Killing Eve,” often used the phrase “poison popcorn movie” to describe “Promising Young Woman” — an entertainment laced with more disturbing issues to contemplate.

She remains committed to eliciting that kind of dual response — something that people are eager to watch and just as eager debate after on their way home. Her current favorite film, which she says she’s seen 20 times, is Ari Aster’s “Beau Is Afraid.” “I think it’s truly the greatest film of the last 10 years and I’m obsessed with it,” Fennell says.

It would be giving too much away to describe how “Saltburn” unspools. But to Fennell, it’s ultimately about the deep longing and ambition of Oliver, a young man yearning to live. It’s a love story, she says.

“This movie feels to me like the closest thing to wanting something,” says Fennell. “There’s a particular type of need and want that you feel at a certain point in your life when it’s the first time you felt it, whether it’s about a person or a place. The intensity of the desire to make yourself. That, to me, is what the film is about.”

___

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

Related Topics:a Carey Mulligan e Entertainment Featured General news greta gerwig Los Angeles margot robbie Movies Oxford Rosamund Pike world news

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World

In Homs, Smiles and Tears Amid a Ravaged Landscape After al-Assad’s Fall

Published

3 minutes ago

December 20, 2024

Press Room

The ancient city, an early stronghold of opposition to Bashar al-Assad’s oppressive regime, was ravaged by a government crackdown. New York Times correspondents in Homs spoke to people who were reacting to his fall with smiles and tears.

World

Pentagon says the number of US troops in Syria is much higher than previously reported

Published

48 minutes ago

December 20, 2024

Press Room

Pentagon says the number of US troops in Syria is much higher than previously reported

The Pentagon says there are 2,000 U.S. troops deployed in Syria, more than double what officials with the Department of Defense have been telling reporters for months.

“We have been briefing you regularly that there are approximately 900 U.S. troops deployed to Syria,” Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Ryder told reporters during a press briefing on Thursday. “In light of the situation in Syria, and in significant interest, we’ve recently learned that those numbers were higher.”

Ryder asked to look into the numbers and said he learned on Thursday that there are about 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria.

“It was explained to me these additional forces are considered temporary rotational forces that deploy to meet shifting mission requirements, whereas the core 900 deployers are on longer term deployments,” he continued. “As you know, for many of our deployments, numbers will fluctuate from time to time, but given that this number is significantly higher than what we’ve been briefing, I wanted to let you know, as soon as I found out this information.”

TOP US ALLY, SDF COMMANDER IN SYRIA WARNS OF ISIS RETURN IF TURKISH AIRSTRIKES DON’T STOP

Pentagon press secretary Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters there are over two times the number of U.S. troops in Syria than previously reported. (Pentagon Live Feed)

The lead spokesman said there are diplomatic and operational security considerations with deployments and the numbers of troops associated with those deployments, as was the case with Syria.

Ryder noted that the troops were in Syria before the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – who fled to Russia earlier this month and ended a nearly 14-year struggle to maintain power in his country – and help augment the defeat of ISIS mission.

After learning of the fluctuation in number of troops, Fox News’ Pentagon correspondent Jennifer Griffin pressed Ryder about the correction to the number of troops and timing.

US GROUP LOOKS FOR KIDNAPPED AMERICANS IN SYRIA AFTER FALL OF ASSAD REGIME

People celebrate in Damascus after fall of Assad regime

People wave guns in the air as they gather to celebrate the fall of the Syrian regime in Umayyad Square on Dec. 8 in Damascus, Syria. (Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images)

“This is more than double the number of troops that we’ve been told for quite some time. So, are we talking about this has been going on for months? For Years?” Griffin asked. “Is this something that just happened this summer? We need a time frame.”

“Yeah, I think it would probably be fair to say at a minimum, months,” Ryder said. “I’ll go back and look. But it’s…yeah, it’s been going on for a while.”

The news of additional troops in Syria comes as interest in the region is exceptionally high, especially after the fall of Assad.

ISRAEL’S UN AMBASSADOR INSISTS NATION IS ‘NOT GETTING INVOLVED’ IN SYRIAN REGIME CHANGE

DAMASCUS, SYRIA – MAY 03: Syria’s then-President Bashar al-Assad, seen during the Signing of the comprehensive program of strategic and long-term cooperation between Iran and Syria, On May 03, 2023, In Damascus, Syria. (Borna News/Matin Ghasemi/Aksonline ATPImages/Getty Images)

Attacks by the Turkish military on Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have increased since the Syrian president fled to Russia on Dec. 8. In an interview with Fox News this month, Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the SDF, warned that if his Kurdish fighters have to flee, ISIS would return.

He also said half of his fighters guarding the ISIS camps had to withdraw.

“All of the prisons still are under our control. However, the prisons and camps are in a critical situation because who is guarding them? They are leaving and having to protect their families,” Gen. Mazloum said. “I can give you one example like the Raqqa ISIS prison, which contains about 1,000 ISIS ex-fighters. The number of guards there have diminished by half which is putting them in a fragile position.”

Fox News previously reported that the U.S. had 900 troops in Eastern Syria, but now that number is about 2,000, and they would likely have to withdraw if the allied Kurdish fighters retreat under attack from Turkey’s military, which views the Kurds as a terrorist threat.

Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.

Story tips and ideas can be sent to Greg.Wehner@Fox.com and on Twitter @GregWehner.

World

EU countries inspect Chinese vessel after data cables damaged

Published

2 hours ago

December 19, 2024

Press Room

EU countries inspect Chinese vessel after data cables damaged

The Yi Peng 3 has been anchored in the Kattegat Sea for a month while diplomats in Stockholm and Beijing discussed access to the vessel.

Representatives from Germany, Finland and Denmark have boarded a Chinese cargo ship believed to be connected to the rupture of two data cables on the Baltic Sea bed in November.

Swedish police and Chinese officials were also part of the inspection of the Yi Peng 3 vessel which is anchored in international waters between Sweden and Denmark.

Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said the visit was supposed to take place on Wednesday but was called off due to bad weather.

“It is our expectation that when the inspection is completed by this group of people from the four countries, the ship will be able to sail to its destination,” he told reporters.

The Yi Peng 3 has been anchored in the Kattegat Sea for a month while diplomats in Stockholm and Beijing discussed access to the vessel.

Sweden had formally asked China in November to cooperate with the investigation into how the undersea data cables were damaged after the China-flagged vessel was seen in the area.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at the time that it was, “extremely important to find out exactly what happened.”

The two cables, one running from Finland to Germany and the other from Lithuania to Sweden, were both damaged in Swedish waters.

The Wall Street Journal reported in November that investigators suspected the Yi Peng 3 had deliberately severed the fibre-optic cables by dragging its anchor along the seabed.

In a post on X, NORSAR, the Norwegian foundation that tracks earthquakes and nuclear explosions, said it hadn’t detected any “seismic signals” in the area, indicating there hadn’t been any explosions.

The Yi Peng 3 has been anchored between Sweden and Denmark where it was being monitored by several vessels, including those belonging to the Danish navy.

“These types of incidents, they annoy all of us, obviously, and those who are interested in safe navigation and safety as such on the Baltic Sea and in countries in the Baltic Sea region,” said Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk at a press conference in November.

Tusk was referring to separate incidents which saw the Nord Stream pipelines and the Balticconnector damaged.

The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which carried gas from Russia to Germany, were both damaged in explosions in 2022.

And the Balticconnector gas pipeline was seriously damaged the next year.

Finnish, Swedish and German authorities all launched investigations into the rupture of the two fibre-optic cables.

Germany’s defence minister said that the damage appeared to have been caused by sabotage.

Chinese authorities in Beijing said they had no information about the ship but denied any responsibility and said Beijing was ready to “maintain communication” with relevant parties.