Imagine co-writing Bad Cinderella and still managing to have this good of a year. After playing the ever-pregnant Midge in the billion-dollar Barbie movie, Emerald Fennell has a new movie coming out this fall. Saltburn, written and directed by Fennell and co-produced by Margot Robbie. (Barbie solidarity!) Fennell’s previous project, Promising Young Woman, earned her an Oscar, so the expectations are mighty high for the multi-hyphenate Brit and her cast filled with some of the hottest names (both literally and metaphorically, hummina hummina) in young Hollywood. We’re basically already in the movie theater, popcorn bucket in hand, so maybe now’s a good time to ask: Wait, what is this movie actually about?
Yeah, what’s going on in the Saltburn trailer?
Saltburn follows Oliver Quick, an Oxford student who “finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton, who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.†It’s giving Brideshead Revisited, revisited. It’s giving The Talented Mr. Ripley returns. It’s giving … homoerotiticism. The official trailer for Saltburn was released on October 19, and Jacob Elordi’s eyebrow piercing is the star of the show. Rosamund Pike is serving “rich mom†on a platter, and Barry Keoghan is ominously in antlers. Somebody’s been listening to Shamir. One moment in the trailer that deserves a little more shine that it might otherwise get is Archie Madekwe, who plays Farleigh Start, and his extremely presentational line-reading of the words “And here he is now.†In a trailer where everybody seems to whisper, it’s nice to hear some true projection.
It also expands on the original teaser, in which we get precious glimpses of the bacchanalia and class strife that will definitely ensue. We see Felix invite Oliver home, and then we see Oliver subjected to indignity after indignity. “Nice tux,†Start tells him, before calling it out as a rental. Alison Oliver, wrapped in a blanket in an art history homage to Selener, tells Keoghan’s Oliver, “You’re so real,†which is so clearly an insult coming from that phenotype of blonde woman. And, best of all, Pike wears a very ugly Christmas vest and tells him, “I’ve had a complete and utter horror of ugliness ever since I was young.†Still, Oliver says, “These last few months have been the happiest of my life,†and we can see why, what with all the parties, cigarettes, and shots of Elordi shirtless. But be warned: As the spooky butler says, “Lots of people get lost in Saltburn.â€
Who’s in it?
Keoghan is playing Oliver, the drawn, and Elordi is Felix, the draw-er. The cast is filled out by Pike as Felix’s mother, Elspeth Catton; Richard E. Grant as Sir James Catton; and the return of Carey Mulligan to the Fennell-verse in the minor role of “Poor Dear Pamela.â€
What does it look like?
Amazon Studios and MGM previously released some stills from the film, but the photos that really sell it are these pics Keoghan posted of him and Elordi training. Arms!
When can I see it?
The movie already had its international premiere, opening the BFI London Film Festival on October 4. But for those of us who don’t regularly attend fancy British film festivals, there will be a limited cinematic release on November 17, before a wide release on November 22.
This post has been updated.