Acclaimed British filmmaker Ben Wheatley is bringing his new thriller High-Rise to next month’s Toronto International Film Festival, where it will receive its world premiere.
Lifted from the pages of JG Ballard’s dark and dystopian novel of the same name, Wheatley’s latest imagines a luxurious 1970s tower block that is housing a stark class divide. Tom Hiddleston is on board as one of the film’s leads, a doctor who moves into the titular abode only to discover its dark secrets bubbling beneath the surface. Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans and Elisabeth Moss all co-star in the dark, claustrophobic thriller.
As the creative mind behind such bright and breezy (read: dour and sombre) films as Kill List, Down Terrace and A Field In England, Wheatley’s High-Rise is already receiving a lot of attention based on the director’s name alone. Adopting an aesthetic that is decidedly 70s, the eclectic filmmaker is aiming to create a post-modern cross-section that is “going to be modern in a way that the 70s looked … back then they had a real idea of what the future was going to be like, and it was much more stylish.”
Toronto International Film Festival will kick off on September 10 and run through to September 20. Today’s announcement means that Wheatley’s dark thriller will rub shoulders with the likes of Lance Armstrong biopic The Program and Jake Gyllenhaal-fronted drama Demolition, which will open the festival. High-Rise will make its official bow early next year.
1975. Two miles west of London, Dr. Laing moves into his new apartment seeking soulless anonymity, only to find that the building’s residents have no intention of leaving him alone. Resigned to the complex social dynamics unfolding around him, Laing bites the bullet and becomes neighbourly. As he struggles to establish his position, Laing’s good manners and sanity disintegrate along with the building. The lights go out and the elevators fail but the party goes on. People are the problem. Booze is the currency. Sex is the panacea.
