Saltburn is Emerald Fennell’s second feature film following the irreverent Promising Young Woman which earned the director-writer-author triple threat an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 2021.
The movie has been screened to enthusiastic audiences all across the festival circuit since premiering at the 50th Telluride Film Festival in August. Those who have gotten to see it early don’t exactly agree on its merits but have nevertheless averaged an 81 percent approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. Criticized for being shallow, while being celebrated for its decadence, Saltburn is undeniably one of the films to watch this year.
Who stars in Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn and what is it about?
Regardless of personal opinions about Saltburn, we should all be thanking its writer-director for finally giving Barry Keoghan his first lead role. Yes, you read that right. It definitely feels hard to believe that someone as magnetic as Keoghan had never been given the chance to headline a project until now, but if there’s any justice in the world of movies, Saltburn will start a trend.
Supporting Keoghan, who plays working-class Oxford University freshman Oliver Quick, is Euphoria‘s Jacob Elordi (who is having the best year of his career, adding Sofia Coppola’s daring Priscilla to his resume as well) as Oliver’s hot, rich, and popular classmate Felix Catton.
Pitying Oliver as he struggles to fit in, Felix invites him over to his family’s lavish estate of Saltburn for the summer where he meets his mother, played by Rosamund Pike, hailed by everyone as the film’s primary scene-stealer and performer. Depravity and excess ensue, for a summer that’s sure to change fresh-faced Oliver’s life forever.
Other known faces in this highly-anticipated satirical thriller are Richard E. Grant as Felix’s dad, Conversations with Friends‘ Alison Oliver as his sister, Gran Turismo‘s Archie Madekwe as his cousin, and Fennel’s first leading lady Carey Mulligan in a delightful cameo as Pike’s character’s best friend. Paul Rhys, Ewan Mitchell, Lolly Adefope, Reece Shearsmith, and more, complete the bunch.
The film was shot on location in Oxford, as well as at Drayton House in the Northamptonshire county in the East Midlands of England.
When is Saltburn coming out and is there a trailer for the film yet?
Worry not, Saltburn is just around the corner. As the best year for cinema since the pre-pandemic times, 2023 still has a few tricks up its sleeves in the months to come, and Emerald Fennell might just be holding the most opulent of them all in her filmmaker pouch.
You can watch the official trailer for the Barry Keoghan picture above while you wait for it to make its way to select theaters Nov. 17. It’s set to expand to more screening rooms on Nov. 22.
