“Saltburn” is the second feature film by Emerald Fennell starring Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi.
So let’s find out some trivia and facts about the film.
- Saltburn is a 2023 black comedy psychological thriller
- The film is written, directed, and produced by Emerald Fennell
- The film stars Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, and Carey Mulligan
- Set in England in the mid-2000s
- It follows a young university student who becomes obsessed with his wealthy schoolmate
- He invites him to spend the summer at his eccentric family’s estate
- Saltburn had its world premiere at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023
- It was released in the United Kingdom on November 17, 2023
- And in the United States via a limited theatrical release the same day, before expanding wide on November 22
- It received generally positive reviews from critics
- With praise for Keoghan and Pike’s performance, the writing and its visuals
- Although some criticized the screenplay for being familiar and lacking in substance
- On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 71% rating
- Based on 209 critics’ reviews
- With an average rating of 6.9/10
- The website’s consensus reads: “Emerald Fennell’s candy-coated and incisive Saltburn is a debauched jolt to the senses that will be invigorating for most”
- Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 60 out of 100
- Based on 51 critics
- Indicating “mixed or average” reviews
- Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “B−” on an A+ to F scale
- While those polled by PostTrak gave it a 75% overall positive score
- With 42% saying they would definitely recommend the film
- As of November 30, 2023, Saltburn has grossed $4.7 million in the United States and Canada
- And $3.2 million in other territories
- For a worldwide total of $7.9 million
- In its limited opening weekend, the film made $322,651 from seven theaters
- Expanding to 1,566 theaters the following Wednesday, the film made $684,000 on its first day of wide release then $301,000 on Thanksgiving Day
- It went on to debut to $1.8 million on the weekend
- And a total of $2.9 million over the five-day frame
- Finishing in ninth
- Saltburn is the second film directed by Emerald Fennell, after Promising Young Woman (2020). By January 2022, Tom Ackerley and Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap Entertainment was in talks to produce, after collaborating with Fennell on her previous film.[11] In May 2022, Ackerley, Robbie, and Josey McNamara were confirmed as producers, while Rosamund Pike, Jacob Elordi, and Barry Keoghan joined the cast.[12][13] Fennell said that Australian actor Elordi “…did the most exceptional audition… He did such a genius, genius bit of observational comedy. He really really understood that for all of [Felix’s] beauty and charisma, he’s just sort of a spoiled little boy. He came in and just absolutely blew us all away”.[14]
- Carey Mulligan, star of Promising Young Woman, was revealed to be part of the cast in December.[15]
- In writing the film, Fennell wanted to sympathise with unlikeable people
- She had long wanted to make her own version of films and books set in a country house, and set the film in 2006 to “really [knock] the fucking glamour off things” by setting it in the recent past
- Filming began on July 16, 2022, with Linus Sandgren serving as cinematographer
- The film is shown in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio
- With Fennell saying it gives the impression of “peeping in”
- Fennell was determined not to film in an estate familiar to viewers, and wanted to set the movie in one location, so aligning the filming with the film’s plot
- Avoiding the need for post-production adjustments due to multiple locations
- Fennell was successful, with filming occurring at and in Drayton House, Northamptonshire
- It had never been used for filming before and may never be used again, with a part of the contract being that no one was allowed to reveal the location of the house or the identity of its owners
- Despite the house’s opulence, the actors ultimately became familiar with the house’s interiors over the course of filming
- Costumes were designed to the last minute detail
- With 2000s fashion showcased in the form of ostentatious jackets, rugby shirts, and loud jewellery
- The film is scored by Anthony Willis
- He previously scored Fennell’s Promising Young Woman
- The soundtrack was released by Milan Records on November 17, 2023
- The film focuses on excess and obsession
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