Nothing Is What It Seems in “Saltburn” Trailer

After winning numerous awards – including the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay – for Promising Young Woman, Emerald Fennell's next original project would have to be polarizing and impressive. Saltburn, which just held its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, has definitely been called both so far.

The film, a psychological thriller set in the mid-2000s, seems to have a lot in common with Brideshead Revisited. Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin) plays Oliver, a lower-class Oxford student. He finds himself drawn to the wealthy Felix (Euphoria's Jacob Elordi), who invites him to summer at his family's massive estate. While he arrives hoping for some friendship, wild parties and a taste of the high life, he gets much more than he bargained for.

The cast also includes Oscar nominees Carey Mulligan, Rosamund Pike and Richard E. Grant. Margot Robbie – who co-starred with Fennell in Barbie – serves as producer, with the great Linus Sandgren working as director of photography. He's an ideal choice for the film's boxy aspect ratio and lush locations.

Saltburn next turns up at the BFI London Film Festival in October, followed by a limited release in the U.S. on November 24. Unlike Netflix, Amazon Studios will give the film a wider release in December, before premiering on Prime Video at a later date.

About Kip Mooney

Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.