Who’s in the cast of Saltburn?
Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan are the stars of Saltburn.
What’s the plot of Saltburn?
It’ll follow a young Oxford University student who finds himself drawn into the world of a charming aristocrat who invites him to his family’s sprawling estate.
When will Saltburn be released?
The film will land in cinemas on 17 November.
The trailer promises mayhem and debauchery
The first teaser trailer arrived on 30 August—and it’s a delight. Expect jaw-dropping sets, rowdy parties and secret assignations.
It’s Emerald Fennell’s hotly anticipated return to the big screen
Since winning the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 2021 for her fiery feature directorial debut, Promising Young Woman—not to mention becoming one of only seven women to be nominated for the Best Director prize in the Academy’s 95-year history—the filmmaker has collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber on his reimagined Cinderella and appeared as the pregnant Midge in Barbie, but has so far refrained from returning to the director’s chair. That will change with Saltburn, which she is directing, writing and producing. We’re crossing our fingers for a surprise cameo too—in her first film, Fennell appeared in a hysterically funny uncredited role as the host of a make-up tutorial video that her vengeful heroine Cassie (Carey Mulligan) takes cues from.
Rosamund Pike is one of its stars
Another Oscar-nominated national treasure will be in front of the camera this time around: Rosamund Pike, who’ll be making her first film since 2020’s I Care A Lot, in which she was deliciously brittle as ruthless con artist Marla Grayson and won a Golden Globe in the process. The actor has been going from strength to strength in recent years, delivering critically lauded performances in everything from the harrowing A Private War to the hilarious State of the Union, and, providing Saltburn lives up to expectations, it could easily pave the way for her second Oscar nod. (She was previously recognised for embodying the terrifying Amy Dunne in 2014’s Gone Girl.)
Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan are taking the lead
Joining Pike? None other than rising stars Jacob Elordi—the Australian heartthrob who is coming off of a record-breaking second season of Euphoria—and Irish actor Barry Keoghan, the new Joker in Matt Reeves’s The Batman, who received his first Oscar nomination earlier this year for his supporting turn in Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin alongside Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. Also rounding out the cast are Richard E Grant, Conversations with Friends’s Alison Oliver, Midsommar’s Archie Madekwe, and Carey Mulligan, in an yet-to-be-disclosed role.
The film is set to follow a family of aristocrats
While specific plot points are being kept carefully under wraps, back in the spring of 2022, Deadline reported that Saltburn would be “a story of obsession” with the focus on “a grand, aristocratic English family”. Fennell is well positioned to tell such a story: her father is the British jewellery designer Theo Fennell, a frequent presence at high society parties according to his memoir, and she herself attended Marlborough College, whose alumni includes Princess Eugenie and the Princess of Wales. Playing a young Camilla Shand, later the Duchess of Cornwall and now Queen Camilla, in two seasons of The Crown can’t have hurt either.
Earlier this year, more details emerged. Describing the film as “a beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire”, its official log line reads: “Set in the mid-2000s and shot in a variety of locations around the UK, [the film will see] student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) struggling to find his place at Oxford University and [finding] himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.” This synopsis has prompted comparisons to Brideshead Revisited, as have the mysterious and sun-drenched first stills revealed on 7 August.
Margot Robbie is among the producers
MRC is the studio behind the film and LuckyChap Entertainment, the company Margot Robbie runs with her husband Tom Ackerley, is producing. From funding I, Tonya and Promising Young Woman to current box office mega hit Barbie, LuckyChap has had an incredible track record despite being founded less than a decade ago.
It’ll hit screens this autumn
Principal photography for Saltburn began in the UK last summer, and it’s due to arrive in cinemas this autumn—on 17 November, to be precise, positioning it perfectly for awards season in 2024.
This article was originally published on British Vogue.
