Perhaps you are one of the many people who attempted to watch Emerald Fennell's latest film, Saltburn, over Christmas with your family. To quote Vivian Ward: “big mistake, BIG, HUGE.”
Well, if that makes you uncomfortable, then you're not alone. Rosamund Pike, who plays the beautiful but cold (and more than hilarious) Elspeth Catton in Saltburn, recently sat down with Deadline to reveal all about the making of the controversial 2023 film.
When asked about watching herself on screen, the Gone Girl star said she was “shocked” and “very uncomfortable” the first time she saw it.
“I couldn’t really look at myself at all. I hated how uncomfortable I found it as Elspeth,” Pike revealed in conversation with Deadline’s Antonia Blyth.
“I don’t really know what it was, I was quite uncomfortable. I think the camera is so personal, the lens is so close and you really see everything. And our editor was very, very fine and detailed.
Pike described the making of the film, which was made available for streaming on Prime Video on December 22, 2023, as “so erotic, so intimate and uncomfortable.”
She recalled how the film's cinematographer, Linus Sandgren, would show the actors the photos from the day before.
“Some of them would say to you, 'My God, what is that?' It's someone's butt, or a really intimate part of the body! And it would really just be a shoulder. But it was the way you looked at him, the look was so erotic, so intimate and uncomfortable, that you kept thinking that sometimes you were looking at something more shocking than you actually were. reality.
Reviews surrounding Saltburn have been mostly positive and have tended to focus on the standout performances of lead actor Barry Keoghan as well as Pike, which Mark Kermode called “brilliantly cracked”.
Indeed, Keoghan and Pike managed to land nominations at the 81st Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress respectively.
Speaking about playing the role of an eccentric upper-class matriarch, Pike shared that “it was really fun to be able to live in that skin.”
The Emmy Award winner also revealed that while she doesn't consider herself an improviser, Fennell allowed her actors to improvise in most scenes. For Pike, this included her brilliant first scene with Carey Mulligan as the hapless family friend, Pamela.
“I think with Carey and I, because we've known each other since she was 18 and I was 24…I knew (it) would fuel what you feel with Elspeth and Pamela…and sometimes little pieces are captured.”
Another unscripted moment that was unfortunately left in the editing room included a bit of Keith Richards allegedly sniffing his father's ashes:
“It was fun with Elspeth because I could just look up anything from 2006/2007 and riff it at dinner… That was the time when Keith Richards would have sniffed his father's ashes… Which was later discovered, I think, to be fake. But Elspeth said, “Oh, of course, I knew Keith. Of course…. When we were in Mustique, he had his ashes with him. He gave us to all his ashes.
“(Elspeth) usually understands any story and puts herself at the center of it. And it was really fun to live in this shallow space.
The results of Keoghan and Pike's Golden Globe nominations will be known in a few days, but let's hope Pike receives the recognition she deserves for such a masterful performance!
Saltburn is currently streaming in the UK on Prime Video.