Saltburn is not a supernatural film, but Emerald Fennell described her latest directorial effort as a “vampire film.” While speaking at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles during a post-screening Q&A (via Deadline), Fennell explained that Satlburn uses a vampiric tone in depicting how an Oxford student named Oliver (Barry Keoghan) latches on to his wealthy classmate, Felix (Jacob Elordi), and his family’s lavish lifestyle. “When you are making something very stylized, when you are making something which is about the fetishization of beauty,” Fennell said, “you want it to be beautiful.”
Though Saltburn is set in Europe, Fennell told the crowd that Hollywood could have served as the setting. “Oliver suffers from something that I think that we all suffer from to some degree,” Fennell said. “But in this town, maybe more than ever, which is wanting to be something, wanting to be someone.”
Similar to a new artist in Hollywood, Olivier sees himself as an outsider at Oxford, a “place that he’s fantasized about that he thinks will unlock this door.” But dressing as an Oxford student and acting as an affluent kid doesn’t help Oliver fit in. “All of the stuff he thought that was worthwhile, it’s all a trick,” Fennell added.
What to Expect in Saltburn?
“Fennell brings us a beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire,” the official synopsis reads. “Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton, who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.”
Saltburn stars Keoghan, Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, and Carey Mulligan.
Saltburn is the second feature film to be written and directed by Fennell. Her first feature, Promising Young Woman, was nominated for five Academy Awards, with Fennell winning Best Original Screenplay. Fennell produces Saltburn alongside Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, and Josey McNamara.
Saltburn is scheduled to be released in a limited capacity on November 24, 2023. It will then expand wide on December 1, 2023.
