- Title: Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith time travel to Swinging Sixties in new thriller
- Date: 26th October 2021
- Summary: VENICE, ITALY (FILE - SEPTEMBER 5, 2021) (REUTERS) DIRECTOR-WRITER EDGAR WRIGHT ON RED CARPET (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR-WRITER EDGAR WRIGHT AND CO-WRITER KRYSTY WILSON-CAIRNS, SAYING: WRIGHT "Lots of people walk around and never think about the past but you know, we do and the shadows of the 60s loom large in that area. So it was about that, but also about the danger
- Embargoed: 9th November 2021 09:13
- Keywords: Anya Taylor Joy singing Anya Taylor-Joy Edgar Wright Last Night in Soho Last night in soho movie Matt Smith Thomasin Mackenzie psychological thriller
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / VENICE, ITALY AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / VENICE, ITALY AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA006F0SOFGT
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: "The Queen's Gambit" star Anya Taylor-Joy shows off her singing skills in the psychological thriller "Last Night in Soho", in which she plays an aspiring singer from the Swinging Sixties.
The dark tale is directed by British filmmaker Edgar Wright and also stars "The Crown" and "Doctor Who" actor Matt Smith and Thomasin McKenzie ("Jojo Rabbit", "Leave No Trace").
It follows Eloise (McKenzie), a student enamoured with the 1960s who heads to London from the countryside intent on becoming a fashion designer. But her dream fast turns into a neon-drenched nightmare as she finds herself transported back to the decade and inhabiting the life of Sandie, played by Taylor-Joy.
Taylor-Joy said she arrived on set straight from making the critically acclaimed "Emma" and started off shooting one of the film's most challenging scenes, which features an elaborate choreography of dream-like mirror work between the two main characters at the Cafe de Paris nightclub.
"It was pretty crazy because I had been on Jane Austen's 'Emma' and then had a day and then showed up on set and did the Cafe de Paris scene. So it was a pretty, it was a pretty big shift. But I think we had so much fun with it," she told Reuters at the Venice Film Festival, where "Last Night in Soho" received its world premiere in September.
"We got to drive around in fast cars, wear cool clothes, smoke, drink just, you know, be in the Swinging Sixties. It was fabulous," added her co-star Smith.
Taylor-Joy said that most of the mirror scenes, which deliberately make it hard for viewers to tell reality from hallucination, were captured live on set as opposed to having visual effects reproduced in post-production.
"What was wonderful was so much of it is practical. There's, like, in terms of the ratio of practical to VFX, most of it is done in-camera, which was so much fun. And I think we all geeked out as like film buffs, you know, to be able to pull off these tricks. But it's nothing if you don't have really good partners. And I think, you know, Matt, Thomo and I all felt like we were very in sync," she said.
Wright, who started working on the idea more than a decade ago, called the film a "dark valentine to Soho", the central London area where most of the action takes place.
He said his movie, for which he drew inspiration from the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and Italian horror director Dario Argento, sought to show it is "dangerous to romanticise the past".
"It's maybe wrong to use the term 'the good old days', because that sort of suggests that everything was great. And of course, it wasn't. So, you know, then we have a movie where somebody goes back and there's the glamour and the allure of the kind of the decade but then, when the sort of the darkness starts it's kind of difficult to get off the rollercoaster," he said.
The film nonetheless pays tribute to the style, fashion, and music of the Swinging Sixties, with "An Education" costume designer Odile Dicks-Mireaux helping recreate the atmosphere.
Alongside Wright's favourites from the period, the soundtrack includes a new take on Petula Clark's "Downtown", sung by Taylor-Joy in an audition scene.
And if it's up to the 25-year-old star, we will be hearing more of her singing in the future.
"Oh, goodness, yeah, I'd love to do more of it," she said.
"Last Night in Soho" is out globally this week.
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