“It was the most peculiar thing I’ve ever read”. Hardly typical red carpet chat from Colin Farrell – but given that he was bringing to the BFI London Film Festival his absurdist, genre-dodging love story The Lobster, it’s unsurprising and a little comforting that he, too, was initially baffled. The English-language debut of Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth), this darkly offbeat satire boasts an ensemble cast including Rachel Weisz, Ben Whishaw, Olivia Colman, Léa Seydoux and John C. Reilly, many of whom turned out for last night’s gala in Leicester Square.
David (Farrell) is a middle-aged divorcee who we meet as he checks into a sinister country hotel with his dog – soon revealed to be his brother. In this bizarre vision of the near future, all single people are sent to the rigidly run institution where they’re given forty-five days to find a suitable partner. Should they fail, they’ll be transformed into an animal of their choosing and left to fend for themselves. David opts for a lobster.{The Lobster LFF Gala}
For Farrell, signing on took huge faith in his director. “I loved reading the script, but I couldn’t imagine how anyone could bring it to life or deliver those lines. They were so emotionally muted and the characters’ relationships so detached. Of course, when I saw the hotel where we were shooting, the landscape and the costumes, it began to take form”. The result is a drily hilarious, often excruciating watch that challenges our increasing obsession with companionship.
“You don’t fight it, you just go with it”, co-star Michael Smiley told Empire. “I read it, thought I’d got my head around it, read it again… and realised I didn’t understand it! A futuristic folk tale is how I’d describe it.”
Some, however, took a lot less convincing. “I wanted to work with Yorgos. I thought his last two films were works of art”, Rachel Weisz told Empire. “It’s hard to find people that talented, but I couldn’t begin to imagine what it would be like”. She offered her own way to categorise the film, too. “It’s sci-fi, but there’s no special effects, explosions, make-up. It’s high concept, low tech – just the power of his personal imagination”.
The Lobster is released in UK cinemas on Friday 16 October.
Reporting by Alastair Livesley, with thanks to Go Think Big and O2. For amazing work opportunities go to Go Think Big.co.uk.
Source Empire News http://ift.tt/1Lav0ET
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