Five facts you didn’t know about Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn
Here’s five things you might not have known about the Emerald Fennell’s discourse-sparking sophomore feature film Saltburn.
The Golden Globe-nominated film follows upper class Oxford student Felix (Jacob Elordi) who takes scholarship student Oliver (Barry Keoghan) under his wing. When Oliver visits Felix’s titular country estate, thing soon to spiral as their summer of debauchery turns truly sinister.
Saltburn has made headlines for its provocative scenes involving Keoghan’s character “guzzling” Felix’s semen-filled bathwater, humping the dirt in a graveyard, and dancing nude to Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dancefloor”.
So here’s more facts for those unable to resist reading about all the bizarre and brilliant behind-the-scenes moments.
Rosamund Pike actually lived in the Saltburn house during filming
Gone Girl star Rosamund Pike played all-encompassing matriarch Elspeth. The film was set in the real-life house is the Grade-I listed Drayton House, located in Northamptonshire.
In an interview with Cosmopolitan, Pike described the experience as “really fun” and that she didn’t leave the house for a “three week straight period”.
“The family that owns the house are incredibly entertaining, very generous hosts, quite wild,” she said.
Felix Catton’s costumes were inspired by Prince Harry’s wardrobe
According to costume designer Sophie Canale, the jumping off point for Felix’s posh boy style was Prince Harry – who was a similar age in 2006 when the film was set.
“I looked at photos of him with his friends then, going out in London, going to polo matches, and especially pictures of him and Chelsy Davy. I looked at their fashion and tried to lend that look to our Oxford gang,” Canale told Vogue.
Emerald Fennell called Saltburn a ‘vampire movie’
The Oscar-winning filmmaker reflected on the fantastical elements of her own film in a red carpet interview at the BFI London Film Festival.
Speaking to PA, Fennell said: “Certainly metaphorically it is a vampire film. It is about what we do when we’re completely besotted with something or someone.
“And I hope it’s part of the classic Gothic tradition where love and hate are very, very close together.”
Oliver’s final nude dance took 11 takes
Who can forget the iconic final scene which sees Keoghan dancing through the empty Saltburn corridors absolutely starkers, high on victory and the sounds of “Murder on the Dancefloor”.
Well, according to cinematographer Linus Sandgren, it took 11 whole takes to get the perfect shot.
“They were all very beautiful,” Sandgren told Variety. “It’s quite a complicated and technical camera. A lot of the time, he was immensely patient because there was a lot of naked dancing.
“Take #7 was technically perfect. You could hear everyone’s overjoyed response, but I had to say ‘sorry’ because it was missing whatever it was that made Oliver that slightly human messiness.
“So, we had to do it a further four times.”
Director Emerald Fennell was at Oxford when Saltburn was set
The first portion of the film relies on the mid-00s Oxford student aesthetic and no one knows it more intimately than Fennell, who attended the prestigious university during that time.
In an interview with NME, the director spoke about drawing inspiration from her past.
“So much of this film, and so much of everything I make, is me trying to come to terms with what an embarrassing person I am [and] what embarrassing people we all are,” Fennell said.
“I mean, I was throwing up in my sink a lot like Oliver and just felt a lot of shame.”
