Any new film by Edgar Wright is a cause for celebration from cinema fans everywhere, but a new film rooted in some of the best psychological thrillers in Hollywood history? That’s reason enough to get really excited. Wright has long been one of cinema’s most enjoyable filmmaker-historians; much like the work of Martin Scoresese or Quentin Tarantino, each of Wright’s film feels like the director’s own relationship with film history distilled down to a two-hour runtime.
READ MORE: Edgar Wright’s “Last Night in Soho” gets an August 2020 release date
And since Wright is well-versed in countless periods in British and American film history, it’ll be interesting to see how those references are distilled in “Last Night in Soho,” his upcoming thriller that stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Terence Stamp, Matt Smith, Diana Rigg, and “Leave No Trace” star Thomasin McKenzie. Wright celebrated the completion of main unit photography on social media this past Friday by sharing the first official photo from the film. In it, we see a (terrified? startled? excited?) McKenzie recoiling from something just off-screen. What could it be? We may never find out!
(Well, odds are pretty good we’ll find out when the film hits theaters next year. But that sort of ruins the dramatic effect I was going for.)
That is a wrap on main unit photography on my next feature film, 'Last Night in Soho’. Can't wait for you all to see @lastnightinsoho on a big screen near you, September 25th, 2020… pic.twitter.com/JTvSB7SEDB
— edgarwright (@edgarwright) August 30, 2019
Other than its cast and its release date – and now a provocative first image – not much is known about Wright’s plans for “Last Night in Soho.” Back in January, Wright told Empire Magazine that his movie was inspired by films like Nicolas Roeg‘s “Don’t Look Now“ and Roman Polanski‘s “Repulsion,” and that it presented him with an opportunity to explore his version of London. “I realized I had never made a film about central London – specifically Soho, somewhere I’ve spent a huge amount of time in the last 25 years,” Wright told Empire. “With “Hot Fuzz“ and “Shaun Of The Dead“ you make movies about places you’ve lived in. This movie is about the London I’ve existed in.”
READ MORE: Here’s why Edgar Wright turned down ‘An American Werewolf in London’ remake
Perhaps more interesting than the inspirations are the collaborators. Wright is set to expand his list of creative partners, co-writing the script with Krysty Wilson-Cairns and adding Chung-hoon Chung as his director of photography. Wilson-Cairns is best known as a writer on “Penny Dreadful,” the much-missed Showtime series that brought together recognizable monsters from English literature (Frankenstein, Dracula, etc.) against a Victorian London background. Meanwhile, Chung-hoon is a household name among fans of South Korean cinema, having worked hand-in-hand with Chan-wook Park (“Oldboy,” “The Handmaiden,” “Lady Vengeance,” and more) for nearly two decades. While Wright has worked with multiple cinematographers in his career, Chung-hoon comes with his own cache within the genre community. How their two styles fit together will be one of the more fascinating elements of ‘Soho.’
Whatever ‘Soho’ shapes up to be, it will be interesting to see how Wright applies his signature filmmaker aesthetic to a psychological thriller.
“Last Night in Soho” will hit theaters on Sept. 25, 2020.
