One of the most versatile and prolific filmmakers on the planet, it seems as if there is nothing English writer/director Ben Wheatley can’t do. He’s done disturbing horror (“Kill List“), serial killer comedy (“Sightseers“), black comic action (“Free Fire“), psychedelic period movies (“A Field in England“), and a dark dystopian adaptation of J.G. Ballard (“High Rise“) among his many movies, that tend to always bend towards the trangressive and outré cinema. His latest, however, an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s beloved 1938 gothic novel, “Rebecca,” definitely feels like a much more lavish and lush affair full of color and fancy dress. Famously adapted for the big screen by Alfred Hitchcock in 1940 starring Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, in gorgeous black and white, that “Rebecca” was a romantic psychological thriller/ghost story and is firmly established as a classic of gaslighting (it won two Oscars to boot, Best Picture, and Best Cinematography).
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But Wheatley insists, he’s not adapting Hitchcock and going back to the original novel for a fresh take. “I wanted to make something that had more love in it,” Wheatley recently said. “It’s part of trying to investigate other parts of being human. Rebecca has dark elements, and it has a psychological, haunting story within it, but it’s also about these two people in love. That was the main thing.”
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His version stars Lily James and Armie Hammer as the two leads, plus a supporting cast that includes Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Goodman-Hill, Keeley Hawes, Sam Riley, and Ann Dowd. Differentiating this version further from what he normally does, Wheatley generally co-writes all his films with partner Amy Jump, but “Rebecca” is credited to three women, Joe Shrapnel, Anna Waterhouse, but primarily (first credit anyway), Jane Goldman, known for genre movies like “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” (2017), “X-Men: First Class” (2011), “Kick-Ass” (2010) and “Stardust” (2007).
Wheatley’s version looks more sumptuous, but also more hypnotic (Clint Mansell of Darren Aronofsky fame is composing the score). Here’s the official synopsis:
After a whirlwind romance in Monte Carlo with handsome widower Maxim de Winter (Armie Hammer), a newly married young woman (Lily James) arrives at Manderley, her new husband’s imposing family estate on a windswept English coast. Naive and inexperienced, she begins to settle into the trappings of her new life, but finds herself battling the shadow of Maxim’s first wife, the elegant and urbane Rebecca, whose haunting legacy is kept alive by Manderley’s sinister housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Kristin Scott Thomas). Directed by Ben Wheatley (High Rise, Free Fire) and produced by Working Title Films (Emma, Darkest Hour), REBECCA is a mesmerizing and gorgeously rendered psychological thriller based on Daphne du Maurier’s beloved 1938 gothic novel.
“Rebecca” is scheduled to haunt audiences all over again on Netflix, and some select theaters, on October 21. Watch the first trailer below.