MGM Releases First Look at Emerald Fennell's Upcoming Film 'Saltburn'

Emerald Fennell was best known to PBS viewers as Nurse Patsy Mount from Call The Midwife, joining the series in Season 3 and exiting three years later, and for her turn in The Crown as Camilla Parker, the woman Charles came to regret not marrying instead of Diana. But for the rest of the world, her name first reached household status when her debut feature film, Promising Young Woman, became a major box office hit and an Oscar winner. Now her highly-anticipated follow-up, Saltburn, billed as a “beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire,” is heading to the 2023 London Film Festival as the opening night film.

Saltburn was first announced as a 2022 "hot package" being brought to the Cannes Film Festival's market to find funding and maybe a production studio, with a main cast attached and a synopsis that called it "a tale of obsession." Amazon Studios was revealed to be in the process of picking it up by the end of May 2022. The rest of the film's cast was set by the end of the summer, with production officially underway. That was the last anyone heard about it until now, as LFF's new head, Kristy Matheson, announced it as the festival's opening night title.

It's a timely announcement, as Fennell is back in the news, having a cameo appearance on screen as the pregnant Midge in her pal Greta Gerwig's billion-dollar blockbuster Barbie. It will perhaps not surprise fans of the record-breaking film that star Margot Robbie is listed as a producer on Saltburn via her outfit, LuckyChap Entertainment.

Check out the first images from the upcoming film:

Here’s the film’s official synopsis:

Set in the mid-2000s and shot in a variety of locations around the UK, the pic follows student Oliver Quick, who is struggling to find his place at Oxford University and finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton, who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.

Starring Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin) as Oliver Quick and Jacob Elordi (Euphoria) as Felix Catton, the film also co-stars Rosamund Pike (The Wheel of Time). The three were the original actors attached to the project from the first announcement. The rest of the cast includes Richard E. Grant (Loki), Alison Oliver (Conversations with Friends), Archie Madekwe (Les Miserables), and Carey Mulligan (The Dig). (Mulligan was Fennell’s main lead in Promising Young Woman.) Fennell is credited with writing and directing the film, as well as executive producer.

Saltburn will receive its International Premiere at the opening night of the 2023 London Film Festival on Wednesday, October 4, 2023, at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. The film will simultaneously open the same day across the U.K. Saltburn does not have an official U.S. release date; however, as the film is an Amazon Studios and MGM production, it is expected to stream on MGM+ after its theatrical run.