THE LITTLE STRANGER

Pathe, Film4 and Ingenious Media present in association with the Irish Film Board (Bord Scannán na

hÉireann) and with the participation of Canal + and Cine + a Potboiler Production in association with

Element Pictures

THE LITTLE STRANGER

DIRECTED BY Lenny Abrahamson

STARRING Domhnall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson, Will Poulter, Liv Hill and Charlotte Rampling

PRODUCED BY Gail Egan, Andrea Calderwood, Ed Guiney

EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY Cameron McCracken, Daniel Battsek, Andrew Lowe, Celine Haddad, Tim O’Shea

SCREENPLAY BY Lucinda Coxon

BASED ON THE NOVEL BY Sarah Waters

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Ole Bratt Birkeland

EDITOR Nathan Nugent

COMPOSER Stephen Rennicks

PRODUCTION DESIGNER Simon Elliott

COSTUME DESIGNER Steven Noble

CASTING DIRECTOR Nina Gold

HAIR & MAKE UP DESIGNER Sian Grigg

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SHORT SYNPOSIS

THE LITTLE STRANGER tells the story of Dr Faraday, the son of a housemaid, who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor. During the long hot summer of 1948, he is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall, where his mother once worked. The Hall has been home to the Ayres family for more than two centuries. But it is now in decline and its inhabitants - mother, son and daughter - are haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life. When he takes on his new patient, Faraday has no idea how closely, and how disturbingly, the family’s story is about to become entwined with his own.

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LONG SYNPOSIS

In the summer of 1948, after returning to the small village of Lidcote following the death of his widowed mother, Dr. Faraday (DOMHNALL GLEESON) is summoned by the Ayres family to Hundreds Hall to attend to their young maid, Betty (LIV HILL). He hasn’t laid eyes on Hundreds since an Empire Day Fete in 1919 when he was completely bewitched by the beauty of the Estate. Arriving, he is surprised and saddened to find the house and grounds much dilapidated and neglected. Faraday is greeted by Roderick Ayres (WILL POULTER), the only son and heir and now a severely disfigured WWII veteran, who directs him towards the kitchen to wait for his sister Caroline Ayres (RUTH WILSON). As he enters he is startled by a dog, Gyp, barking at him from the gloom. Caroline hurries to settle the dog and leads Faraday to Betty. Upon examination, Faraday realises that Betty isn’t actually unwell. She reveals that the gloomy house frightens her and she pretended to be ill so she might be sent home. Faraday covers for her and suggests to Caroline that she might be more understanding of her maid’s isolation, but Caroline scoffs at the idea. As Faraday is lead from the house he has an awkward meeting with the matriarch Mrs Ayres (CHARLOTTE RAMPLING), revealing to her that his mother had once been a maid in the house. Some days later, driving through the countryside, Faraday is forced to brake suddenly when Gyp bolts from the woods in front of his car, followed by Caroline. Faraday offers to give her a lift back to Hundreds, during which Caroline apologises for the way her family had treated him on his last visit. At the gates, Faraday enquires after Rod’s health and offers to help with his injured leg. Faraday returns to Hundreds to find Rod in the library where he now works and sleeps to avoid the pain his war injuries cause him walking up and down stairs. While treating his leg, the two men discuss the difficulty of maintaining an estate like Hundreds and Rod reveals his plan to try to sell some of their land. After the treatment, Caroline escorts Faraday to his car. Faraday confesses a childhood secret: at the Empire Day Fete, he had followed his mother into the kitchen and then snuck upstairs where, overcome at the beauty of Hundreds, he had broken off and stolen a plaster acorn from the mouldings around one of the mirrors. He also remembers a girl his own age who had been at the Fete that day. Caroline says that that must have been her older sister, Susan, who was taken ill on that same day and subsequently died. Some weeks later, Faraday bumps into Caroline in Lidcote and she invites him to a small drinks party at Hundreds. Faraday is uncomfortable given the social gulf between them but wants to be kind to her given his belief that only she is in a position to stop Rod allowing the Estate to fall into ruin. At the drinks party, Faraday goes to Rod’s room to persuade him to show his face. He finds Rod inebriated, refusing to leave his room because convinced that something terrible is going to happen.

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Caroline is having an equally unpleasant evening, as she realises that her mother has orchestrated the event in order to match make her with a family friend. She overhears one of the guests make a cruel remark about her appearance but her hurt is swiftly forgotten when Gyp appears to savage the young daughter of one of the guests. Faraday carries the child to the kitchen table and performs emergency surgery. Over the following weeks, Faraday focuses on his busy medical practice with the poor of the village. One day he is disturbed by shouting in the street and opens his surgery door to find a drunk Rod, celebrating the sale of part of the Hundreds estate, but he is also trying to hide his fear that there is something in the house that hates him and wants him gone. Faraday goes to Hundreds Hall and confides to Caroline that he is concerned about Rod’s state of mind. She has similar concerns; Rod claims to smell burning in the middle of the night yet there is no sign of any fire. Rod overhears their discussion about his mental health and feels betrayed – he reminds Faraday of his working-class roots and that he has no business advising him on how to run the Estate. Shocked and humiliated, Faraday leaves. Sitting alone in his flat that night, Faraday lights a cigarette and broods on Rod’s angry outburst. At the same time in Hundreds, Caroline awakes to the smell of burning. She runs to Rod’s room to find him trapped in the midst of flames. He survives the fire, but everyone suspects that he is responsible and, on Faraday’s suggestion, he is placed in a clinic. Faraday spends Christmas day with Caroline and Mrs Ayres. After dinner he picks up a photograph of the Empire Day celebration he had attended, and points himself out to Caroline, almost concealed behind Susan. The photograph triggers his memory of the trauma he suffered in 1919 when his mother caught him snapping the acorn from the mirror – she had punished him in front of Susan who had smiled as he was dragged back downstairs to the servants’ quarters. Faraday takes a walk with Caroline to inspect the plans for new social housing that will be built on the Estate lands that has been sold; she thanks him for the company, revealing her loneliness now that Rod has gone. To lift her spirits, Faraday invites her to the local hospital dance. At the event, Caroline and Faraday have fun but he is increasingly uncomfortable with the carefree abandon with which she throws herself into the dance. In the car on the way back to Hundreds, Caroline is giddy and flirtatious while Faraday is subdued and tense. As they draw close to the house, Caroline begs him to prolong the journey. Faraday stops the car and they kiss. But Caroline suddenly changes her mind, jumping from the car and rushing into the night. Faraday goes to London to deliver a lecture on his pioneering treatment of Rod’s leg. After the embarrassment of his fumbled kiss with Caroline, he considers moving to London to pursue his career, but on returning to Lidcote he is distracted by a message that Mrs Ayres has been taken ill.

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Faraday arrives at Hundreds where he is met by Caroline – both agree to forget about the fumbled kiss and to start over. Caroline leads Faraday into the drawing room to show him, in the corner where Gyp had attacked the girl, a number of “S” marks which have been discovered, carved into the window frame. She also leads him to her mother’s bedroom where Mrs Ayres shows Faraday a mass of similar “S” marks carved into the back of her wardrobe. Faraday explains to Caroline that the marks were most likely there all the time, made by Susan when she was a little girl – they’ve only been remembered now and re-discovered because Mrs Ayres’ memories have been stirred up by the trauma of recent events. Faraday says he wants to protect Caroline from her imaginings. Caroline feels reassured and when Faraday asks her to marry him, though taken aback, she doesn’t say no. Some days later, Faraday is at Hundreds and attempts to embrace Caroline who pulls away; worried that Betty might see them. Faraday explains that Betty will have to get used to seeing them kissing. Confused, Caroline reveals that she didn’t think they’d be living at Hundreds once they were married – her mother would never agree. But Faraday is adamant that they should remain at the house. Betty interrupts their conversation asking why they had rung for her. Caroline snaps that no one rang for her. Betty is insistent and takes her down to the kitchen where suddenly all of the service bells start to ring. Caroline decides the cause must be a nest of mice and goes to fetch poison. In the meantime, Mrs Ayres arrives in the kitchen, attracted by the commotion. She picks up the speaking tube and believes she hears breathing in the old nursery. Ignoring Betty’s protestations, she goes upstairs to investigate. Mrs Ayres finds the nursery empty. She lifts up the speaking tube and appears to be assaulted by a wall of sound – the nursery door slams shut and repeatedly bangs in its frame. Mrs Ayres screams in terror and pounds on the window, drawing the attention of Caroline and Betty who rush to help her. As Mrs Ayres recovers from her traumatic experience, Faraday tends to her and tells her that she should stay in bed. Mrs Ayres rebuffs him, saying she is no invalid and that he should remember whose house he is in. Faraday is dejected. A work colleague invites him out for a drink and Faraday unburdens himself saying everyone at Hundreds seems to believe that there is a malevolent force in the house. He’s even starting to wonder himself – perhaps under sufficient pressure, a “dream-self” could detach from the “conscious self” to act out malign impulses that no conscious mind would ever contemplate. Mrs Ayres pleads with Faraday to take Caroline away from Hundreds Hall and to leave her alone with the spirit of her dead daughter. Faraday begins to tell her that the ghost of Susan isn’t real but as he does, Mrs Ayres cries out in pain and blood begins to seep through her blouse. Faraday examines her and finds a fresh scratch along with other older scratches and bruises. Faraday is shaken – he takes her to her bedroom and sedates her.

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Faraday suggests to Caroline that her mother be institutionalised but Caroline refuses, saying that Rod being committed to a clinic brought enough shame on the family. Caroline goes to check on Mrs Ayres but finds the bedroom door locked. Faraday breaks it down to reveal Mrs Ayres lying dead apparently having slit her wrists using shards of glass from a framed photograph of Susan. Faraday takes care of the funeral arrangements. Once the last guests have left he approaches Caroline and presses her to agree to them being wed in six weeks. She submits, exhausted from grief. He begins arranging the wedding and even has a dress for Caroline made in secret. However, when he presents her with the dress, Caroline states that she cannot marry him. She thanks him for all he has done for the family but she has decided that they could never make each other happy. She will sell Hundreds and emigrate to Canada. Faraday is devastated. On the day that would have been his wedding day, Faraday retires early to bed. He is woken by an emergency call to treat a poor family where he spends much of the night. On his way home, exhausted, he pulls up near Hundreds where he is overcome with emotion and fatigue. The following morning, he wakes in his car and resumes the journey back to Lidcote where he learns that a call came in from Betty during the night: Caroline has fallen to her death at Hundreds. At the coroner’s inquest, Betty reports hearing Caroline’s steps upstairs, approaching the nursery. She then heard Caroline make a sound, as if she’d seen something, before she toppled over the bannister and into the hallway below. The coroner asks Faraday for his opinion on Caroline’s state of mind at the time of her death. Faraday indicates that her recent behaviour leads him to believe that she was of unsound mind and that she had taken her own life. Sometime after the inquest, Faraday takes his leave of Hundreds Hall, walking through the rooms of the empty house, checking all is secure. As he does so, we witness a final reveal.

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PRODUCTION STORY

In March 2015, when Irish filmmaker Lenny Abrahamson’s fifth feature Room was concluding its long and fruitful awards run with Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Film and Best Adapted Screenplay and a win for Brie Larson as best actress, the director was in high demand. He only had eyes for one project, though – a project to which he had already dedicated considerable time, forging a deep connection with the material. “Definitely there were a lot of offers and I could have done a number of things, some of them high profile,” he says. “But I find it very hard to let go of something I’ve thought a lot about, and the same things that had attracted me to The Little Stranger in the first place kept pulling me back. I felt very committed to it.” Sarah Waters’ celebrated novel The Little Stranger was published in 2009. Set in a dilapidated mansion in Warwickshire in the 1940s, it skilfully shuffles genres and themes. After a country doctor, Faraday, is called to Hundreds Hall to treat a maid, he slowly becomes embroiled with the hermetic family that lives there: the matriarch, Mrs. Ayres; her war-ravaged son, Roderick; and her frustrated daughter, Caroline. The novel attracted many admirers including Hilary Mantel (Wolf Hall), who described it as “a perverse hymn to decay, to the corrosive power of class resentment as well as the damage wrought by war…The Little Stranger operates in the queasy borderlands between the supernatural and psychopathological”; and Stephen King (The Shining), who named it his book of the year whilst warning readers that “several sleepless nights are guaranteed”. Abrahamson was similarly gripped when he read the novel soon after its publication, recognising its potential for a film that could defy genre expectations. And indeed, Abrahamson’s film does offer a unique experience. It is an extraordinary blend of drama, psychological thriller, period romance and gothic chiller; all harnessed together in exploration of the social upheaval that fractured post-war Britain - the decline of the aristocracy and the emergence of the welfare state, driven by a newly confident working class. Hints of supernatural happenings only serve to encourage comparison with the exquisitely crafted shivers conjured by the quills of Henry James and Edgar Allan Poe. Producers Gail Egan and Andrea Calderwood of Potboiler, whose credits include The Constant Gardener and The Last King of Scotland, had optioned the novel. “We read the book when it was first published and immediately fell in love with the world and characters that Sarah had created – it was a riveting read”, says Egan, “We had been looking to work with the screenwriter Lucinda Coxon for some time and we knew she would be perfect to translate the novel’s complexities and depth of the characterisation to the big screen.” “I read the draft script that Gail had commissioned from Lucinda”, says Abrahamson, “and it was great. I was very excited to come on board and I started working very closely with Lucinda through subsequent drafts.” It was input that Coxon welcomed, having already bounced around ideas with Waters. “I met with Sarah very early on,” she says. “She was very supportive and hands-off. She’s used to

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having her material developed by film and television companies, so she’s pretty confident and relaxed about the process, which is fantastic. She was terrific and extremely helpful.” Abrahamson’s help was also of great value, for The Little Stranger is a challenging novel to adapt. Not only is it a beloved bestseller – always tricky to re-sculpt for the screen for fear of irking ardent admirers – but there were all of those genres, tones and themes to elegantly entwine, and structural obstacles to overcome. “Obviously a novel and a film are two very different things,” Coxon points out. “The novel is constructed partly in flashbacks, so lots of the big incidents that we see in the film are only reported in the novel. Faraday isn’t present and he doesn’t witness quite a lot of them. That’s something you can’t really do in a film. You can’t have a film that just tells you about things that you wish you’d seen. Faraday’s head is an extraordinary head to find yourself in. In a way, for me, one of the real challenges of the film is to go the distance with him, marking the shifts in his journey.” “We spent several years, on and off, playing with the script,” says Abrahamson, whose Room was also based on an award-winning bestseller. “Books don’t seamlessly flow into films – there’s an awful lot of re-conceiving that you need to do. But it was a really lovely process both with Gail and Andrea and with Lucinda, who is a wonderful writer, and then my long-time producing partner Ed Guiney got involved as well. It was a sort of extended family feeling through all the phases of the film, not just the adaption but also the shooting and into the edit.” Film4 backed the film from the outset, developing the project alongside the filmmakers, later joined by Pathe as distributor and principal financier. Cameron McCracken, Executive Producer and Managing Director of Pathe, had read the novel when it was first published and had kept in contact with Egan over the years as the script developed: “I finally came on board when Lenny and Lucinda cracked the final pages of the script – how to make the mysterious ending of the novel register both emotionally and cinematically. It’s been a complicated but rewarding creative process and a great pleasure to have shared the journey with our partners Film4, Ingenious, the Irish Film Board, and Focus.”

FAMILY UNION As much as the delicate mixture of genres, tones and themes appealed to Abrahamson, he knew that the characters, and the actors chosen to portray them, would be key for an audience to engage. In particular, the audience’s eyes and ears in exploring this “hard to pin down family”, is Dr. Faraday. Domnhall Gleeson – the chameleonic actor who is currently on a fantastic run (Ex Machina, Brooklyn, The Revenant, Star Wars: The Last Jedi) and has worked with Abrahamson before (Frank) – proved a perfect piece of casting. “I think he’s done something fantastic in this film,” says Abrahamson. “Faraday is uncomfortable in his own skin. His whole position is difficult; as a working-class kid made good he doesn’t fit anywhere. He doesn’t fit with the kids he grew up with or the upper class who still see him as not one of them. He’s intelligent enough to know why he feels awkward, to

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know it is ridiculous, but he still feels it. Not only that but we learn there was a traumatic beat in his past that somehow closed him down emotionally – he represses his feelings. It’s a very difficult thing to play and particularly difficult to play if you’re the protagonist in whom the audience is supposed to invest. Yet despite all of Faraday’s edges and elbows and discomforts and issues, I want the audience to care about him, even like him. Faraday’s journey through the film is a dark one, so I need the audience to find a fundamental connection with him.” “I was immediately fascinated by Faraday,” says Gleeson. “I was fascinated by who he was and what was going on inside. Faraday has returned to his home town, to where he grew up relatively poor, but through his parents’ sacrifice and his own hard work and dedication, he managed to become a doctor. As a child, he had this extraordinary experience in Hundreds Hall, the big house in the county, and it still holds a fascination for him, as if he is trapped by the memory. He is disappointed by what he sees when he comes back, because the house has gone into decline, but there’s also something wrong with the house, and in a way, he assumes the role of detective in trying to find out what’s going on. He’s trying to heal the family and heal the house and we follow him as things get darker and stranger.” Caroline Ayres is excellently played by Ruth Wilson (Luther, Dark River). One read of Coxon’s script had her hooked. “Caroline was quite daunting… there’s so much going on and so many levels,” she begins. “At different moments, she’s different things. There’s a childishness to her, she’s practical and upfront, but she’s deeply lonely and she’s stuck between two worlds – between the old and the new. She doesn’t match up to her mother’s expectations so she’s in frumpy outfits, not really making an effort. She sort of likes this guy [Faraday] but does she really love him? She’s very complex.” Pausing to contemplate, Wilson sets about unravelling further layers. “She was a Wren during the war. She had independence and as a woman was given more freedom and responsibility. But she had to come back; she had to look after her brother who had been injured during the war and look after her mother and take that responsibility on her shoulders. She’s kind of stuck. She’s tasted freedom and so she’s slightly resentful of being home. She doesn’t want to be there and in some ways the romance with Faraday represents an out for her.” “She’s just brilliant, she’s able to find the voice, find the mode that Caroline operates in.” Says Abrahamson, “This is where this film distinguishes itself from an out-and-out genre film: there’s depth. She’s not just playing the jolly hockey sticks, slightly less attractive, posh girl. She’s a very compelling three-dimensional person and I think she turns in an absolutely amazing performance. I’m totally blown away by what she has done in the film.”

Two people who seem to be trapped in the past are Mrs. Ayres, whose patrician quality and unquestioned superiority represents the gentry before the War; and her son, the war-damaged, embittered, alcoholic man of the house, Roderick. To play the former, Abrahamson enlisted the quicksilver talent of Charlotte Rampling (Swimming Pool, 45 Years), saying, “Charlotte brings with her not just her brilliant skills as an artist but also the fact of who she is, a grande dame of her profession - she has great gravitas.” For the heavily scarred (physically and psychologically) Rod, Will Poulter (The Revenant, Detroit), one of Britain’s most exciting young actors, was selected, with Abrahamson praising the tremendous “nuance

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and pathos” he found in the character “even though he is wearing a lot of prosthetics – five or six hours’ worth of makeup each morning.” Rampling was attracted by the many layered, multi-textured script, pointing out that it provided “a density of possibilities, not only within the storytelling but also within the psychology of the characters.” Abrahamson’s ability to “find the heartbeat of each moment” thrilled her, and of her character, she says, “Mrs Ayres is the kind of woman that had the world in a relatively easy way. The aristocracy, during the two world wars, lived well and were very privileged. They treated others well but they didn’t really have to bother too much about anything. Now you meet her, and she is still that same woman but everything is fading away. She’s losing it all. Eventually she will crumble with it.” As for Poulter, he relished playing a character of such complexity. “Roderick clings to a sense of pride in the family name and the house’s reputation, and he is also very protective of his sister and his mother,” he explains. “I don’t share his opinions on class or the need for any kind of hierarchy but I related to his desire to remain on his feet despite what life throws at him. I was very interested in the prospect of exploring decline from the perspective of someone who, despite suffering from the huge tragedy of being disfigured by war, is still doing his best to keep up appearances, whilst at the same time having given up on life. He doesn’t see himself as finding a partner or having a life beyond the walls of this house. His inherent grumpiness and hostility is interesting and, I think, at odds with his desire to be respected.”

GRAND DESIGNS Though a film of considerable cinematic scope, much of The Little Stranger is contained and claustrophobic, taking place in and around the Ayres estate of Hundreds Hall. The Hall is a structure at once impressive and sorrowful, mighty and fallen, its mouldering interiors and shabby grounds reflecting the decline of the Ayres family and the aristocratic way of life they cling to. “It’s a cliché to say it, but the house is also a character in the film,” smiles Abrahamson, who conducted a countrywide search for a suitably impressive pile of bricks. It proved a tough task, with many such houses either restored to pristine condition or turned into hotels. “The one we settled on is actually quite close to London – it’s called Langleybury,” continues the director. “It dates from the eighteenth century. We used every inch of it, we shot all around it, and Simon Elliott did an incredible job on the design, which gives it this very particular personality that is essential to the story.” “It’s always exciting when you get what is quite obviously a design piece: period setting, a faded, old, crumbling mansion,” says Elliott. “The challenge was to give it a ‘soft decrepitude’. We didn’t want to go down the gothic horror route and I was adamant from the beginning that we wanted to be the antithesis of the haunted country house, the gothic ghost story. I very much insisted on playing it up as a quintessential English country home. So, it’s light and its pastel-coloured. The damp has got in, the walls are not quite how they used to be, and the silk has faded. You’re used to seeing beautiful country houses in period films where everything is immaculate and beautifully arranged. This was a case of making everything a little bit off, a little bit skewed. Nothing is quite as it should be.”

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Elliott and his team had 10 weeks to ready the house and needed to prepare pretty much every room: painting, decorating and demolishing. A further challenge was created by the need to shoot scenes set at the house in its prime in 1919, when it hosted glorious parties. It is at one such celebration that Faraday, as a small boy, makes an intense connection with the Hall and the way of life it represents. Abrahamson and Elliott devised a cunning solution to this particular problem of showing the house at its zenith and its nadir. “I was fortunate enough to stumble across Newby Hall in a newspaper article and I was struck by how remarkably similar it was architecturally to Langleybury,” says Elliott. “I thought, ‘Okay, that’s worth a look’ because what was evident in the article was that unlike Langleybury, Newby was immaculate as were its extensive, beautiful gardens. So, we went up to see Newby and it was unbelievable that the two houses sat so comfortably together. We spliced the facades. It meant we were able to do two periods very easily.” With Elliot’s designs married to Ole Bratt Birkeland’s subtle and supple cinematography, Sian Grigg’s makeup and prosthetics and Steven Noble’s calibrated costume choices, The Little Stranger is a visual treat. The techniques are all but subliminal, yet add immeasurably to the strangeness and, in the third act, to the shivery suspense. Says costume designer Noble. “The house and the family are a single entity, so they sort of merge together, the Ayres family’s clothes blend in with the decor. Dr Faraday starts off in the film quite dark and sober looking, and he slowly gets lighter and lighter the more attached and entwined with the house he gets. He starts to fade away as well, becoming paler within his costume.”

HAUNTED HOUSE One of the great joys of both Waters’ novel and Abrahamson’s film is the sophistication of its psychological suspense. Like Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, which was adapted into the classic 1963 chiller The Haunting; or Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, which became the 1961 masterpiece The Innocents; The Little Stranger features some strange goings-on that are open to interpretation. Are the peculiar noises that echo around Hundreds Hall evidence of a malevolent spirit, or just rusted pipes? Is the ancient, rotting building truly haunted, or are the phantoms only in the Ayres’ minds after all the trauma they’ve lived through? Gleeson muses. “I believe that the whodunnit vibe, the psychological-thriller side, is very intense, but there are other elements too, including an odd sense of humour wrapped up inside of it,” he says. “You could look at it as a ghost story but there are other elements that are more compelling as it goes along, for example the developing romantic relationship with Caroline or Mrs. Ayres and Rod’s psychological decline.” “You feel you are being haunted by something, but you don’t really quite know whether it could be something supernatural, and that’s very interesting,” says Rampling. “The audience will be saying to themselves, ‘Can we believe? Can’t we believe? Are we allowed to go over or do we stay in rationality to be able to understand this story?’”

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Poulter agrees. “What I really appreciate is how unsettling it is,” he says. “Rather than being outright frightening, I love the lack of ease, how ambiguous it is, and the fact that in entering this house, there’s a sense that your own intellect and your own sanity is constantly being questioned by what’s going on. The lines between supernatural and natural are so blurred.” It makes for a gripping experience, says Wilson. “I hope that audiences are watching something that is unique as a film, that will keep them guessing or keep them searching for answers and will keep shocking and surprising them at every turn.” Her thoughts are mirrored by Egan. “Audiences will be intrigued and entertained by the narrative and by the complex characters,” she says. “Nobody is entirely who they seem and I think that makes for an exciting and compelling film. I think the audience will be continually wrong-footed right up to the final frame of the film when they finally discover the secret of Hundreds Hall.” For Abrahamson, the experience of making – and the idea of audiences watching – such a fresh and complex film is exhilarating. “It’s an unusual hybrid of acute social observation, a psychological investigation of character, and a ghost story” he reiterates. “I don’t know if there’s anything else quite like it out there, so you have to push yourself away from the shore and start discovering it yourself. I hope that people enjoy it and are stimulated by its openness, and find it satisfying that the film does not run on any tramlines that you might foresee. It takes several turns that are unexpected. There’s nothing dumbed-down about the film. There’s complexity and depth, but it’s also dynamic and satisfying. There’s a rich emotional story being told but, at the same time, there are genre elements that are very spicy.” He pauses, allowing himself a small smile. “There is a very strong experience to be had from this film.”

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ABOUT THE CAST

Domhnall Gleeson Dr Faraday

Domhnall Gleeson’s latest projects include Rian Johnson’s Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Peter Rabbit directed by Will Gluck; Darren Aronofsky’s mother! and a cameo appearance in Channel 4’s Catastrophe. Prior to these, he filmed David Wain's A Futile and Stupid Gesture, the lead role of Stensland in the comedy feature Crash Pad directed by Kevin Tent, and Doug Liman’s American Made in which he plays the role of Monty Schafer alongside Tom Cruise. Other recent credits include Nick Hornby’s adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s novel Brooklyn, directed by John Crowley, The Revenant directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, JJ Abrams’ Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, Alex Garland’s sci-fi film Ex Machina, and Joel and Ethan Coen’s adaptation of Louis Zamperini’s memoir Unbroken, directed by Angelina Jolie. In January 2015 Gleeson appeared on stage in Enda Walsh’s The Walworth Farce, directed by Seán Foley, starring alongside his father Brendan Gleeson and brother Brian Gleeson. His previous lead roles in film include Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank with Michael Fassbender and Maggie Gyllenhaal, Richard Curtis’ About Time opposite Rachel McAdams and Bill Nighy, and Sensation, directed by Tom Hall. He received Irish Film and Television Awards for playing Bob Geldof in When Harvey Met Bob, Levin in Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina, and Jon in Lenny Abrahamson's Frank. Supporting roles in film and television include John Michael McDonagh’s Calvary, Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror on Channel 4, Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go, Joel and Ethan Coen’s True Grit, the role of Bill Weasley in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (I & II) directed by David Yates, and Martin McDonagh’s Academy Award-winning short Six Shooter. He also appeared in Dredd directed by Pete Travis, Shadow Dancer directed by James Marsh, Ian Fitzgibbon's Perrier’s Bounty, A Dog Year for HBO films opposite Jeff Bridges, Paul Mercier’s Studs, Stephen Bradley’s Boy Eats Girl, and John Butler’s Your Bad Self, for which he co-wrote sketches with Michael Moloney. Gleeson’s work onstage includes Now or Later at the Royal Court, American Buffalo and Great Expectations at the Gate, Druid’s production of The Well of The Saints, Macbeth directed by Selina Cartmell, and Chimps directed by Wilson Milam at the Liverpool Playhouse. Gleeson was nominated for a Tony Award for the Broadway production of Martin McDonagh’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore. He received a Lucille Lortel Nomination and a Drama League Citation for Excellence in Performance for the same role. He earned an Irish Times Theatre Award nomination for his role in American Buffalo. Gleeson wrote and directed the short films Noreen (starring Brendan and Brian Gleeson) and What Will Survive of Us (starring Brian Gleeson). Gleeson also created Immaturity For Charity, comedy sketches shot with family and friends in aid of St. Francis’ Hospice.

Ruth Wilson Caroline Ayres

Two-time Olivier award-winner, Golden Globe winner, and Tony nominated actress Ruth Wilson has paved her way in theatre, television and film. Best known for her portrayals of Alison in The Affair, Alice in Luther and for her work on the London stage, Wilson has quickly become one of Britain’s most lauded young actresses.

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In 2018, Wilson received a British Independent Film Award nomination for the role of Alice Bell in Clio Barnard’s critically acclaimed third feature Dark River, alongside Sean Bean and Mark Stanley. Wilson also starred in the recently released feature How To Talk To Girls At Parties opposite Nicole Kidman, directed by John Cameron Mitchell which premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.

In 2016, Wilson starred in the Netflix feature film I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House, and Showtime’s Golden Globe-winning original series, The Affair, for which she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series in 2015. The Affair, returning in 2018 for a fourth season, explores the psychological effects of an extramarital affair between a married woman Alison (Wilson) and an older married man Noah (Dominic West) in US coastal town, Montauk.

Wilson was nominated for a Tony Award for her Broadway debut as Marianne in the critically acclaimed Constellations, starring alongside Jake Gyllenhaal. In December 2016 she returned to the National Theatre to star in the title role of Hedda Gabler for which Wilson received an Olivier Award nomination. Wilson is a mainstay on the London stage, where she has won two Olivier Awards for her performances in two Donmar Warehouse productions: Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire where she portrayed the character Stella and Anna Christie, in which she starred opposite Jude Law and portrayed Anna. In 2010, Wilson portrayed Karin in an Almeida Theatre adaptation of the Ingmar Bergman film, Through A Glass Darkly. Wilson debuted on the London stage in 2007 in the National Theatre presentation of Maxim Gorky’s Philistines.

In 2013, Wilson starred in Saving Mr. Banks, opposite Colin Farrell, Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson, The Lone Ranger alongside Armie Hammer, and as the wife of Tom Hardy’s character Ivan Locke in Locke. In 2012, Wilson starred in Joe Wright’s film adaptation of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina opposite Keira Knightley and Jude Law as the character Princess Betsy.

From 2007 to 2013, Wilson starred in various British television films and miniseries including Miss Marple: Nemesis, BBC’s Capturing Mary, Small Island, The Doctor Who Hears Voices and The Prisoner. Since 2010, Wilson has appeared in the UK psychological police drama Luther as the recurring character Alice Morgan, a research scientist and highly intelligent sociopath. Luther is a Golden Globe-winning series which has been nominated for eight prime time Emmy Awards.

In 2006, Wilson starred in her breakout performance in the title role of the BBC miniseries Jane Eyre, receiving a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress, along with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress Miniseries or Television Film and a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actress. Wilson debuted on UK television in 2006 in the situation comedy Suburban Shootout.

Upcoming projects include Mrs Wilson which Wilson will produce and star in as her own grandmother, Alison Wilson, for PBS Masterpiece and the BBC.

Charlotte Rampling Mrs. Ayres

Charlotte Rampling began her career in films in 1964 with Richard Lester in The Knack. In 1966 she appeared as Meredith in the film Georgy Girl and after this, her acting career in English, French and Italian cinema blossomed; notably in Luchino Visconti's The Damned (La Caduta degli dei) in 1969 and in Liliana Cavani’s 1974 film The Night Porter, playing opposite Dirk Bogarde.

Charlotte Rampling gained recognition from American audiences in a remake of Raymond Chandler's detective story Farewell, My Lovely in 1975 and later with Woody Allen's Stardust Memories in 1980 and particularly in The Verdict in 1982, an acclaimed drama directed by Sidney Lumet that starred Paul

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Newman. Her long list of films also includes Alan Parker’s Angel Heart, Ian Softley’s The Wings of the Dove, Michael Cacoyannis’ The Cherry Orchard, Julio Medem’s Chaotic Ana, Dominik Moll’s Lemming, Laurent Cantet's Heading South (Vers le Sud), Jonathan Nossiter's Signs & Wonders and Nagisa Oshima's Max Mon Amour.

Charlotte Rampling has collaborated extensively with the director François Ozon appearing in the Under the Sand, Swimming Pool, Angel, and most recently Jeune et Jolie in 2013.

Recent work includes: Red Sparrow, Submergence, Assassin's Creed, 45 Years, Waiting for the Miracle to Come, The Sense of an Ending, London Spy, the second series of Broadchurch, Dexter, Restless, Night Train to Lisbon, I, Anna, Melancholia, The Eye of the Storm, Clean Skin, Streetdance 3D, Never Let Me Go, Babylon AD, Life During Wartime, Boogie Woogie and The Duchess.

For Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years in 2015, Charlotte Rampling was nominated for an Academy Award and was awarded Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival and Edinburgh International Film Festival in addition to the London Film Critics' Circle and European Film Academy awards.

Will Poulter

Roderick Ayres

In 2014, Will Poulter was presented with the prestigious EE BAFTA Rising Star award positioning him as one of the country’s most exciting young talents. He also received the Breakthrough Performance award the MTV Awards for his role in We’re The Millers, as well as the award for Best Kiss for his memorable scene in the film. 2017 saw Poulter starring as police officer Krauss in Academy award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit. The film focused on the violent 1967 Detroit riots, Poulter starred alongside Anthony Mackie, John Boyega, Jack Reynor and Ben O’Toole. Poulter was also seen in the Netflix project War Machine alongside Brad Pitt. In 2016, Poulter starred in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s BAFTA and Academy award-winning film The Revenant, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. 2016 also saw Poulter in Kids In Love alongside Alma Jodorowsky, Jamie Blackley and Cara Delevingne. In 2015, Poulter starred in Glassland, the second feature from Irish director Gerard Barrett, starring Academy award-nominated actress Toni Collette and Jack Reynor. Glassland received the award for Best Irish Feature at Galway’s Film Fleadh Awards and received great critical acclaim. 2014 saw Poulter star in The Maze Runner, an adaptation of James Dashner’s bestselling novel directed by Wes Ball. In 2013, Poulter starred in box office hit comedy We’re The Millers opposite Jennifer Anniston, Jason Sudeikis and Emma Roberts. Poulter’s feature film debut was in Garth Jennings’ nostalgic hit comedy Son of Rambow in 2008 for which he received a nomination at the British Independent Film Awards for Most Promising Newcomer. In 2011, Poulter starred in Dexter Fletcher’s BAFTA nominated directorial debut Wild Bill. The film saw Poulter’s transition from child star to adult actor, tackling the role of Dean. Poulter was nominated for Young British Performer of The Year at the London Film Critics’ Circle Awards for this breakout performance.

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Other films credits include the blockbuster adaptation of The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader where Poulter played Eustace Clarence Scrubb opposite Tilda Swinton, Liam Neeson and Simon Pegg. Poulter also played and developed a string of satirical characters on C4/E4 comedy sketch show School Of Comedy, a TV show performed by a cast of talented British young comedic actors. The show was taken to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and in 2009 adapted into a six part television series for E4 running for two seasons until 2010.

Liv Hill Betty

After training at The Nottingham Actors Studio, Liv Hill made her television debut in the BBC drama Three Girls, at just 17 years old. Directed by Phillipa Lowthorpe, Three Girls told the story of the Rochdale abuse scandal and received critical acclaim. Her performance was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in the 2018 TV BAFTAs. As well as The Little Stranger, 2018 sees the release of Jellyfish in which Hill plays a young carer who discovers an unlikely talent for stand-up comedy. The film is the debut feature written and directed by James Gardner.

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ABOUT THE CREW

Lenny Abrahamson Director

Lenny Abrahamson was born in Dublin in 1966. While studying physics and philosophy at Trinity College Dublin, he directed short videos with the Trinity Video Society, which he co-founded with Ed Guiney. He graduated in 1991 with first class honours. His first short film 3 Joes won the Best European Short Film Award at the 1991 Cork Film Festival and the Organiser’s Award at the 1992 Oberhausen Short Film Festival. He directed numerous commercials for television in Ireland, the UK and worldwide before taking the helm on his first feature film Adam & Paul, a stylized, downbeat comedy written by Mark O’Halloran and released in 2004. Adam & Paul won the Best First Feature award at the 2004 Galway Film Fleadh and the Grand Prix at the 2005 Sofia International Film Festival. His second feature film Garage, another collaboration with writer Mark O’ Halloran, was selected for Director’s Fortnight at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and won the CICAE Art and Essai award. The film also won the awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Script and Best Actor at the 2008 Irish Film and Television Awards. Abrahamson has also directed for television: his four one-hour TV films for RTE, Prosperity, won the Best Director for TV award at the 2008 Irish Film and Television Awards. What Richard Did, his third feature, was released in 2012 to critical acclaim. The film, written by Malcolm Campbell, presents a stark portrait of a privileged Dublin teen whose world unravels over one summer night. What Richard Did premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and was also selected for the 2012 BFI London Film Festival and the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival. Abrahamson’s fourth feature, Frank, starred Domhnall Gleeson, Michael Fassbender, and Maggie Gyllenhaal and told the story of a young wannabe musician caught up in an avant-garde pop band led by the eponymous and enigmatic Frank, who always wears a giant fake head. Frank premiered to great praise at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Abrahamson’s most recent feature was the critically acclaimed Room, starring Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actress, for which Brie Larson won. In addition, Room won the People’s Choice Award at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, was one of the AFI Awards Movies of the Year, and appeared on numerous critics’ top ten lists. Abrahamson is developing a number of projects including Neverhome an adaptation of Laird Hunt’s civil war novel and A Man’s World with Element Pictures and Film4.

Gail Egan Producer

Gail Egan formed Potboiler Productions in 2000 with Simon Channing Williams and since then has produced over 20 films including Doug McGrath’s Nicholas Nickleby, De-Lovely with Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd, Fernando Meirelles’ Blindness, starring Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo, Man About Dog with director Paddy Breathnach, Brothers of the Head with directors Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe, and Fernando Meirelles’ award-winning film, The Constant Gardener, starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz, who won an Academy Award for her performance in the film.

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More recently she has produced the adaptation of John le Carré’s A Most Wanted Man, directed by Anton Corbijn and starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Rachel McAdams and also the adaptation of John le Carré’s novel, Our Kind of Traitor, directed by Susanna White starring Ewan McGregor, Stellan Skarsgård, Naomie Harris and Damian Lewis. Egan produced Alan Rickman’s A Little Chaos, starring Kate Winslet and Matthias Schoenaerts, and in 2014 Trespass Against Us starring Michael Fassbender and Brendan Gleeson. She produced Stanley Tucci’s Final Portrait starring Geoffrey Rush and Armie Hammer and in 2017 she produced The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, which was written and directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor. Egan also works with Mike Leigh and has executive produced Vera Drake, Happy-Go-Lucky, Another Year, Mr Turner and most recently, Peterloo.

Andrea Calderwood

Producer

An independent producer and partner in Potboiler Productions with producing partner Gail Egan, Andrea was previously Head of Drama at BBC Scotland and Head of Production at Pathé Pictures and has produced and executive produced over 30 award-winning feature films and TV series. These credits include Jed Mercurio's Cardiac Arrest, the adaptations of Iain Banks’s The Crow Road and Stonemouth for BBC, Lynne Ramsay’s debut feature Ratcatcher, Kevin Macdonald's BAFTA and Oscar-winning The Last King Of Scotland, David Simon & Ed Burns' Emmy-winning series Generation Kill for HBO, I Am Slave, directed by Gabriel Range and written by Jeremy Brock, Half Of A Yellow Sun, based on the Orange Prize winning novel by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Thandie Newton, Andrew Bovell's adaptation of John le Carré’s A Most Wanted Man; A Little Chaos, directed by Alan Rickman and starring Kate Winslet and Matthias Schoenaerts, Trespass Against Us, starring Michael Fassbender and Brendan Gleeson, Woman Walks Ahead written by Steven Knight and directed by Susanna White starring Jessica Chastain, Michael Greyeyes and Sam Rockwell, and last year Yuli, inspired by the life of Carlos Acosta written by Paul Laverty and directed by Iciar Bollain and The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind written and directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Ed Guiney Producer

Ed Guiney heads Element Pictures with Andrew Lowe, working across production, distribution, and exhibition. Current productions include Sebastián Lelio’s Disobedience, starring Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams and Alessandro Nivola and The Favourite, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, with Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz and Olivia Colman. Recent productions include Yorgos Lanthimos' The Killing of A Sacred Deer starring Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman which won Best Screenplay in Cannes; Room, an onscreen adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s award-winning novel directed by Lenny Abrahamson and starring Brie Larson, Joan Allen, Jacob Tremblay and William H. Macy. Room was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay with Larson winning the award for Best Actress. The film was also nominated for three Golden Globes, with Larson winning a Golden Globe as well as a SAG award for Best Actress. Other recent productions include Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster, starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz, which won the Jury Prize in Cannes and its original screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award.

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Guiney’s other production credits include A Date For Mad Mary, directed by Darren Thornton, Frank, What Richard Did, Garage and Adam & Paul, all directed by Lenny Abrahamson, Shadow Dancer directed by James Marsh, The Guard directed by John Michael McDonagh, Omagh directed by Pete Travis and The Magdalene Sisters directed by Peter Mullan. Element also produces TV drama and runs a distribution company which handles StudioCanal’s slate in Ireland, as well as direct acquisitions. The company owns and operates the four-screen Light House Cinema, one of Dublin’s premiere art house cinemas and is about to open Pálás, a new three screen cinema in Galway. In 2014 Ed Guiney was awarded the Prix Eurimages at the European Film Awards.

Lucinda Coxon

Screenwriter

Lucinda Coxon's plays include Herding Cats at the Theatre Royal Bath and Hampstead Theatre, The

Eternal Not for the National Theatre, the award-winning Happy Now? for the National Theatre, Yale

Rep and Primary Stages New York, Nostalgia and Vesuvius for the South Coast Repertory

Theater, Improbabilities for Soho Poly, Wishbones, Waiting at the Water’s Edge for the Bush

Theatre. Her plays for National Theatre Connections include What Are They Like?, The Shoemaker’s

Incredible Wife from Federico García Lorca and The Ice Palace from Tarjei Vesaas. She has

commissions for new work from The National Theatre and Yale Rep.

Coxon’s screenplays include Wild Target, The Heart of Me and most recently The Danish Girl, directed

by Tom Hooper and starring Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander, who won an Academy Award for

her performance. Her four-part version of Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White was

screened to critical acclaim on BBC2.

Ole Bratt Birkeland

Director of Photography

Ole Bratt Birkeland is a Norwegian Director of Photography based in London, whose latest credit is Judy, directed by Rupert Goold for Pathe. He recently finished American Animals, directed by Bart Layton for Raw which premiered at Sundance Film Festival. Birkeland has recently shot season one of The Crown for Netflix, for which he lensed the episodes directed by Julian Jarrold and Philip Martin; Ghost Stories, directed by Andy Nyman for Warp Films and the Channel 4 drama, National Treasure, directed by Marc Munden and produced by The Forge.

Birkeland’s other recent credits include A Date For Mad Mary, produced by Element Pictures and directed by Darren Thornton, which was selected for the 2016 BFI London Film Festival; and the critically acclaimed BAFTA nominated feature documentary Listen To Me Marlon, directed by Steven Riley for Passion Pictures.

Birkeland’s TV credits include the BAFTA, Emmy and Golden Globe nominated BBC drama, The Missing, directed by Tom Shankland, and season one of the Emmy-winning TV drama, Utopia, directed by Marc Munden, Wayne Yipp and Alex Garcia Lopez for Kudos and Channel 4.

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One of Birkeland’s first features was The Arbor, directed by Clio Barnard for Artangle Media, Film Council and Channel 4, which won a BAFTA for Outstanding Debut, the Douglas Hickox Award at the British Independent Film Awards and also won Best British Newcomer at the BFI London Film Festival.

Nathan Nugent Editor

Nathan Nugent has been a film editor for several years, moving from feature documentaries into drama. His recent credits include What Richard Did, Frank and Room for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in 2016 and received the Canadian Academy Award for Best Editing.

Stephen Rennicks

Composer

For more than 17 years, award-winning Irish composer, Stephen Rennicks, has been crafting inimitable soundtracks for the best of independent cinema and television in Ireland, the UK, Europe and America. 2016 saw Rennicks' work grace three of the most exciting feature films of the year: Lenny Abrahamson's Academy award-winning Room, the documentary Forever Pure, and the internationally acclaimed Best Foreign Language film, Viva. 2017 saw Rennicks scoring back to back feature projects including Muse and Birthmarked.

The Little Stranger marks Rennicks’ sixth collaboration with Abrahamson and theirs has become one of contemporary cinema’s most extraordinary partnerships. Their first feature film collaboration, Adam and Paul, won Best Film at the 2004 Irish Film and Television Awards. They collaborated again in 2007 on Garage (Best Film at the Torino Film Festival, CICAE Art Cinema Award at Cannes) and What Richard Did in 2012, a film praised by the international press and awarded the Golden Tulip for Best Film at the 32nd Istanbul International Film Festival. Frank, released in 2014, saw the Rennicks-Abrahamson collaboration hit a new high. A film with music at its heart, Rennicks’ incredible song writing, score and musical direction were unanimously praised, and the film’s soundtrack, released on Silva Screen Records, was named number three in Mojo’s soundtrack albums that year.

Simon Elliot

Production Designer

Simon Elliott is a BAFTA award-winning production designer whose work has featured in some of Britain’s most well-loved mini-series including Bleak House for which he won a BAFTA TV Award and earned an Emmy. In recent years, his film credits include The Iron Lady, Brick Lane and The Book Thief and the BBC drama The Child in Time with Benedict Cumberbatch and Kelly McDonald.

Steven Noble Costume Designer

Steven Noble is a BAFTA and Costume Designers Guild Awards nominated designer. He graduated with distinction from York College of Art before spending several years designing for Jasper Conran, and later for the theatre, the combined experience of which honed his love for all aspects of costume design. Noble’s feature credits include: the Academy award-winning The Theory of Everything directed by James Marsh, starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones; The Two Faces of January directed by

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Hossein Amini, starring Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst and Oscar Isaac; the critically acclaimed Under The Skin directed by Jonathan Glazer, starring Scarlett Johansson; Wuthering Heights directed by Andrea Arnold; and Never Let Me Go directed by Mark Romanek, starring Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield. Recent films that Noble has designed include Bridget Jones’s Baby directed by Sharon Maguire, A Monster Calls directed by J.A. Bayona, for which he was nominated for a Gaudí Award for Best Costume Design, Una directed by Benedict Andrews, and T2 Trainspotting directed by Danny Boyle. Noble’s latest work will be with director Park Chan-wook on the upcoming miniseries The Little Drummer Girl.

Nina Gold Casting Director

Nina Gold is a casting director in television, film and theatre. Gold’s recent feature film credits include The Sense of an Ending, Final Portrait, Bridget Jones’ Baby, The BFG, Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, The Danish Girl, Far from the Madding Crowd, High-Rise, The Martian, Paddington, A Little Chaos, In The Heart of the Sea, The Iron Lady, The Theory of Everything, The Imitation Game, The King's Speech and Les Miserables. She has cast seven films with Mike Leigh including Mr. Turner, Topsy-Turvy, Vera Drake and Another Year. Other films include Sightseers, Before I Go to Sleep, How I Live Now, Sunshine on Leith, Rush, Prometheus, The Counsellor, Attack the Block, Jane Eyre, Hot Fuzz, Brothers of The Head, The Illusionist, Wild Bill, The World’s End, Shadow Dancer, My Week with Marilyn, Nowhere Boy, Bright Star and Eastern Promises.

Television credits include seven seasons of Game of Thrones, The Crown, Wolf Hall, The Dresser, Marco Polo, London Spy, The Escape Artist, Restless, Any Human Heart and The Crimson Petal and The White. Other television credits include two seasons of the highly successful Rome, The Red Riding Trilogy, Longford, The Devils’s Whore and The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.

Gold has won Primetime Emmys for Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries for her work on HBO’s John Adams and Game of Thrones. She has won Artios awards for outstanding casting on The King’s Speech, My Week with Marilyn and most recently Game of Thrones.

In April 2016, she was honoured with a BAFTA for her outstanding contribution to casting over 100 television and film productions – it is the first time BAFTA have recognised a casting director with a special award. She is the recipient of three Primetime Emmy awards for her work on John Adams in 2008 and Game of Thrones in 2015 and 2016.

Sian Grigg Hair and Make Up Designer

Sian Grigg is a BAFTA award-winning and Academy award nominated make-up and hair designer, personal make-up artist and prosthetic designer, who has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry. Grigg was awarded the Sian Phillips Award at the 25th British Academy Cymru Awards in 2016, this was the first time that a make-up designer has received the special award. Grigg’s most recent notable film credits include Simon Curtis’ Goodbye Christopher Robin, Xavier Dolan’s The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, Alex Garland’s Annihilation, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant which she was nominated for both a BAFTA and Academy Award, Martin Scorsese’s The

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Wolf of Wall Street, Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, Far From the Madding Crowd directed by Thomas Vinterberg and Django Unchained directed by Quentin Tarantino. Past notable film credits include, Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, Danny Boyle’s The Beach, Gary Ross’ Seabiscuit, Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond, Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies, Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road, Christopher Nolan’s Inception, Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go, Nicole Kassell’s A Little Bit of Heaven, Luke Greenfield’s Something Borrowed, Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar and Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, Shutter Island and The Aviator, for which she was awarded the BAFTA for Best Make Up and Hair.