Luca Guadagnino, director of Amazon MGM Studios’ picture After The Hunt, has revealed what drew him to the debut script of Nora Garrett.
After The Hunt follows a college professor (Julia Roberts) who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil (Ayo Edebiri) levels an accusation against one of her colleagues (Andrew Garfield), and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.
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Guadagnino regular Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny also star along with Lío Mehiel, Thaddea Graham, Will Price, Christine Dye, and Burgess Byrd.
Appearing on stage at Deadline’s Contenders London event on Saturday, the Oscar-nominated Italian director said the dynamics of power and desire were appealing to him. He recalled reading Garrett’s script for the first time on a flight.
“It struck me the way in which Nora could bring together a very particular story in a very specific place, and make it a stage for idiosyncrasies and impulses that could speak to everybody,” he explained.
Garrett, an actress who has appeared in Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, said it was “difficult to put into words” how grateful she was that Guadagnino took on the project after his previous work on films like Call Me by Your Name and Challengers.
Unpacking the ambition behind the story, she said: “I was really interested in someone who had such a powerful mechanism of self-denialism, and that mechanism is what supported their effort towards external success in a way that was powerful and propulsive, but hampered them in an emotional integrity way.”
Cinematographer Malik Hassan Sayeed said they wanted After the Hunt to feel like it was shot in the 1980s, using a single lens and other technology from that time. “He’s [Guadagnino] very precise and masterful at his craft, and I think it was an amazing pairing for us,” Hassan Sayeed said.
Guadagnino praised casting director Jessica Ronane for her “astonishing” work in balancing a cast that was “so wide and deep.” Roanne said it was a “great responsibility and a great thrill” to work on the movie.
After The Hunt premiered on October 10.
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