Searchlight Pictures is pulling the curtain back onSam Mendes’s love letter to the cinemaEmpire of Lightin a new trailer. Described as a love story set in a theater on the coast in the 1980s, the film explores the very human connections and hardships of the employees in the Empire with the relationship between Hilary (Olivia Colman) and newcomer Stephen (Michael Ward) at the center of it. The new footage highlights those connections amidst a backdrop of social issues and the magic of film.
For the Oscar-winning Mendes, the film marks his first stint as the sole scriptwriter for a project and his first feature since1917in 2019. He’s no stranger to capturing movie magic, grabbing a few Academy Award nominations and three BAFTA wins for his WWII biopic with his lone Academy Award win coming fromAmerican Beauty. WithEmpire of Light, he looks to both create and display the effect of that magic while also constructing one of his most deeply personal films. In an interview withDeadline, he talked about how putting the film completely in his own words differentiates it from his previous work, saying:
I’m not saying all my other films aren’t personal in some way because clearly they have relevance to me, but almost as if it’s the first time I’ve ever named something this personal because I’ve approached it in my own weird route. To be writing my own screenplay for the first time at 56 having made nine other movies is an odd thing to do, but I just felt compelled to write this. I think everyone’s experience of lockdown was, your head was held in a vice, you had to look only at your life, you’re living here. … So what is your life, what is there, what do you value?
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Colman and Ward leadEmpire of Lightalongside Oscar-winningThe King’s SpeechstarColin Firth. The rest of the glowing ensemble is made up ofTom Brooke,Hannah Onslow,Toby Jones,Crystal Clarke, andTanya Moodie. Mendes also brought aboard an all-star production team to bring the magic to the screen withPippa Harrisproducing,Roger Deakinson cinematography, andTrent ReznorandAtticus Rosscomposing.
More Background onEmpire of Light
Mendes first showed off his period-piece love story at the Telluride Film Festival back in September, where it earned praise for its cast of award-winning talent despite overall mixed reviews. The film would also make appearances at the Toronto International Film Festival,BFI London, and, in a particularly appropriate case, thefirst annual Nuart Film Festivalwhich celebrates the reopening of Los Angeles’s iconic Nuart theater.
Empire of Lightopens in theaters on December 9. Check out the trailer below.
