Silent Night whisks us away to the charming English countryside, where a family has invited their loved ones to spend the winter holidays. The tree is up, the children are excited for their gifts, and the turkey is in the oven. Only one teensy problem is putting a damper on the festivities; this is not just Christmas Eve, this is Apocalypse Eve.
From producers Matthew Vaughn (Kingsman franchise), Trudie Styler (Moon) and Celine Rattray (The Kids Are Alright), Silent Night, written and directed by Camille Griffin, follows parents Nell (Keira Knightley) and Simon (Matthew Goode) who have invited their closest friends to join their family for Christmas dinner at their idyllic home in the English countryside. As the group comes together, it feels like old times – but behind all of the laughter and merriment, something is not quite right. The world outside is facing impending doom, and no amount of gifts, games or Prosecco can make mankind’s imminent destruction go away. Surviving the holidays just got a lot more complicated.
Keira Knightley, speaking of Camille Griffin’s Silent Night script, exclaimed, “I thought it was one of the most f-ed up things I’ve ever read, and I was like, wow…”
WARNING: SPOILER ALERT FROM KEIRA!
“It really made me laugh. I think part of my story with this film is when I first read it, I was seven months pregnant and it had been one hell of a pregnancy and I had been sick for sick months, and then I got sciatica, and I was really really angry, like profoundly angry and uncomfortable, and we went to France so I could be in a swimming pool so I could have like five seconds where I didn’t feel pain, and there I read the script and I just laughed and laughed and my husband was like, ‘what is it about?’ and I said, ‘They all die! They all kill each other!'”
“I think I have a bit of a disturbed mind, and what I love about the experience I had with my fellow filmmakers, cast, crew, is that we’re all a little bit in touch with our disturbed self,” Griffin said. “I think the film is a metaphor so we can talk about important issues but it can be fun and entertaining, and it’s a metaphorical exploration of what one does when the s- hits the fan, excuse my language. In brief, I would say that’s what the film is about.”
The film stars Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, The Imitation Game), Matthew Goode (The Imitation Game, Watchmen), Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit), Annabelle Wallis (The Mummy, Malignant), Lily-Rose Depp (Yoga Hosers, The King), &Ṣ&ọp&é D&ìr&ís&ù (Gangs of London, The Huntsman: Winter’s War), Kirby Howell-Baptiste (The Good Place, Killing Eve), Lucy Punch (Into the Woods, Bad Teacher), Rufus Jones (The Casual Vacancy, Camping) and Trudie Styler (The Next Three Days, Forever Alone).
See Silent Night in theaters and on AMC+ December 3 2021.
Source: movieweb.com