Steve McQueen is debuting his latest period piece, this time starring Saoirse Ronan.
McQueen writes and directs “Blitz,” which follows the epic journey of George (Elliott Heffernan), a 9-year-old boy in World War II London whose mother Rita (Ronan) sends him to safety in the English countryside.
Per the official synopsis, “George, defiant and determined to return home to his mom and his grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller) in East London, embarks on an adventure, only to find himself in immense peril, while a distraught Rita searches for her missing son.”
Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clementine, Kathy Burke, Stephen Graham, Leigh Gill, Mica Ricketts, CJ Beckford, Alex Jennings, Joshua McGuire, Hayley Squires, Erin Kellyman, and Sally Messham also star.
Academy Award winner McQueen reunites with production designer Adam Stockhausen (“12 Years a Slave,” “Widows”), costume designer Jacqueline Durran (“Small Axe”), and composer Hans Zimmer (“12 Years a Slave”) for the production. The feature is also a reunion between cinematographer Yorick Le Saux and Ronan, who collaborated on “Little Women.” Naomi Donne (“No Time to Die”) is the makeup designer.
McQueen’s Lammas Park produces alongside Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title Films, Arnon Milchan, Yariv Milchan, and Michael Schaefer for New Regency, with producers Anita Overland and Adam Somner.
Anna Smith Tenser, Natalie Lehmann, Sheeraz Shah, and Sarah-Jane Wright executive produce.
“Blitz” will have its world premiere at the British Film Institute’s London Film Festival as part of the Opening Night Gala on October 9. The film will have its North American premiere one day later on October 10 at Alice Tully Hall to close out the 2024 New York Film Festival.
McQueen previously screened seven of his films at NYFF, including the premiere of his directorial debut “Hunger” in 2008. His features “Shame” (2011) and Oscar winner “12 Years a Slave” (2013) screened at the festival, and “Occupied City” debuted there in 2023. McQueen also showed three of his “Small Axe” works in 2020, with “Lovers Rock” opening NYFF at the time.
“Blitz” is described in the NYFF program as being an “alternately overwhelming and tender” film that “offer[s] a multicultural portrait of 1940s London too infrequently seen on screens.”
“Blitz” premieres in select theaters November 1 before premiering globally on Apple TV+ November 22. Check out the trailer below.
