Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan are a crumbling united front in dystopian thriller “Foe.”
The Oscar-nominated duo lead writer-director Garth Davis‘ adaptation of Iain Reid’s novel of the same name. Reid, who co-wrote the screenplay with Davis, also penned “I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” which Charlie Kaufman previously adapted to the big screen.
Mescal and Ronan portray a married couple living 40 years in the future where an environmental crisis has made their farmland almost uninhabitable. Mescal’s character is ordered to leave his home to help pilot a space program while his wife, played by Ronan, will be monitored.
Per the official synopsis, Hen (Ronan) and Junior (Mescal) farm a secluded piece of land that has been in Junior’s family for generations, but their quiet life is thrown into turmoil when an uninvited stranger (Aaron Pierre) shows up at their door with a startling proposal. Based on best-selling author Iain Reid’s novel, directed by Garth Davis, and co-written by Davis and Reid, Foe’s mesmerizing imagery and persistent questions about the nature of humanity (and artificial humanity) bring the not-too-distant future to luminous life.
Aaron Pierre, Goran D. Kleut, and Yesse Spence also star in the Amazon Studios release. “Foe” will make its world premiere at 2023 NYFF.
Writer-director Davis told Vanity Fair about the film, “What I find really powerful about the movie is it asks us to be awake and to be alive. A lot of the problems we face in relationships and with the environment and with all sorts of things coming our way is that we’re asleep at the wheel. This movie is really saying, ‘Wake up. Your life is precious, and if you take it for granted, you’re going to lose it.’”
Lead actor Mescal told IndieWire that he selects roles to diversify between high-budget franchise installments like “Gladiator 2” and indies such as “Aftersun.”
”I love a blockbuster as much as the next person, but my only point is that we have to be careful about just leaving a bit more space for films like ‘Aftersun’ to break out, films like ‘Close’ to break out,” Mescal said. “I really don’t think I’m snobby about it. It’s actually to do with just being worried that that space [for independent film] is being encroached upon. And if we don’t keep the ecosystem balanced, we’re just gonna have one kind of film.”
“Foe” is produced by Anonymous Content’s Kerry Kohansky-Roberts, director Garth Davis, Emile Sherman, and Iain Canning. The film is executive produced by Dawn Olmstead, David Levine, Robert Walak, Samantha Lang, and author Iain Reid.
Amazon Studios’ “Foe” premieres in theaters October 6 following a New York Film Festival debut. Check out the trailer below.
