Brace Yourself: Keira Knightley and Alicia Vikander’s New Film Will Get Under Your Skin
Keira Knightley and Alicia Vikander lead The Worst, an acid-tongued class satire marking Simon Woods’ feature debut, with Jamie Dornan and Erin Kellyman aboard for a couple’s privileged unraveling designed to make you squirm.
Keira Knightley and Alicia Vikander are teaming up for The Worst, a sharp class satire that turns a fancy night in the French countryside into a slow-motion car crash you probably should not look away from. It is the feature directing debut of actor-playwright Simon Woods, and the premise is deliciously awkward.
The setup
Vikander plays socialite Emily Fisher, who brings her husband, Max, and their equally loaded friends to christen a new chateau in France. Among the guests: Knightley as Holly, a struggling diversity consultant who keeps butting heads with everyone until a migraine shuts her down, and Jamie Dornan as Danny, a fast-talking talent agent who cannot resist dropping client names every other breath. As the night comes apart and the secrets start spilling, the evening’s waitress, Niamh (Erin Kellyman), gets pulled straight into their storm.
'I want audiences to have a great time watching The Worst - to be drawn in by these vivid, over-the-top comic characters, their messy, uncomfortable relationships, and the squirm of it all,' Woods said.
Woods also wants to toe that tricky line where you almost, almost side with these people before the movie flicks the mirror back at you.
'We are building a film full of twists and turns, and there is no better dream ensemble than this one to deliver every unexpected beat.'
The lineup
- Cast: Keira Knightley (Holly), Alicia Vikander (Emily Fisher), Jamie Dornan (Danny), Erin Kellyman (Niamh)
- Writer-director: Simon Woods, making his feature debut
- Producers: Andy Berg, John Sachs, Josh Hyams, Frédéric Fiore, Ryan Wickers, Andrei Kamarowsky, Dave Bishop, James Pugh, George Hamilton
- Financing: Logical Content Venture
- Sales: Protagonist Pictures and Logical Pictures International are launching worldwide sales
Where it is headed
The Worst is headed to the European Film Market in Berlin, where that sales team will start shopping it around. On paper, it sounds like a gleefully uncomfortable night with a soundtrack of clinking glasses and bad decisions. If Woods sticks the landing, expect a lot of wincing and a lot of laughs in the same breath.