Stephen Graham Has No Time For Late Co-Stars As He Promotes Heel
Stephen Graham clocks in on time—and calls out those who don’t. As he unveils Heel with Andrea Riseborough and Anson Boon, the star delivers a lively rant about late actors and shares candid on-set truths.
Heel has one of those premises that grabs you by the throat: a teenage terror gets yanked off the street and locked in a suburban basement by a family who decide they can fix him. A new promo chat with the cast added a little spice — Stephen Graham dropped a work-ethic truth bomb, Andrea Riseborough kept things poised, and Anson Boon seemed almost amused by how much time he spent in a literal collar. The trailer sells the mood perfectly; file this one under tense, prickly, and a bit deranged in the best way.
The hook
From Academy Award nominee Jan Komasa, Heel follows 19-year-old Tommy (Anson Boon), a self-styled hooligan who lives for drugs, parties, and pounding on people. After a particularly reckless night, he gets separated from his crew and abducted by an unknown figure (Golden Globe winner Stephen Graham). He wakes up chained in the basement of a quiet family home owned by Chris (Graham) and Kathryn (Academy Award nominee Andrea Riseborough), who live there with their young son Jonathan (Kit Rakusen). Their mission is unnervingly simple: break Tommy down, reshape him, and call it rehabilitation. If he refuses to play along with their mind games, he has one option — find a way out, whatever it costs.
What the cast said
In the new chat, Graham zeroed in on set etiquette with the kind of conviction that only comes from experience. He made it clear that actors need to show up on time and treat everyone — not just the folks above the line — with respect. It lands like a friendly warning and, yes, raises the obvious question about what (or who) prompted that emphasis.
Boon, for his part, seemed game about the film’s more extreme choices. He talked about spending much of the shoot collared and chained, which is commitment on a very physical level. It also tracks with the movie’s off-kilter vibe: the family is calm and domestic on the surface; the basement tells a different story.
Who is who
- Director: Jan Komasa (Academy Award nominee)
- Tommy: Anson Boon
- Chris: Stephen Graham (Golden Globe winner)
- Kathryn: Andrea Riseborough (Academy Award nominee)
- Jonathan: Kit Rakusen
Why this one stands out
Beyond the nasty-good premise, it is a flex from a stacked cast. The story starts as a straight kidnapping thriller and then leans into psychological warfare, with the family’s homey veneer rubbing against their ruthless plan. It takes a few sharp turns you might not see coming, and that contrast — prim manners upstairs, chains downstairs — gives the whole thing an unsettling snap.
Heel is now playing in theaters.