A new trailer for the dark comedyKill Your Friendshas been released online. Marking the major feature directorial debut ofBlack MirrorhelmerOwen Harris(he directed theHayley Atwell/Domhnall Gleesonepisode “Be Right Back”), the film is an adaptation of theJohn Nivennovel of the same name and takes place within the late 1990s world of the British music industry, withNicholas Houltplaying an ambitious, cutthroat A&R man who will stop at nothing to take his deserved place at the head of his company’s A&R department.
As you can see in this trailer, the film is quite dark as Hoult’s actions reverberate across the rest of the film, sending him into anAmerican Psycho-esque spiral. I caught the movie at the Toronto International Film Festival (read my reviewhere), and while Hoult is terrific as the film’s despicable protagonist, the script fails to make the character interesting beyond his shocking actions, and the film itself falls far short of its twisted ambitions.
But this is a really well-cut trailer that plays up the gleefully sinister aspect of the film, and the supporting cast—which includesJames CordenandSubmarine’sCraig Roberts—is quite impressive. Take a look for yourself below, andclick hereto watch Perri’s interview with Hoult about the film.Kill Your Friendsalso starsTom Riley,Joseph Malwe,Georgia King,Jim Piddock,Edward Hogg, andEd Skreinand opens in theaters and VOD on April 1st.
Here’s the official synopsis forKill Your Friends:
London, 1997; the British music industry is on a winning streak. Britpop bands Blur, Oasis, Radiohead rule the airwaves and Cool Britannia is in full swing. 27-year-old hit chasing A&R man Steven Stelfox is slashing and burning his way through the music business, a world where careers are made and broken by chance and the fickle tastes of the general public. In an industry of dream-makers, Stelfox refuses to buy into the ‘dream’ – and despises anyone that does. Fueled by greed, ambition and inhuman quantities of drugs, Stelfox searches for his next hit record amid a relentless orgy of self-gratification. Created by an industry that demands success at any price, Stelfox takes the concept of ‘killer tunes’ to a murderous new level in a desperate attempt to salvage his career. Balanced against the backdrop of the music business and its characters, Stelfox is the ultimate anti-hero: chronically sexist, racist, and everything else-ist.
