EXCLUSIVE: Actress and filmmaker Romola Garai, whose directorial debut Amulet played at Sundance 2020, is working on a raft of projects including a re-team with Amulet producer Matthew James Wilkinson (Yesterday).
Well-received feminist horror Amulet stars Carla Juri, Imelda Staunton and Alec Secareanu and was released in the U.S. in 2020 by Magnolia. Delayed by lockdown, it had its UK premiere at Frightfest last year and was released in the UK by Film Republic last week.
In the film, an ex-soldier, living homeless in London, is offered a place to stay at a decaying house inhabited by a young woman and her dying mother. As he starts to fall for her, he cannot ignore his suspicion that something sinister is going on.
BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated actress Garai, known for screen roles including The Hour, The Crimson Petal And The White and Miss Marx, is looking to get back to directing with her script Monstrous Beauty. The female-led drama is set in the court of King Charles II.
Currently in late development, the project will re-team Garai with producer Stigma Films, best known for musical comedy Yesterday. The team are looking to attach cast soon.
Meanwhile Garai is working on series An Act Of War, which will chart the effects on an ordinary family when a beloved husband and father commits an act of far-right terrorism. The actress and filmmaker is working on the drama with Mark Gordon Pictures, which was set up 18 months ago by the former eOne boss and Grey’s Anatomy producer.
Garai is also developing under-wraps projects with Sharon Horgan’s Merman (a comedy-drama) and Brillstein Grey.
Garai told us of Amulet: “Since Sundance, I have been longing to share Amulet with the public, and so it is such an incredibly exciting moment that my debut feature can now be seen by a UK cinema audience. Amulet is a film grounded in a deep rage, but it is really a story about the problem of historical wrongdoings and how to write them. Particularly when they exist between men and women.”
She continued: “It was important for me to make a feature that was aesthetically intoxicating and yet also involve moments that feel extreme and challenging; Amulet plays a lot with our expectations of the horror genre, much as it does of the characters within it.”
About her upcoming projects Garai expanded: “I’m already working again with producer Matt Wilkinson on another feature that I am deeply passionate about. It is a period biopic with a twist set in the world of restoration theatre. I’m also thrilled about the TV projects I have in development and am relishing the opportunity to work in a huge variety of genres, from comedy to thrillers.”
Garai is repped by Casarotto Ramsay & Associates.
