Empire UK

030

1 Luke Evans’ Wilder

in an air vent.

2 Hiddleston’s Laing

with Wilder’s wife

(Elisabeth Moss).

3 Architect Anthony

Royal (Jeremy Irons)

and Sienna Guillory’s

Jane Sheridan.

4 Wheatley (centre)

and producer Jeremy

Thomas (seated)

on set.

EN WHEATLEY IS

a happy man. “As
a longtime reader of
Empire it’s quite
a thrill” he says. “It”
is our choice of his
new film High-Rise
as this year’s Empire Gala at the BFI
London Film Festival on October 9.
“Being the Empire Gala at the LFF
means a lot to a film like High-Rise”
adds the director. Pleasure’s all ours.
A year earlier Empire finds itself
in the marina town of Bangor Northern

Ireland. The sea is just five minutes

away not that you’d know it right

now. Because we’ve been sealed inside

a shopping centre where an empty

supermarket has been magically

transformed into... a supermarket. This

one though is on the edge of ruin with

authentic-looking (and smelling) rotting

fruit and near-bare shelves housing

dwindling supplies of faux brand names

like Market Paint and Royal Water.

High-Rise based on the J. G. Ballard

novel of the same name follows the

denizens of a tower block in 1970s

London as they shut themselves off

from the outside world and descend

into a pack of squabbling snarling social

climbers. Today’s scene takes place in

the middle of that primal breakdown

as most of the film’s major characters

find themselves drawn to the Everyday

Market. There’s Tom Hiddleston’s

detached doctor Robert Laing searching

for a special tin of paint; Luke Evans’

tempestuous filmmaker Wilder scouting

for an enemy; and James Purefoy’s

pipe-smoking Pangbourne who’s

ready to bally well bash anyone who

ON-SET EXCLUSIVE!

INSIDE EMPIRE’S BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL GALA FILM

HIGH-RISE