{"id":20116,"date":"2022-08-11T12:11:37","date_gmt":"2022-08-11T10:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1692357"},"modified":"2022-08-11T12:37:28","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T10:37:28","slug":"emily-director-unpacks-first-look-trailer-starring-sex-educations-emma-mackey","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/emily-director-unpacks-first-look-trailer-starring-sex-educations-emma-mackey\/","title":{"rendered":"Emily director unpacks first-look trailer starring Sex Education\u2019s Emma Mackey"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Patrick Cremona\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 11 August 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Frances O\u2019Connor has appeared in a huge range of film and TV projects as an actor \u2013 from Steven Spielberg\u2019s AI: Artificial Intelligence to ITV drama Mr Selfridge \u2013 and now, she\u2019s making her directorial debut with the upcoming film Emily.<\/p>\n

The film sees Sex Education<\/a> star Emma Mackey take on the lead role as renowned author Emily Bront\u00eb, exploring her life before she wrote her masterwork Wuthering Heights.<\/p>\n

A first trailer \u2013 which you can watch below \u2013 has just been released, and to mark the occasion O\u2019Connor spoke exclusively to RadioTimes.com<\/a> about what cinemagoers can expect when the film is released on Friday 14th October.<\/p>\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s a rebel and a misfit and a genius, but she just doesn\u2019t know it yet,\u201d O\u2019Connor explained, referring to the three words used to describe Bront\u00eb in the trailer. \u201cAnd I think in a way it\u2019s like an origin story about how this young woman finds her power \u2013 it follows very much that kind of hero\u2019s journey arc.\u201d<\/p>\nO\u2019Connor has been drawn to Bront\u00eb\u2019s work for a long time \u2013 she loved Wuthering Heights as a teenager and has always been fascinated by her as a person \u2013 and much of the film aims to get to grips with what drew her to write the classic novel.<\/p>\n\u201cShe died when she was 30, she was an intensely private person,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd yet she wrote this novel that\u2019s just full of this kind of huge passionate feeling, this kind of darkness. And I just thought, well, who is she? You know, to write this kind of work.\u201d<\/p>\nAs the trailer suggests, O\u2019Connor was keen to take steps to ensure the film is relatively modern in its approach, avoiding the pitfalls of becoming a more traditional, fussy period drama.<\/p>\nBut she explained that when it comes to this sort of modernisation, it can be a fine line between appearing fresh and coming across as a little phony.<\/p>\n<div class=\""image-handler__container\" image-handler__container--full=\"\" style=\""padding-bottom:\" calc=\"\"> <picture><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/08\/Emma-Mackey-2a4798d.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=300%2C200,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/08\/Emma-Mackey-2a4798d.jpg?quality=90&resize=300%2C200,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/08\/Emma-Mackey-2a4798d.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=355%2C236,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/08\/Emma-Mackey-2a4798d.jpg?quality=90&resize=355%2C236,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/08\/Emma-Mackey-2a4798d.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=405%2C269,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/08\/Emma-Mackey-2a4798d.jpg?quality=90&resize=405%2C269,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/08\/Emma-Mackey-2a4798d.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=554%2C368,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/08\/Emma-Mackey-2a4798d.jpg?quality=90&resize=554%2C368,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><source media=\""(min-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/08\/Emma-Mackey-2a4798d.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=620%2C412,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(min-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/08\/Emma-Mackey-2a4798d.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C412,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><source media=\""(min-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/08\/Emma-Mackey-2a4798d.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=408%2C271,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(min-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/08\/Emma-Mackey-2a4798d.jpg?quality=90&resize=408%2C271,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><source media=\""(min-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/08\/Emma-Mackey-2a4798d.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=556%2C370,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(min-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/08\/Emma-Mackey-2a4798d.jpg?quality=90&resize=556%2C370,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><img class=\""wp-image-1692539\" align=\"\" size-landscape_thumbnail=\"\" image-handler__image=\"\" image-handler__image--full=\"\" no-wrap=\"\" js-lazyload=\"\" data-src=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/08\/Emma-Mackey-2a4798d.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C412"\" width=\""620"\" height=\""413"\" alt=\"""\" title=\"""\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div><div class=\""caption-hold"\"><figcaption class=\""wp-caption-text"\"> Emma Mackey in Emily.<\/span><\/figcaption> WB<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n\u201cYou have to know who you are, and what the stories are telling,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you look at like something like [Armando Ianucci\u2019s] David Copperfield, it\u2019s got a poppy kind of vibe to it, and it really works. And then there are other people who maybe attempt to do something like that, and it\u2019s just slightly skewed.<\/p>\n\u201cBut what we wanted to do is make it feel very authentic. My heroes are [Alejandro G] I\u00f1\u00e1rritu and Alfonso Cuar\u00f3n and Jacques Audiard. These films where it\u2019s handheld, but it\u2019s very gentle, and it creates a sense of reality.<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s about people seeming real and human,\u201d she added. \u201cOften when you get these period dramas, people start acting [in a certain way] and it\u2019s just\u2026I don\u2019t think people ever acted like that. For me, it\u2019s set in a period but they\u2019re just people like us, just young kids trying to enjoy themselves or find out who they are.\u201d<\/p>\nEven though O\u2019Connor undertook a huge amount of research before writing and directing the film \u2013 citing books by Juliet Barker and Lucasta Miller as especially helpful \u2013 she explained that it\u2019s only inevitable that \u201cthere\u2019ll be some Bront\u00eb-ites who won\u2019t like it\u201d.<\/p>\nThe reason for this is that the film is not simply a straight biography of the author, but rather draws inspiration from other sources as well.<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s inspired by Wuthering Heights and her life and things that happened to me, so it\u2019s kind of like a combination of all those things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\u201cWhen you see the film, it\u2019s clearly not a biography. Like we have the atmosphere of Wuthering Heights, and there\u2019s this event with a mask. And so it\u2019s kind of inspired by true events, but it kind of\u2026 I let my imagination kind of go wild.\u201d<\/p> Of course, one thing that was absolutely crucial for the film to work was finding the perfect actor to play Emily Bront\u00eb, and in casting Emma Mackey, O\u2019Connor was able to find not only an excellent performer, but also someone who loved the author just as much as she did.<\/p>\n\u201cShe was literally one of the first people who read for it,\u201d she explained. \u201cAnd I remember after she left, the casting director, and I just looked at each other, and were like, \u2018Oh, my God.\u2019<\/p>\n\u201cShe was just, there was something about her energy and her just sense of who she is \u2013 she\u2019s very assured in who she is, and very real, like 100% authentic real. And she\u2019s got a real intelligence to her.<\/p>\n\u201cAnd also she \u2013 like me \u2013 loves Emily Bront\u00eb, and had gone to uni in Leeds, in Yorkshire. So it was just like a little bit of a meeting of, you know, Emily Bront\u00eb and then somebody who really loved her, so I felt like it was quite synchronous.\u201d<\/p>\nEmily will be released in UK cinemas on Friday 14th October 2022. Check out more of our\u00a0<a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/movies\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">Movies<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0<a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/tv-listings\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what\u2019s on tonight.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\""editor-content\" mb-lg=\"\" hidden-print=\"\" js-piano-locked-content=\"\">\nThe latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"\/\/radiotimes.com\/magazine-subscription?utm_term=evergreen-article"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">subscribe now<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0<a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/audio\/podcasts\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">Radio Times Podcast<\/a><\/strong> with Jane Garvey.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Patrick Cremona Published: Thursday, 11 August 2022 at 12:00 am Frances O\u2019Connor has appeared in a huge range of film and TV projects as an actor \u2013 from Steven Spielberg\u2019s AI: Artificial Intelligence to ITV drama Mr Selfridge \u2013 and now, she\u2019s making her directorial debut with the upcoming film Emily. The film sees […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":20117,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/emily-director-unpacks-first-look-trailer-starring-sex-educations-emma-mackey.png",1920,1281,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/emily-director-unpacks-first-look-trailer-starring-sex-educations-emma-mackey-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/emily-director-unpacks-first-look-trailer-starring-sex-educations-emma-mackey-300x200.png",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/emily-director-unpacks-first-look-trailer-starring-sex-educations-emma-mackey-768x512.png",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/emily-director-unpacks-first-look-trailer-starring-sex-educations-emma-mackey-1024x683.png",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/emily-director-unpacks-first-look-trailer-starring-sex-educations-emma-mackey-1536x1025.png",1536,1025,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/08\/emily-director-unpacks-first-look-trailer-starring-sex-educations-emma-mackey.png",1920,1281,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Patrick Cremona Published: Thursday, 11 August 2022 at 12:00 am Frances O\u2019Connor has appeared in a huge range of film and TV projects as an actor \u2013 from Steven Spielberg\u2019s AI: Artificial Intelligence to ITV drama Mr Selfridge \u2013 and now, she\u2019s making her directorial debut with the upcoming film Emily. 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