The Stranger Things star and director Luna Carmoon speak to RadioTimes.com about the acclaimed new film. <\/p>
Joseph Quinn is perched in a shady villa garden on Venice\u2019s Lido. The handsome Brit has come to the Venice Film Festival with Hoard, the unique debut from British writer-director Luna Carmoon, in which he stars.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think any actor would be lying if they said that they hadn\u2019t dreamt of taking a film that they\u2019ve made to a festival, let alone Venice,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s an extraordinary part of the world. And in this business, it\u2019s not always rosy. So you\u2019ve got to kind of lean into the bits where it\u2019s cause for celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n
To be fair, the British actor has plenty to celebrate at the moment. After featuring in Season 4 of Stranger Things<\/a> as Eddie Munson, he\u2019s been swept up by Hollywood, with roles in the forthcoming horror prequel A Quiet Place: Day One<\/a> and Ridley Scott\u2019s Gladiator 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n On top of that, he\u2019s about to enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe<\/a>, playing Johnny Storm<\/a> \u2013 aka the Human Torch \u2013 in a reboot of\u00a0The Fantastic Four<\/a>\u00a0But it might well be his searing turn in Hoard that he\u2019ll be best remembered for.<\/p>\n The film focuses on Maria (brilliant newcomer Saura Lightfoot-Leon), a surly teen living with a foster mother who is suddenly sucked into an obsessive relationship with Quinn\u2019s older Michael. With this roguish character a former foster care kid himself, Carmoon took inspiration from her own upbringing for his creation. Carmoon knew a lot of foster care kids when she was young, even remembering seeing poster campaigns urging adults to take children in.<\/p> She calls Hoard \u201ca little ode to a boy that I grew up with, who\u2019s no longer here anymore with us\u2026 the idea of Michael was kind of birthed out of him. The Michael that\u2019s on the screen is very different to this bloke, really.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the idea [came from him]\u2026I\u2019d never been in a room with a male that I didn\u2019t find threatening, that I didn\u2019t think was going to assault me in some way. [But he was] the first man I\u2019d been alone in a room with, and I felt an ease and tranquility\u2026 and that was the birth of Michael, in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n Whatever planted the seed for Carmoon, the Michael seen on screen turned out to be quite different. \u201cHe\u2019s a duplicitous, adulterous, manipulative guy, but he\u2019s insane. Because he\u2019s madly in love,\u201d says Quinn. \u201cHe says it in the film: \u2018I\u2019m mad about you.\u2019 Because he\u2019s going mad.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing deeply in love with someone is a form of madness, and you\u2019re completely at the disposal of that person. And you\u2019re powerless over that person. And it\u2019s a really vulnerable place to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n