We first meet Jack during lead character Elloise\u2019s (Thomasin McKenzie) flashbacks to the 1960s, where he meets up with the mysterious Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy) and promises her dreams of stardom. He\u2019s all charm and wry chivalry, defending her from predators and dazzling her with a hint of a better life she could lead.<\/p>\n
But (as revealed in the trailer already) it\u2019s a mirage. It turns out one of the biggest predators in Sandie\u2019s life is none other than Jack himself, and over the course of the film audiences are treated to a rare sight \u2013 Matt Smith getting to play an out-and-out villain, and a truly nasty one to boot.<\/p>
Of course, Smith has portrayed shady characters before \u2013he briefly popped up as a version of Skynet in the panned Terminator: Genysis and as the violent \u201cBully\u201d in Ryan Gosling\u2019s directorial debut Lost River \u2013 but these projects have tended to be fewer and less high-profile, with Smith\u2019s best-known roles remaining Prince Philip in The Crown<\/a> and the heroic Eleventh Doctor in Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n Put simply, Matt Smith doesn\u2019t get to play the villain that often, and Last Night in Soho plays with that expectation. Smith\u2019s natural charm and charisma made him a popular Doctor \u2013 and they\u2019re in full evidence here as Jack wins over Sandie quickly, playing the hero and respecting her boundaries, only to brutally take advantage of her trust later on.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess the thing about that character \u2013 and the way a character like that operates \u2013 is that they do it all through charm,\u201d director and co-screenwriter Edgar Wright tells RadioTimes.com<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the thing that was important to have Matt in that part, is that Matt has to be charming in that part. He\u2019s one of those characters who\u2019s the kind of dangerous man you meet after midnight in a London club who isn\u2019t exactly what he says he is. He would have to be incredibly charming to get away with what he does.\u201d<\/p>\n Later, Jack\u2019s all the more menacing because of the way he\u2019s insidiously wormed himself into Sandie\u2019s life, more or less pulling her strings (as hinted at in a marionette-themed dance sequence) as he profits from her misery.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s charm turning into coercion,\u201d Wright says. \u201cI think the thing that\u2019s interesting about Jack as a character is that, when you first meet him in the movie, he introduces himself as a manager. And I think that\u2019s probably exactly what he thinks he is. Not that the character necessarily needs any sympathy, but if there\u2019s any tragedy to that character, it\u2019s that he maybe has ideas above his station, but not the talent to pull it off.\u201d<\/p>\n Physically, Smith also seemed perfectly built for the role. When casting him in Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat noted his chameleonic ability to seem old and young, human and alien made him perfect for the part.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery detail is absolutely right \u2013 boffin and action hero, schoolboy and professor, hot young guy and ancient wizard. He\u2019s like Patrick Moore trapped in the body of an underwear model,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n And in Last Night in Soho, his ability to shift demeanours lends itself to Jack\u2019s heel-turn. A face that seemed handsome and roguish twists to become menacing, brutal. And Wright agrees, noting that Smith has \u201csuch a great face\u201d that transcends different times.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is sort of timeless, in a way,\u201d he tells us. \u201cI think you can imagine Matt in a \u201860s film very easily. I don\u2019t mean this as any kind of knock, but he doesn\u2019t have a contemporary face to me. Which is great, because he\u2019s somebody that feels timeless, like a sort of timeless movie star. I would totally buy him in a movie from that decade.\u201d<\/p>\n In the end, Smith\u2019s part in Last Night in Soho is relatively small, and the film\u2019s tricky subject matter makes it unlikely that he\u2019ll receive too much attention for his performance (especially as it\u2019s buried between star turns from McKenzie, Taylor-Joy and the late, great Diana Rigg).<\/p>\n But for those who\u2019ve been waiting for a different sort of role from him, it makes for arresting watching. Like the characters in Last Night in Soho themselves, you might end up finding it quite haunting.<\/p>\n Last Night in Soho is in UK cinemas now. For more, check out our dedicated Movies<\/a> page or our full TV Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Huw Fullerton Published: Saturday, 30 October 2021 at 12:00 am It\u2019s fair to say that new Edgar Wright movie Last Night in Soho is full of twists and turns, many of which we wouldn\u2019t want to discuss just yet \u2013 but it\u2019s no spoiler to say that one of its more arresting casting choices […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":6492,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/last-night-in-soho-finally-lets-matt-smith-play-the-villain.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/last-night-in-soho-finally-lets-matt-smith-play-the-villain-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/last-night-in-soho-finally-lets-matt-smith-play-the-villain-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/last-night-in-soho-finally-lets-matt-smith-play-the-villain-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/last-night-in-soho-finally-lets-matt-smith-play-the-villain-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/last-night-in-soho-finally-lets-matt-smith-play-the-villain.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/last-night-in-soho-finally-lets-matt-smith-play-the-villain.jpg",1200,800,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 Huw Fullerton Published: Saturday, 30 October 2021 at 12:00 am It\u2019s fair to say that new Edgar Wright movie Last Night in Soho is full of twists and turns, many of which we wouldn\u2019t want to discuss just yet \u2013 but it\u2019s no spoiler to say that one of its more arresting casting choices…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/6491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\""Last\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/10\/Sandie-Jack-LNIS-95f0a33.jpeg?quality=90&resize=618%2C413"\" "\\"\"Sandie\\"")
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