Barry Keoghan Gets A Taste Of The Wild Life In The Saltburn Trailer

Provocative Oscar-winning Carey Mulligan films, the British royal family, and Mattel. What do they all have in common? It's not a trick question. The answer is Emerald Fennell, the writer and director of "Promising Young Woman," who also played a young Queen Camilla in "The Crown." Fresh off her small role as (pregnant) Midge in Greta Gerwig's plastic box office sensation "Barbie," Fennell is back behind the camera for "Saltburn," her second feature as a writer and director.

Described as "a beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire" set during the mid-2000s, the film stars Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick. A student struggling to fit in at Oxford University, Oliver unexpectedly finds himself being invited to spend the summer with his "charming and aristocratic" peer Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi) at his family's massive estate. Now, as anyone who's watched "The Killing of a Sacred Deer" and/or "The Green Knight" could tell you, inviting Barry Keoghan to your house is probably a terrible idea destined to turn out badly, and the plot summary for "Saltburn" alone has more than a whiff of "Brideshead Revisited" meets "The Talented Mr. Ripley." With Fennell at the helm (don't forget, she was also a head writer on "Killing Eve" for a while), that twisted description likely isn't too far off, either.

For more on that, check out the first-look footage from the film below!

If there's anyone who can be trusted to tell a biting story about the rich and powerful behaving badly, it's Fennell, the daughter of Theo Fennell — a British jewelry designer known for mingling with the upper classes — and an alum of the ritzy Marlborough College in Wiltshire (via Vogue). Adding to the intrigue is a cast that includes Rosamund Pike, who looks to once again tap into her darker side here, much like she did to notable effect in "Gone Girl" and "I Care a Lot." Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, and "Grand Turismo" star Archie Madekwe round out the film's impressive ensemble, with Mulligan also co-starring.

As you might expect, Amazon Studios and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer are taking "Saltburn" on a tour of the film festival circuit to drum up more buzz ahead of its theatrical release, starting with its premiere as the opening film at the BFI London Film Festival on October 4, 2023. Adding to the film's awards-season friendly trappings, "Barbie" star and "Promising Young Woman" producer Margot Robbie is also backing Fennell's sophomore feature through her LuckyChap label. Will "Saltburn" make as big a splash as "PYW" did in 2020? That's an admittedly tall order, but this is certainly one title to keep a close eye on over the final third of 2023.

"Saltburn" opens in select theaters on November 24, 2023, before going wide a week later on December 1.