All of Us Strangers, by Andrew Haigh
All of Us Strangers, by Andrew Haigh – Streaming Options
One night in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, Adam (Andrew Scott) has a chance encounter with a mysterious neighbor Harry (Paul Mescal), which punctures the rhythm of his everyday life. As a relationship develops between them, Adam is preoccupied with memories of the past and finds himself drawn back to the suburban town where he grew up, and the childhood home where his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell), appear to be living, just as they were on the day they died, 30 years before.
Searchlight Pictures presents, in Association with Film4 and TSG Entertainment, a Blueprint Pictures Production, ALL OF US STRANGERS, produced by Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey. Written and Directed by Andrew Haigh, based on the novel Strangers by Taichi Yamada, the film stars Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, with Jamie Bell and Claire Foy. Cinematography is by Jamie D. Ramsay, SASC, with production design by Sarah Finlay, costume design by Sarah Blenkinsop, hair and make-up by Zoe Clare Brown. The editor is Jonathan Alberts, ACE, with the music by Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch.
Pictures Courtesy Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved
About the Production
All of Us Strangers is the latest film from esteemed British filmmaker Andrew Haigh (Lean on Pete, 45 Years, Weekend). The hauntingly poignant and hypnotic story of loss and love (and everything in between), is inspired by the novel Strangers by venerable Japanese author Taichi Yamada. First penned in 1987 and translated into English in 2003, Haigh’s adapted screenplay gives it a contemporary and personal touch.
In June of 2017, Graham Broadbent and Sarah Harvey of Blueprint first pitched their creative vision for the film to Yamada and his family. Says Harvey, “It was important for all of us to invest in the emotional core of the story, perhaps more so than the traditional ghost elements of the story.”
Following this, Blueprint proceeded to look for the perfect writer/director to adapt the material. They immediately sent the book to Haigh, with whom they had wanted to work with for some time. They felt he had the right sensibility – he had shown a great aptitude for nuanced character work in his films Weekend and 45 Years, as well as TV s ‘The North Water’.
“Sarah and I tried to match talent to material to see if we could find some thread,” says Broadbent. “Andrew had never done anything in this area before, but he responded to the book and I was beautifully surprised, because I’d wanted to make a film with him for ages.”
Recalls Haigh, “What I loved about the novel was its central conceit: what if you met your parents again long after they were gone, only now they’re the same age as you? It seemed such an emotional way to explore the nature of family. That became my starting point.”
By late 2017 – and with Yamada’s blessing – he along with Blueprint pitched the project to Daniel Battsek and Ollie Madden at Film4, who came on board and funded the development.
Haigh placed the story in a world more recognizable to his own.
“Adapting the book was a long and sometimes painful process,” Haigh admits. “I wanted to pick away at my own past as Adam does in the film. I was interested in exploring the complexities of both familial and romantic love, but also the distinct experience of a specific generation of gay people growing up in the 80s. I wanted to move away from the traditional ghost story of the novel and find something more psychological, almost metaphysical.”
Haigh has masterfully stuck to his word, transcending the tropes of a ‘ghost story’.
“We really needed an auteur who had a clarity of vision to adapt the story,” says Broadbent. “He had a very clear vision of what he was trying to say, the themes that he was exploring, and that doesn’t always happen.”
Yamada and his family were incredibly respectful of Haigh’s vision, which changed the central character of the story to a gay man, and when they ultimately read the script, they gave their blessing to make the film.
The project then attracted the remarkable acting quartet that is Andrew Scott (Spectre, ‘Fleabag’), Paul Mescal (Aftersun, ‘Normal People’), Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool), Claire Foy (Women Talking, ‘The Crown’).
“I was immediately blown away by the script,” says Scott, who plays the lead role of Adam. “It’s incredibly personal to him [Haigh], but like great writers, he makes you feel like it’s personal to everybody, and I felt very attached to it.”
“It’s such a lovely concept,” continues Bell, who plays ‘Dad’. “There’s been other films that have dealt with the afterlife, or tricking audiences into thinking that people are alive when they’re not. Very successful versions of that have mostly been in an intense genre space. We don’t really see these movies in a dramatic space.”
Scott adds, “Andrew is one of those very rare people – he’s very likeable and a wonderful person, but also incredibly gifted at his job. We all found him to be very open and amenable. He’s really confident, and he knows what he wants, but he does that without ego. And he’s great fun.”
Scott’s co-star Mescal, who plays Harry, has long-admired Haigh. “He knows everything about the characters that he’s written. If we came to him with ideas, he’ll entertain them because he knows that what we do as actors is important, and I love that,” he explains. “I love how unsentimental he is with his style of direction, but he manages to hold onto the truth, which allows it to feel honest and moving.”
As Foy, who plays ‘Mum’, puts it, “he is so unassuming. The least aggressive director you could ever find.”
Broadbent concludes, “We’ve had the advantage of bringing Haigh’s extraordinary, beautiful filmmaking to a story that has dramatic, romantic and metaphysical bones – and who has a better point of view on that than him?”
Starring
Andrew Scott
Paul Mescal
With Jamie Bell
And Claire Foy
Written and Directed by Andrew Haigh
Based on the novel by Taichi Yamada
Produced by Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin, Sarah Harvey
Executive Produced by Diarmuid Mckeown, Ben Knight, Ollie Madden, Daniel Battsek, Farhana Bhula
Co-Produced by Jeremy Campbell, Emma Mager
Cinematography by Jamie D. Ramsay, SASC
Production Design by Sarah Finlay
Costume Design by Sarah Blenkinsop
Hair and Make-up by Zoe Clare Brown
Casting by Kahleen Crawford
Edited by Jonathan Alberts, ACE
Music by Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch
Running Time: 105 minutes
Rated: R
Hashtag
#AllOfUsStrangers
Press release from Searchlight Pictures, The Walt Disney Company Italia, Opinion Leader, Cristiana Caimmi.
