Some marriages aren’t built to last.Magpie, starring Daisy Ridley and Shazad Latif, follows Anette and Ben (Ridley and Latif, respectively), whose marriage is on the rocks, but in a somewhat stable, if still cold, condition. That all changes when their actress daughter, Matilda (Hiba Ahmed) is cast in a film opposite a sexy Italian actress, Alicia (Matilda Lutz). Ben immediately falls for Alicia, and they begin a clandestine emotional affair, mainly through the 21st century’s main method of communication: cell phone text messaging. However, Anette isn’t going to take her husband’s infidelity lying down — but to say any more would spoil the many surprisesMagpiehas in store for viewers.
Based on anidea by Daisy Ridleyand written by her real-life husband, Tom Bateman,Magpiemarks the feature film directorial debut of theater veteran Sam Yates. Despite this being his first film, Yates handlesMagpiewith a genuine master’s touch, crafting a rollercoaster of emotions and complex character dynamics, all within a svelte 90 minutes.
Magpie Review: Daisy Ridley Stuns In Compelling, Intoxicating Psychological Thriller
The thriller is engrossing, its slow-burn buildup feeding the fire that burns brightly towards an immensely satisfying final act.
Screen Rantinterviewed Sam Yates about his work onMagpie. He spoke about the difficult task of humanizing a philandering husband to make him believable and empathetic, even while selfishly ignoring his wife and pursuing another woman. He also shared his experience working with the incredibleDaisy Ridley in the wake of herStar Warssuccess. Finally, he discussed his inspired use of licensed music to elevate certain sequences, particularly its delightful and shocking twist ending.
Director Sam Yates Breaks Down The Origins Of Magpie
“I pitched for it twice, got it, and was very happy.”
Screen Rant: Tell me about how prepared you were to make your feature directorial debut. This is your first movie, but you’re not a newcomer to the scene at all. Can you talk a little bit about being ready and wanting to do your version of a movie?
Sam Yates: Sure. You just feel so lucky to make a film. That’s the first thing to say. I made a short in 2016 or so, called The Hope Rooms withAndrew Scottand Ciarán Hinds. That was the sort of first thing I made. And ever since then, I’ve been very, very excited to get to make a feature. Now, you feel terrified, elated, excited. You know, you prep like crazy. This was like wonderful because when I pitched for it, Daisy was already attached. It was a great script by Tom Bateman. And Shazad Latif was also attached. So, to have two actors of that caliber attached to a script of this caliber was very, very exciting. I pitched for it twice, got it, and was very happy. And then I got to work on how to make it as visually interesting as possible.
Hmm. It’s really interesting going into it. It’s like from an idea by Daisy and written by her husband, Tom. So I thought, “Hmm, maybe this will be a sweet little romance, marriage story.” And it is not. I was wondering, was there ever an inkling that Tom might play the husband?
Sam Yates: I don’t think so. No, I don’t think so. I think he wanted to just be a producer/writer. He’s a producer on it, too. Maybe it would have been too close.
Right, considering the content…
Sam Yates: I don’t know. I mean, you’d have to ask him, but I don’t expect so, no. Shazad was on from the moment I got on. But yeah, maybe that’d be too close!
“Communication between the couple has completely fallen apart. You know, even when they try, it’s impossible.”
I almost feel bad for Shazad playing such a contemptible character. Can you tell me a little bit about crafting this performance that is so… I don’t think it’s too far to say irredeemable, but still human and believable as an actual person who is not, like, a cartoon. If he was too far in either direction, it wouldn’t work. But I think you nailed it.
Sam Yates: Oh, good. Well, that’s credit to Shazz, as well. I think it was very, very important. I worked with him a lot to completely validate his position, right? You never want to judge a character. Nobody on earth who does bad stuff thinks, I’m a bad person. I’m going to go and do something bad. They’re acting in their own interest. And so it was about finding Ben’s point of view. And one of the things that his character is struggling with is, he’s a writer, right? He’s a novelist whose career is slightly dried up. Creatively, he’s lost a bit of his potency. He’s in a marriage that’s kind of boring him. Physically, the marriage has kind of broken down. And he’s looking for a way to feel alive again, right?
And, as many of us do, we kind of create an escape fantasy. And we think, well, if I was over there, if I lived in that place, I’d be fine. If I was with that person, I’d be fine. If only I could get that, everything would be fine. I think he convinces himself of that. And after that, his eye is on that prize. So I guess Shazad approached that character with dignity and sincerity. And the result, usefully, is that his commitment to that character’s plight being so truthful has the glorious effect for us, it gives us someone who we can enjoy watching be reprehensible, you know? Because he’s not aware. He doesn’t think he’s being reprehensible. He’s like, yeah, I’m doing this because this makes sense.
I think it’s about pitching it, performance-wise, in the truth of his context, you know what I mean? And not making him just like a kind of pawn in the story, you know? Making the film about Ben, actually, you know what I mean? For him.
Right, he’s the main character in his story, he just doesn’t know it’s not his story. And there’s Matilda Lutz, she’s kind of the pawn in the story, the object of his affection, but she has to play it scaled back because she’s in kind of a long-distance relationship and all the secrecy and stuff.
Sam Yates: We see his point of view, but it’s real, you know? But you’re right. You can only really show his point of view of the situation. And also, a lot of their affair is happening by text message. And by the nature of text messages, you’re only ever on one end of the actual text being sent. Then you receive and you imagine what they’re doing when they send it. And the truth is often very different than what you picture, you know? That’s why people can kind of misinterpret tone or whatever. I was very interested in like putting the text messages out there visually and seeing how the affair began and continued as texts, which is something we can all slide into very, very easily because we text so much and it can easily turn that corner and become something else, which, you know, in this case, it does.
Yeah, and it’s kind of an indictment, something a lot of people in my generation and younger can relate to, you know, just the lack of communication that we have when we text people, it’s almost like we retreat into our imaginations to make these conversations more than they are. If you actually talked to the person, it would be cleared up, for better or for worse, you know?
Sam Yates: Yeah, it’d be cleared up or it would maybe even run out of steam. You know, it’s a very particular way of communicating, text messaging, isn’t it? Some people, you may have really fun text relationships with them. But in real life, it might just not work, and others can be the opposite. You know, so I agree. It’s kind of interesting. Communication between the couple has completely fallen apart. You know, even when they try, it’s impossible. And so he forms another road to this other woman.
Director Sam Yates On The Music Of Magpie & The Daisy Ridley Of It All
There’s incredible use of licensed music in this. I mean, I won’t give away anything about the ending, but I thought it was a 10 out of 10, and I was really bouncing in my seat. And I’d actually never heard that version of that particular Rolling Stones song before. Like, I guess I have like a Northern Soul blind spot. But I was really impressed. You really nailed that landing. And you have a couple of other songs sprinkled throughout the movie. Are they baked into the script or are they something you come up with during editing? Tell me a little bit about that process.
Sam Yates: Well, the final track was something that I really knew I wanted to use, quite early on. So I did pitch for that because I knew it was going to cost some money, which it did! And I played it to Daisy, and Kate, our producer, and Tom. And I sort of read through the scene with the song playing, saying, “This is how it’s going to go.” And they were really sold on it, which was great. The other track, we’ve got a song from Jarvis Cocker in there, which I love, Black Magic, which came up… I mean, basically, like whenever I’m on a project, I’ll start a playlist in Spotify. I’ll keep adding to it over many months.
Just listening around, to all kinds of stuff, you start to feel like it belongs in that playlist. So, by the time I arrive at the edit, I’ve got a playlist that’s probably, like, 150 songs long. And then I’ll kind of shortlist some, and then work with Chris Watson, my editor. Black Magic was on that list, and found its way into the film. And Chris always brings great music with him, too. Oftentimes together, we’ll work it out. But yeah, it’s a combination of like a long playlist, a lot of planning, stuff that Chris brings, and then sometimes just trying like something quite random.
This is Daisy’s movie. It wouldn’t exist without her making it so. Tell me a little bit about her ownership over the idea, over the story and kind of entrusting that to you.
Sam Yates: It was Daisy who had the idea for the film, and then she worked with Tom on the script and Tom wrote a brilliant screenplay. And Kate Solomon came on. They did some script work together, I believe. And Daisy’s a producer, as well. And I came on, and we all started getting into it together. And then, when it came to set, I sort of said to her, but she knew this anyway: I was like, “You have to put the producer thing down now, because you’re about to enter a shoot, which is going to be very, very intense.” Now, she knew this already. But it was a really good line in the sand to go, “Okay, let’s leave that.” And Kate took the reins then. And Camilla Bray, our other producer.
Then Daisy became Daisy, the kind of lead actor of the film. Not that she didn’t then get dragged into some producer stuff along the way, she did. But it was very important, I think, to make that distinction because it was a very demanding situation. We shot the film very, very quickly. But it was wonderful. And we had a great collaboration on set that was about trying new things, playing with stuff. I mean, She would always come up with something inventive and interesting. She was so secure and sure about Anette, the character. As Mike Nichols said, directing is 90 percent casting. And I think that was true here. You just facilitate them and their route through. And that was that was very exciting to do with Daisy.
There’s many scenes that have very little or even no dialogue. I think Daisy is one of our generation’s most tremendous talents, but despite the incredible work she does inStar Warsand other big movies, there are a lot of people who will dismiss that because it’s a genre special effects thing. Tell me a little bit about the responsibility of taking an A-list person and showing the critic what she can really do.
Sam Yates: I think, oftentimes, when actors go into big movies when they’re young and do really great work in them, after that they’re sort of starting in reverse. Sometimes people start in indie films or television or theatre and then work their way through to those like big movie moments. But sometimes it’s in reverse. If you start with a big movie moment, then from there you want to keep exploring who you are artistically. You want to keep making a variety of films and play different characters than what people expect of you.
I think that was probably a joy for Daisy, to create with Tom a character for herself that is, I think, very personal to her because she’s created it. And she’s able to sort of show a different side of her, which is a side that I think is very, very powerful and potent. A kind of restrained power. It threatens to be unleashed. As you say, a lot of the scenes with her are nonverbal. So they really are exercises of subtext of what’s happening with her. For me, I think it’s an amazing performance that she’s given. Very subtle, very calibrated. And I agree with you, I think she’s supremely talented.
Learn More About Magpie (2024)
When Ben and Anette’s daughter is cast in a film alongside glamorous movie star, Alicia, Ben is quickly drawn into Alicia’s world. As he becomes more intoxicated with Alicia and their affair intensifies, Anette is left at home with the baby, pushed to her emotional limits and psychologically on the brink.
Check out our otherMagpieinterviews here:
Shout! Studios’Magpieopens at Village East in New York, Laemmle Glendale and Lumiere Cinema in Los Angeles, and other select U.S. cities on October 25.
