Cast Camaraderie Made The Menu's Set A 'Beautiful' Place For Anya Taylor-Joy
"The Menu" is proving to be a hit for Searchlight, as its opening weekend box office numbers are the highest since the opening weekend of "Slumdog Millionaire." It likely won't go on to make as much as the 2008 Best Picture winner, but the lesson within shows an interest in bizarre genre movies like this. Mark Mylod's dark comedy sees a group of wealthy diners partaking in an extravagantly expensive meal prepared by Chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) and his team. The Hawthorne establishment is located on a remote island, which makes their evening a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The dishes resemble art exhibitions more than something you would actually be excited about ordering.
What starts as an overpriced meal quickly becomes something much more sinister, as Chef Slowik takes his diners on an unpredictable journey of class, ego, and flavor they'll never forget. It's best to go into "The Menu" knowing very little, as it's a movie that continually reinvents itself from one dish to another. You think you have an idea where it could be going, and then Fiennes hypnotizes you with another bold display that has the audience at an uncomfortable standstill.
A large reason why "The Menu" is a blast to watch is because of its ensemble, all of whom play variations of undesirable rich folk. Among the unfortunate diners are names like Nicholas Hoult, Anya Taylor-Joy, Hong Chau, John Leguizamo, Judith Light, and Janet McTeer. In the film, these characters are in their own little bubbles, but when it came to their actor counterparts, it appears they all had a great connection with one another.
A front row seat to great performances
In a report from Entertainment Weekly, Anya Taylor-Joy says that everyone working on "The Menu" got along swimmingly. Even when the cameras weren't rolling, the cast would opt to hang around the Hawthorne set rather than go back to their trailers. The energy was so good that they were all excited to see one another doing their thing when the camera came around to them:
"Mark liked to do this thing where the camera was constantly moving around us, so we were constantly improvising, or if it was a close-up on someone else, we just had front-row seats to brilliant performances from wonderful people. So it was a very supportive environment — we would clap after takes, and the WhatsApp group is highly alive and well."
With all of the reports that come out about sets where conflict runs the show, it's great to know a movie as fun as this one had a pretty great shoot. The fact they're all so kind is really funny considering these characters could truly care less about one another, let alone form a WhatsApp group chat together. I guess that's the miracle of acting.
"The Menu" is now playing in theaters nationwide.