Born in New Hampshire, Eggers was was inspired to write the film by his childhood fascination with witches and frequent visits to the Plimoth Plantation as a schoolboy. After unsuccessfully pitching films that were "too weird, too obscure", Eggers realized that he would have to make a more conventional film. The production team worked extensively with British and American museums, as well as consulting experts on 17th-century British agriculture. Eggers wanted to film the picture on location in New England but the lack of tax incentives meant he had to settle for Canada. This proved to be something of a problem for Eggers, because he could not find the forest environment he was looking for in the country. They had to go "off the map", eventually finding a location that was "extremely remote"; Eggers said that the nearest town "made New Hampshire look like a metropolis". The casting took place in England, as Eggers wanted authentic accents to represent a family newly arrived in Plymouth. For the lead role, Anya Taylor-Joy was the first audition tape that Eggers saw, and she was ultimately cast. Principal photography took place in Kiosk, Ontario, Canada, and lasted for twenty-five days. In order to give the film an authentic look, Eggers shot only "with natural light and indoors, the only lighting was candles". Costume designer Linda Muir consulted 35 books in the Clothes of the Common People in Elizabethan and Early Stuart England series to plan the costumes. The costumes were made with wool, linen, or hemp. Muir also lobbied for a larger costume budget.
Simon says The Witch receives:
The film stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger and Lucas Dawson. The cast, led by Taylor-Joy, went hell for leather as the banished Puritan family fighting against sinister forces. Unlikely as it seems, Taylor-Joy have given us one of the oddest, craziest and tenderest on-screen heroines ever put to film this year.
A gripping story brilliantly told and led by a powerhouse performance, The Witch further establishes Eggers as a filmmaker of exceptional talent. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to appreciating this film is its constant attempts to defy expectations and avoid definitions. The film may be challenging, it may even be off-putting, but it's gutsy, accomplished and the kind of movie that sears into your memory. The film is a disturbing study of traditional feminine innocence, a descent to madness and confusion, from the perspective of a character who can't always be trusted. This is a horror film done just the way I like them. This film was real weird, but I liked that.
A gripping story brilliantly told and led by a powerhouse performance, The Witch further establishes Eggers as a filmmaker of exceptional talent. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to appreciating this film is its constant attempts to defy expectations and avoid definitions. The film may be challenging, it may even be off-putting, but it's gutsy, accomplished and the kind of movie that sears into your memory. The film is a disturbing study of traditional feminine innocence, a descent to madness and confusion, from the perspective of a character who can't always be trusted. This is a horror film done just the way I like them. This film was real weird, but I liked that.
Simon says The Witch receives:
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