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FEATURE MOVIE

vs. them'. And I love them getting their punishment in this flick.” Ask Hoult if he suffered through lots of gourmet meals to prepare for his role as a foodie, and he laughs, “I did. It was very difficult because I had to eat at nice restaurants and watch lots of food shows. The more I watched Chef's Table , the more I was in awe and amazed by these singular-minded, dedicated chefs who commit their whole lives to their craft. “And then I was starstruck because [renowned French chef] Dominique Crenn, who was the food advisor on the movie and designed the menu, was on set one day and I was like, 'Oh my god, it's her!’. And I was asking her how you pronounce French words and if I got it right, so I basically became a very annoying person like my character, who was just obsessed with that world. And that made it very easy to be in those scenarios with Ralph because I'm in awe of him as an actor anyway, so I can just use that as the character’,” he explains. Naturally, Chef’s Table was an obvious source of inspiration for Fiennes. “I had the cliché of the chaotic kitchen in my head, with the chef shouting over everything,” recalls Fiennes, adding that his Chef Slowik is not based on one specific real-life chef. “But when Dominique told me about her kitchen and how she liked to work, that is how I saw Slowik’s kitchen: the control and the power is in the kitchen staff’s dedication to the chef and his food. There is no loudness or violence. Just a nod, a look, and little mutterings of correction or encouragement.” “Slowik is quite a complex character,” explains director Mylod, who has previously helmed episodes of Game of Thrones and Succession . “I wanted to show his dedication to the elevation and innovation of his art form, to the point of putting his own life on the line. We wanted to find his humanity and his pain, and understand his actions. Not to forgive or condone them, but to at least give them context.”

Revenge is a dish best served cold – or whatever temperature the chef prefers – in the culinary comedy-thriller, The Menu . Words Gill Pringle

D irected by Mark Mylod, The Menu serves up a bloody treatise on elitism and class warfare. Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult star as a couple who visit an island in the Pacific Northwest to eat at an exclusive restaurant where their fellow diners include Janet McTeer’s food critic, John Leguizamo’s arrogant movie star, Judith Light and Reed Birney’s married regulars, and a trio of entitled finance guys. Hosted by a stern Hong Chau,

AnyaTaylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult

it’s clear this will be a unique dining experience when Ralph Fiennes’ celebrated chef, Julian Slowik, begins skewering his own guests. Shot chronologically, the movie shifts from awkward dark comedy to something truly scary. “There’s a very specific turning point in the film where things start to get dramatically darker. Up until that point we'd all been having quite a nice, if odd, dinner party,” says Taylor-Joy. “And then the way this scene was

led us down the new tone of the film. Less of the laughs, more of the gasps really.” Leguizamo relished chewing on The Menu ’s delicious satirical themes. “I love the political and social commentary of this film because I feel like it's tapping into something that's happening, especially in America, maybe across the world as well,” he notes. “The disappearing middle class, and these billionaires who think they can control our democracies, control our social platforms, control us, and how they separate us and keep us out and go into their little special bubbles. “I think it's a great commentary on privilege and entitlement and people creating an 'us

More foodie flicks

• The Menu is out on Feb 1

shot was so visceral, I think it kind of shocked all of us when it happened,” she says, referring to the gruesome exit of a key character. “That

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