Summary

• Daisy Ridley takes charge as both story developer and lead in the psychological thriller Magpie.
• The film explores themes of family, isolation, and infidelity in a tense and twisty narrative.
• The creative team drew inspiration from films like Gone Girl and the TV show Homecoming to create a dramatic and visually engaging story.

Based on a True Story star Tom Bateman penning the script based on her idea, marking both of their debuts on the writing side of filmmaking. The movie also hails from Olivier Award-nominated director Sam Yates, who most recently made his feature directorial debut with the alternative history Agatha Christie thriller, Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar.

Ridley also leads the Magpie cast as Anette, a mother to a newborn baby whose daughter, Matilda, gets cast in a key role in a new movie with a popular actor. When her husband, Ben, elects to chaperone Matilda on the film shoot, Anette is left alone and slowly finds her world unraveling around her, all while Ben begins to fall in love with the actor, Matilda Lutz's Alicia, and form a romantic relationship with her.

In honor of the movie's South by Southwest premiere, Screen Rant interviewed Ridley, Bateman, Yates, Lutz, and producer Kate Solomon to discuss Magpie. The star and writer opened up about the creative process behind developing Ridley's initial story idea, while Solomon and Yates discussed how they utilized unique camera movements in order to capture Ridley's vision, and Lutz talked of the joys of playing multiple characters in a movie. Ridley also discussed her Star Wars future and thoughts on John Boyega's Finn becoming a Jedi.

A Previous Movie Experience Inspired Ridley's Magpie Concept

Screen Rant: Give it up for Team Magpie! From what I understand, this came from the brain of Daisy Ridley originally, the seed for this plant? Tell us what inspired it.

Daisy Ridley: I was working on a job in Canada with a little girl who was playing my daughter, she was amazing. The distinction was very clear that I was not her parent, but I was like, "This is so crazy for a child for 12 hours of the day is calling someone else 'Mommy,' and we're building this relationship, how crazy."

And then on the plane, I had this idea landed and told Tom and, honestly, Tom really took it to where it is. It was very much his seed. And then, in development, Tom felt it was interesting to follow the woman who's left at home, who was struggling with all of the isolation, and having a baby, and not part of the fun world of the film and the romance and the excitement.

Tom, take that story away. When you first heard this idea, what intrigued you about it? What inspired you to further adapt it?

Tom Bateman: It seemed to me, when I started to think about it, Daisy said, "What do you think of it as an idea?" And I said, "I think it's really great. Give me a little time to think about it." She didn't give me any time, because the next day, we were pitching to Kate [Solomon, producer]. [Laughs] But it struck me as a story of an invasive force on a family unit, which is something so relatable, I think, to everyone. And I thought, "How far can we push that?"

And, as Daisy said, I started at Daisy's idea to follow the actor who was infiltrating this family unit. But more and more, as I started to write, I became fascinated with this woman at home, this sort of quiet, unseen woman who just had this power and strength to keep this family together, given all of these things attacking her unit. And I thought, "What happens to this person, if you just put her under tremendous amounts of pressure, more and more amounts?" I said, "Daisy, I think this is where the fascinating kernel of this idea lies." And Daisy and I's tastes aligned very quickly, and she said, "Oh, I think this is great. Let's run with this." And that's how we got to where we are.

I love this, because we're following the development of this movie. Now, to Kate, who you guys brought it to, what spoke to you about this story?

Kate Solomon: Both of them are people who get stuff done, and that idea was brilliant. I love Daisy's acting, I didn't know Tom's writing at all, it's his first script, and she goes, "So, my husband's writing." You kind of go, "Oh my god." And then we started working together, and we were carving out the story, and the B story, and every decision that Tom made was the right one.

He just instinctively, every time, was like, "Let's go that way." And you go, "Okay, he's going to be brilliant." And then he turned in this absolute page-turner script. And Daisy has produced it with me, and it's been super fun. Daisy is a very lovely person, but also to get something done, a film, you need so much energy. She brings all that, and she had this ion, and people will follow her, which is brilliant. That's what you need.

Sam, this is your feature directorial debut. Incredibly impressive work.

Sam Yates: Thank you very much.

Similar question for you. You had to connect with the material. What did you find in this script that you really latched on to?

Sam Yates: Well, especially with Anette's character, this sort of thing that if you don't express something, it will cause damage. I liked seeing this character who was completely sucking up everything, not saying how she was feeling, not expressing her anger. I thought it was a really kind of interesting way to make something tense. To go, "She is going to explode, she has to explode, the center can't hold."

So, I loved that. I was very attracted to the theme in Ben's character of thinking, "Well, the grass is greener over there, the shiny thing will fix all of my problems." I think that's such a trap that I recognize and was kind of interested in. And then the third sort of aspect was I was so excited at the thought of working with Daisy Ridley.

Matilda, tell us a little bit about your character and how she's pulled into the story.

Matilda Lutz: I play Alicia Romano, a film star who gets cast in a period piece. And Tilly, Matilda, Ben and Anette's daughter, is playing my stepdaughter, and that's how I become familiar with Ben. And then, I start an affair with him, and a relationship with Tilly. What really interested me in this project was the fact that I could play two different characters in the film.

That was really fun, because I got into the trailer every morning, and it was like, "Either you put a corset and layers on, or a contemporary costume." That was really fun to do in the same movie. And then, also, I really loved that each character you're judging characters when you're watching the film. But then you quickly change your opinion, because each one of them has so many nuances and layers that you just quickly shift and excuse them and their behavior.

Daisy, you talked about this idea coming to you on a set. Was that Marsh King?

Daisy Ridley: Yeah, Marsh King's Daughter.

This is, I think, two films in a row where you play a young mother. Are you entering your mom era on screen? What do you enjoy about playing a mother?

Daisy Ridley: My mother era, yeah. [Laughs] It's funny, because I said to Joey's dad — who played my daughter in Marsh King's Daughter — I was like, "This has nothing to do with this. This has nothing to do with anything." [Laughs] She was, firstly, such an amazing actress that I had to hold her wrist at one point, and I said, "Just tell me if I'm hurting you," and she goes, "No, no, it doesn't hurt." And after a while, she goes, "But it's starting to hurt, because I'm imagining it." I was like, "Alright, Meryl!" [Chuckles]

She was such a bright light, and when there's kids involved, you do have to start thinking about yourself — which you try to do anyway — because you're just trying to entertain them, keep them occupied, keep them present. So it's sort of great. And then, it was funny, because I was talking to a casting director while we were trying to find Matilda in this. She was like, "God, it's so difficult with kids." Hiba was one of the first tapes that we saw, and we were all like, "This child is unbelievable, so smart, so thoughtful."

She had obviously not read the script, and halfway through — when Ben is not the hero of this story — she was six! It was crazy, and it was joyful to work with her. And really, Anette has all of these difficulties within her marriage, but her children are everything. So, experiencing that relationship and seeing this thing, that is the true thing in Anette's life, the true rock of it all, I think keeps the humanity of Anette when everything else is becoming more disintegrated.

For you guys in the back row. This film, genre wise, it's really dynamic, because it starts off like a family drama, and then the layers start coming off, and it turns into this psychological thriller. How did you guys go about balancing those tonal shifts that the film takes as it gets a little bit heavier and twistier along the way?

Sam Yates: Particularly with a noir, or a neo-noir, as this is, you want to take an ordinary person and put them in a really extraordinary situation. So, see how dark human behavior can go. So, in a way, setting up the family and the circumstances of their lives was kind of important. And Tom cleverly seeded in this kind of warm opening where Matilda gets the job, and the celebrations, you hint at warmth, but it's quite cold, as well, from the start. And then from there, I guess things have to ratchet and develop. So I think the way to do that was to follow Anette, and see how her watching what she was seeing was then changing her. And as she changes, the film kind of changes.

Kate Solomon: I think the other thing that Sam and Laura, the DOP, did, which I thought was really clever, as you get uncomfortable with her, you're in full-on-face on shots of the people talking to her, and it makes you really feel awkward, because they're suddenly in your face. And as things become more intense, instead of seeing it over the shoulder or whatever, you're seeing them flat on looking at you. And there were some really good moves like that, and trying to use camera angles that made you feel like something was going to happen. And you could kind of increase that when you move through the house, and it feels like something's happening, even though you have to let not that much happen up to a certain point.

Magpie's Creative Team Had Some Great Cinematic Inspirations For The Movie

I've seen some comparisons to Fatal Attraction. You appreciate these, it sounds like. Were there other cinematic inspirations?

Daisy Ridley: Well, we had talked about Gone Girl. Tom and I watched Tully a few years ago and felt that the performances were unbelievable, of the stress of her trying to hold everything together. Homecoming was something we had referenced with the intense zooms. That's actually the very first time we spoke to Kate.

Sam Yates: Yeah, I think added some Haneke movies, that cold, gray kind of domestic stuff, like Caché, particularly. And then, Kubrick stuff, like The Shining, obviously, and Eyes Wide Shut. We sort of followed the aspect ratios of those films, which is like 1.85:1, which just puts the emphasis on faces, because it's very much a film, for me, about the characters. I love actors, and I love faces like Daisy's. Putting them on a screen, they are so wonderful.

Ridley Is Excited To Explore Rey's Star Wars Story Between The Rise of Skywalker & New Jedi Order

Daisy, my requisite Star Wars question. New Jedi Order is getting a lot of hype in recent weeks. What is something that Rey didn't get to do in that original trilogy that you'd like to see her doing in this new film?

Daisy Ridley: I don't know that there was anything. I didn't feel there was a stone left uncovered. It's an interesting thing of doing big movies and feeling like, performance-wise, I got to do so much like even in this big world. Even with all this other stuff going on, I got to explore so much, and I felt like I grew a lot and worked with amazing directors. So, I felt very satisfied.

I think what's interesting is coming into this at a different time in my life. I started that at 21, and I'm now 31. I feel different. I've had different experiences on set, [Tom and I] got married; all the wonderful stuff that is like a different life. It will be interesting coming in, personally, in a different zone. And also, in those intervening years from the last film, what has happened and where has that led Rey to?

A lot of people want to see Finn as a Jedi. Is it a possibility?

Daisy Ridley: That is above my paygrade. [Laughs] I would love to see that, but that is not a decision for me.

The Magpie Team Are Just As Excited For A Few Key SXSW Releases

I hear that. What else are you guys excited to see at SXSW? Have you been checking out the roster of films? There's so much great stuff playing here.

Sam Yates: I want to see 3 Body Problem. I really want to see Fall Guy. And I want to catch the shorts, I always like seeing shorts at film festivals, because I think you get some kind of really big ideas and strong voices.

Daisy Ridley: I'm excited to see Road House. Apparently, it was a rowdy audience.

It is just, like, dirty, entertaining fun.

Daisy Ridley: I love violence, I love entertaining [movies], yeah.

About Magpie

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.

Magpie made its world premiere at SXSW, but has yet to land a wide release date.

Source: Screen Rant Plus