Felicity Jones didn’t realize she wanted too play a moon.
“People really underestimate fun,” begins the Oscar-nominated actress, whose upcoming performance in Julia Jackman’s 100 Nights of Hero is a whimsical and joyous departure from her recent portrayals on screen (see: The Brutalist and Train Dreams). “The most powerful stories are often the most entertaining,” she continues. “Julia has managed to do that amazing trick of combining those things, which is a vrey, very difficult thing to pull off.”
Ahead of this past friday’s release of Jackman’s sophomore feature film,the director and her stars Felicity Jones and Maika Monroe sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to unpack the making of 100 Nights,a visually stunning fantasy set in a fairytale kingdom and adapted from Isabel Greenberg’s graphic novel of the same name.
It follows Longlegs star Monroe as the prim and proper Cherry, happily married to Jerome (Amir El-Masry) and living a seemingly idyllic life. But the couple have yet to conceive an heir, so when Jerome absconds and his dashing friend Manfred (Nicholas Galitzine) arrives with dastardly intentions, Hero (Emma Corrin), Cherry’s wily and loyal maid, is forced to concoct a plan to distract Manfred by telling captivating stories about rebellious women (including popstar Charli XCX, who has a supporting role as an ill-treated bride). Over the course of 100 nights, Hero’s stories lure Manfred away from Cherry’s bed chamber, leaving him in a not-so-threatening dream-like state. As aforementioned, Jones stars as Moon, a part as connotative as it is indeed eccentric.
“I was almost a little sad because I put this script in a drawer during the pandemic for a little bit, and when you take something out again and you haven’t looked at it for a while, you wonder if it’s going to feel a bit stale,” says Bonus Track director Jackman about the aptness of her patriarchy-bucking story. “It was exciting, but also a little bit of a bum-out to be like, ‘Ah, nope. Still relevant.’ Maybe even more relevant.”
The movie had its world premiere in Venice and later closed the London Film Festival.Critics have praised the cast’s wonderfully quirky performances, and also the endlessly impressive costuming and makeup; THR‘s Leslie Felperin said the work of costume designer Susie Coulthard and hair and makeup creative Natasha lawes “deserve pre-title billing.”
Jackman,Jones and Monroe get into all of the above and more in a discussion about their fantastical fairytale film. They talk about working with Brat architect Charli XCX,why scream Queen Monroe craved a dabble in fantasy and why this feminist flick is for everyone: “It was crucial to me to show no one is having a good time.Men are trapped as well. No one’s living their best life when w
from Scream Queen to Celestial Narrator: The Cast of ‘100 Nights’ on Desire, Transformation, and a unique Story
There’s something so Birdman-esque about certain people in power at the moment. Maika, can I ask you about Cherry? As the last project I saw you in was Long Legs.Such a different tone to 100 Nights…
MAIKA MONROE [Laughs.] Very.
You have a reputation of being a bit of a Scream Queen. Was this a nice change of pace for you?
MONROE Oh, yeah. This script came to me at a time where Longlegs had just come out and I was being sent a lot and reading a lot of things, and I was just blown away by the uniqueness of this story. It doesn’t always happen with scripts – you can be like,”Oh,it’d be so fun to play this role,” but this was like,”I need to do this.” it doesn’t happen all the time. We read a lot and there’s a lot of really bad things. It’s just so nice when you get sent something and it’s like, “Oh, wow. This is not only so enjoyable and a fun story, but it has meaning and purpose.” I was so, so excited to do something like this. It felt very different from anything else.
Cherry doesn’t even know what it is indeed to be desired or loved. It must have been really satisfying to get to the end of her arc and have that vulnerability of hers transform from the Cherry we see at the beginning.
MONROE Absolutely. That’s such a great thing about this particular role. You really go on this journey with her. You meet her, and [she is] very naive and ignorant to a lot of the world and and then she has this beautiful maid, Hero, who really guides her and teaches her.
Felicity, you obviously have such a beautiful voice for narration. Maybe you can talk a little bit about Moon as a character and where she fits into Hero and Cherry’s adventure?
JONES Yeah, I didn’t know that it was my secret desire to play a moon. [Jackman and monroe laugh.] It was a no brainer. It’s like,”Moon? yes,this is for me.” well, it’s like [Monroe] is saying, it’s very rare that something comes along that you feel the story is a story you want to be telling – which is why I wanted to be involved as a producer as well as an actor.
Charli XCX, Olivia D’Lima and Kerena Jagpal in ‘100 Nights of Hero.’
Courtesy of Alex Rusu
How would you describe Julia Jackman’s set and her process?
MONROE I’m trying to think of a better word, but it just felt so comfortable. There was a lot of room to play. Especially with a movie like this, and a script like this, you need that space. It was so much fun. It was nice that the cast were all around the same age, and I don’t know, it was just magical. We were filming in a castle every day, and we got to wear these incredible costumes. It was such a fun and exciting world to step into.
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