Appetite for destruction
As new thriller The Menu lands in cinemas, DANIELLE DE WOLFE discusses fine dining and delectable drama with its stars Anya Taylor-joy and Nicholas Hoult
have insatiable appetites – or so says Anya Taylor-joy.
Whether it’s our thirst for information, our unremitting consumption of binge-worthy entertainment or our endless desire to indulge in ever-more adventurous culinary delicacies, humans are constantly wanting more.
“We constantly need to be impressed – and we’re becoming harder to impress,” says The Queen’s Gambit star.
It’s a concept at the centre of the 26-year-old’s latest big screen project, engrossing foodie thriller The Menu.
Serving up a plethora of visually striking, yet entirely edible creations, the suspense-filled film delves into what it is that drives human beings – as well as our copious shortcomings.
Using fictional restaurant Hawthorn as the central arena, The Menu sees globally celebrated chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) welcome a host of contrasting characters into the confines of his exclusive Pacific Northwest eatery. With diners paying $1,200 a head for the pleasure, the film’s premise mocks the increasingly outlandish food culture lapped up by the West.
“What I took away from it was, if you are constantly trying to one-up your experiences, but you become insatiable, how on earth are you going to be impressed?” says Anya. “How on earth are you going to enjoy your life?
“If we were to talk about food, food is supposed to nourish you and food is supposed to be enjoyed.
“If you’re not enjoying your food, and you’re paying a ridiculous amount of money to go and sit somewhere just to be able to say that you’ve done it, you’ve sort of missed the whole point...” shrugs the actress.
Submerging herself in a world of food-based horror, the Peaky Blinders star’s character Margot is less than impressed by the exclusive dining experience.
Venturing by boat to the secluded island on the arm of foodie Tyler, played by Skins and X-men favourite Nicholas Hoult, the plot sees the pair joined by a plethora of personhumans alities with decidedly different priorities.
The premise led the actress on a meander down memory lane when it comes to her own distinctive dining experiences.
Reflecting on a recent trip to Europe, the British-american star’s striking eyes grow wide as she recounts an occasion which saw her “geek out” in Paris.
“I got to have dinner at the top of the Eiffel Tower and it was amazing,” she smiles. “On our way up, I was joking that it would be funny if they had a Mcdonald’s up there. And that, in the country renowned for food, it’s just Mcdonald’s and a Big Mac.”
With the refined taste buds of restaurant critics juxtaposed with the less palatable spending habits of ‘tech bros’ with little regard for fine dining, chaos ensues in The Menu as the diners’ darkest secrets are slowly revealed.
As the ‘visual feast’ rapidly descending into chaos, the guests’ breaking point comes when flour tortillas etched with their misgivings emerge from beneath a cloche.
Nicholas found the film “completely original” and “unexpected”, adding that the script acts as a mirror held up to society.
“It’s smart in its observations of people and how we interact with each other, our falseness and the reality of what we’re hiding,” the 32-year-old explains.
“And there are so many beautiful interpretations of the journeys that those characters have been through that get revealed.
“I think we all know people [who] are similar or had similar experiences in life.”
Nicholas adds that audiences are
Food is supposed to nourish you and food is supposed to be enjoyed Anya Tayor-joy
set to “laugh and be horrified” in equal measure, as proceedings take a dark turn when diners begin dropping.
Led by Succession’s Golden Globe and Emmy-winning director Mark Mylod, the idea for the movie came about when his Succession stablemate, scriptwriter Will Tracy, visited the Norwegian city of Bergen.
Travelling by boat to an exclusive restaurant on a nearby private island, panic and claustrophobia set in as the vessel decanted the passengers before departing the dock.
The same palpable sense of fear and isolation is brought forth by The Menu, as Will and his long-time screenwriting partner Seth Reiss set about penning a tale set against a foreboding backdrop.
“If you want to take away social commentary or satire or comments on the inequities of our society, I certainly do see that relationship between the dining room and the kitchen, as a kind of microcosm of our society,” says Mark, 57. “But I’m also really interested in the way chef Slowik – Ralph Fiennes’ character – has made these choices and is now consumed by self-loathing for that unhealthy relationship with his own ego and being driven by commercial choices. I think we can all relate to bad choices in our life and having to live with them.”
The Menu is in cinemas now