Closing the BFI London Film Festival on Sunday in a hail of bullets and Scorsese-endorsed ‘70s criminality, Free Fire is preparing its public for the gala with ten – count ‘em – new character posters. Yes, that’s everyone in the film and, we think, a couple of the craft services people too. Take a look below.
Free Fire is set in Boston in 1978. The story, which Wheatley pitches as a muscular crime flick in the spirit of Melville, Hawks, Scorsese and Walter Hill, charts the fallout from a gun-running hook-up orchestrated by Brie Larson in a deserted warehouse. At its centre are two Irishmen (Cillian Murphy and Michael Smiley), on a connect with a pair of arms traffickers, Ord (Armie Hammer) and Vernon (Sharlto Copley), but soon wishing they’d given the whole enterprise a wide berth when the bullets start flying. Cue a desperate battle for survival.
"I wanted to make something that was very dynamic and action-y, as opposed to 'thoughtful',” explained Wheatley of the pitch at September’s Empire Live preview. "I wanted it to be procedural and tactics.” The project first germinated around the time of Sightseers and earns its ‘long-awaited’ tag courtesy of some fine looking promos and Wheatley’s ever-growing reputation as a master filmmaker in the making.
He also has Brie Larson, Jack Reynor, Noah Taylor, Enzo Cilenti, Babou Ceesay, and Sam Riley appearing in the movie he scripted with his regular co-writer Amy Jump.
After its LFF gala on 16 October, Free Fire will get a UK-wide release on 31 March, 2017.