Foe, a sophisticated love story set within the close to future amid burned out farmland, intertwines AI and local weather disaster with the challenges of retaining a wedding collectively — all parts director Garth Davis (Lion) stated pulled him to the story.
“There are so many reasons why I was compelled to make this film, and why the actors were drawn to it. Within its layers lies something simple and urgent, something I reflect on in my daily life. The need to honor what is precious within us and around us, to align with our inner nature as we propel into an exciting and uncertain future,” he stated as Foe had its world premiere Saturday evening on the New York Film Festival.
Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal star as Hen and Junior, who reside on an impoverished farm that’s been in Junior’s household for generations however is now nothing however dust and lifeless timber as large companies have exploited the land. Their life is thrown into turmoil when an uninvited stranger reveals up at their door with a startling proposal.
Neither actor was there as a result of ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. “This is the toughest part,” he stated. “I can’t express enough how sorry I am [they can’t] be here sharing what they feel so proud of.” Aaron Pierre additionally stars. Actors have been on strike since mid-July however hopes are excessive as guild is about to restart talks with the AMPTP on Monday.
Foe relies on the 2018 novel by Ian Reid, with a screenplay by Reid and Davis. The director known as the wedding on the middle of the story “a relationship that reflects the state of the planet.”
“What happens to relationships over time. We can change. We can make choices in our lives that make our lives better, but the world better as well,” he stated at a Q&A with NYFF’s lead programmer Florence Almozini. “The central relationship and what Hen was trying to fight for and find..and how this experiment allowed her to re-explore her marriage and reconnect with her agency” is centered round AI. “It also just felt radically close to happening.”
Foe is produced by Kerry Kohansky-Roberts, Davis, Emile Sherman and Iain Canning. EPs are Dawn Olmstead, David Levine, Robert Walak, Samantha Lang and Reid. Amazon Studios is planning an Oct. 6 launch.