Emerald Fennell believes movies are supposed to make people "uncomfortable".
The 38-year-old writer-and-director has won praise for her thought-provoking new movie 'Saltburn' and while she doesn't feel the film is provocative for the sake of it, she insisted it's important to make audiences "shift in their seats".
Speaking to Deadline's Breaking Baz column, she said: “If you’re aiming to make something that sounds true and even if it’s metaphorical and kind of Gothic, and there’s something that makes people shift in their seats, it’s because we’re feeling something that maybe we shouldn’t. That maybe we don’t want to interrogate.
“And so there’s no point in being provocative for the sake of it – but if you’re kind of prodding at something uncomfortable, that’s what movies are for.
“I stick my finger in."
But 'The Crown' actress also wants her work to make people "excited".
She added: “The thing is that we just always want to make things that are fun, that push buttons and that make people excited. And make people want to watch it again.
"You want to make something that everyone talks about afterwards.”
Emerald particularly enjoys how different viewers interpret the story in their own way.
She continued: “And everyone has a slightly different impression of what happened. The dance you’re always doing as a filmmaker is around how much you let people fill in the gaps. And how much do you show? And it’s really ,really lovely to hear so many people feeling so many different ways about what they just saw, and that’s just thrilling.”
'Saltburn' stars Barry Keoghan as student Oliver Quick and Emerald loved his attitude to work.
Hailing the actor as "exceptional", she said: "He has absolutely no fear or shame …he just wants to get into it. And the thing that excites him as much as it excites me is that feeling of: let’s do it. let’s do it. let’s get in.”
