WATCH: Is this the next ‘Talented Mr. Ripley’? Your first look at the sexy, sordid ‘Saltburn’

How did you spend your summer vacation?

Whatever wild adventures you got into—whatever wild people you got into—we bet they’ve got noting on sordid saga of Saltburn.

From filmmaker Emerald Fennell, the “promising young woman” behind Promising Young Woman, comes a “twisted Gothic tale” of privilege and obsession that’s pretty immediately one of our most anticipated films of the fall season.

Our protagonist is the young Oliver Quick (The Banshees Of Inisherin‘s Barry Keoghan), an outcast Oxford University student who, unlike most of his peers, doesn’t come from money.

Oliver finds himself transfixed by fellow student Felix Catton (Euphoria‘s Jacob Elordi)—who has just that effect on people. Perhaps out of pity, Felix invites the lonely outsider to spend the summer at his family’s lavish estate, Saltburn, and that’s really where the story begins…

Plot details beyond that intriguing set-up are scarce, but Fennell has said she was inspired by classic British gothic and romantic stories set among the country homes of the elite, like Brideshead Revisited and The Remains Of The Day.

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Of course, if you saw her debut, Oscar-nominated feature Promising Young Woman, you’ll know that Fennell has some tricks up her sleeve—and a tendency to push things in the most shocking direction possible. A tantalizing preview of Saltburn in Vanity Fair promises, the film “doesn’t shy away from controversial themes, or visceral, sometimes erotic moments that are sure to stick with audiences.”

There’s also the fact that, after early test screenings for the film, it was likened to the “be gay do crime” classic The Talented Mr. Ripley, with at least one viewer teasing there will be “a lot of nudity and explicit scenes.”

A brief teaser earlier this week alluded to this, showing Keoghan’s Oliver dropping trou in the middle of a field. “Well, well, well,” indeed!

Teaser. Drops. Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/OOYr7Qf0bl

— Saltburn (@Saltburnfilm) August 28, 2023

But now we’ve finally got our first official trailer for the movie, and while it doesn’t necessarily scream “homoerotic!” at us, there are a handful of shots of the stunning Elordi in nothing but some tighty-whities.

The gorgeous and eerie preview also gives us brief glimpses of the rest of the cast, including Gone Girl‘s Rosamund Pike as Felix’s disaffected mother, Can You Ever Forgive Me?’s Richard E. Grant as his father, Conversations With Friends‘ Alison Oliver as his eccentric sister, Midsommar‘s Archie Madekwe as fellow classmate Farleigh, and Vincent & Theo‘s Paul Rhys as a Saltburn estate employee.

Not seen here is Carey Mulligan, reuniting with Fennell for a “small but memorable role” we’re sure will surprise us.

Saltburn is set to make its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival this weekend before opening the BFI London Film Festival on October 4. Then it will head to select theaters on November 24 and open wider the following week, December 1.

Check out the lush first trailer for Saltburn below:

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