We were joined on the Popternative show by Anson Boon (MobLand, Pistol) and Kit Rakusen (Jay Kelly, Belfast) who star in the psychological thriller, Heel, which released in select theaters and on demand on March 6.
From Academy Award-nominated director Jan Komasa (Warsaw 44, Suicide Room), Heel also stars Stephen Graham (Adolescence, Boiling Point) and Andrea Riseborough (Possessor, To Leslie). From Academy Award-nominated director Jan Komasa (Warsaw 44, Suicide Room), Heel follows 19-year-old Tommy (Boon), who thrives on a reckless lifestyle of drugs, parties, and violence. During a wild night out with his friends, Tommy gets separated from the group and is kidnapped by a mysterious man (Graham).
Used to being the one who dishes out violence, Tommy is terrified when he wakes up chained in the basement of a quiet suburban home belonging to Chris (Graham), his wife Kathryn (Riseborough), and their young son Jonathan (Rakusen). Determined to “reform” him, the family subjects Tommy to a series of relentless psychological games, forcing him to either submit to their twisted lessons, or attempt to escape at any cost.
Reflecting on his experience watching the finished film for the first time, Boon shared how its tone surprised him in ways he hadn’t initially expected when reading the script: “But when I watched it, what really struck me was it was like a grim fairy tale. And when I [first] read it, I never envisioned it as a fairy tale. And there was something really romantic about the film when I watched it. And and it definitely has that dark humor in places, moments where you definitely shouldn’t be laughing, so of course it makes you laugh. [The film] touches on so many different things and speaks about so many different things. And that’s what I loved about it ultimately when I read it. It just adds so much color to it.”
Rakusen highlights how the film’s set design, especially the unsettling basement, played a key role in building tension: “I remember on my first day, [I got] a tour around the set and [saw] the rooms and the basement. The basement was brilliant. It looked disgusting. And I think the set design really helped. The house felt really normal and really homely, [yet there were] awful things happening just below it.”
Watch the full conversation Anson Boon and Kit Rakusen below.
Heel is now playing in select theaters and available on demand (*Note that in the UK, the film is titled The Good Boy).
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