Anya Taylor-Joy Dances Through a 1960s Nightmare In Last Night in Soho Trailer

Anya Taylor-Joy shines in the trailer for Last Night in Soho.

By Apeksha Bagchi | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

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For years now, Edgar Wright has been teasing his next ambitious project, Last Night In Soho, after the blockbuster directorial debut that was the Ansel Elgort starrer Baby Driver. Thankfully, we finally have a much clearer picture of what to expect from the upcoming psychological horror drama as Wright has finally debuted the first official trailer of the film. And while Thomasin McKenzie is amazing in her role as the young fashion designing student stuck in a dream-turned-nightmare, Anya Taylor-Joy is perfection personified as the dreamy singer Sandie who becomes the victim of a violent murder.

Last Night In Soho, as the title suggests, is set up in London’s Soho district where Thomasin McKenzie’s Eloise ends up as an aspiring fashion designer. The trailer introduces us to the starry-eyed student for whom fashion is not the only passion- she also has a strange obsession with 1960s London. But her seemingly normal life is turned upside down the first night she sleeps in her rented flat. Eloise “dreams” that she is in the 1960s and moving around in the body of her idol, Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy), a glamorous singer who glides around gracefully, dances without care, and flirts with a mysterious man named Jack (Matt Smith).

This goes on for a while with Eloise enjoying these weird time-hopping dreams, until one day when she realizes that it’s all real after witnessing brutal murder of Anya Taylor-Joy’s character. While Eloise knows Jack is the one who killed Sandie, no one believes her story. Meanwhile, the present-day version of Jack (Terrance Stamp) is already on her trail to ensure that the truth never gets out.

Edgar Wright has revealed that acclaimed films like Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now and Roman Polanski’s Repulsion have influenced the making of Last Night in Soho. He also said Anya Taylor-Joy was the first actor Wright chose to cast. In a chat with The Hollywood Reporter last month, he said he discovered Joy’s talent when he was on the Sundance jury in 2015 and saw her debut film, The Witch. Beyond impressed with her performance, he soon met up with her and pitched her the story of Soho. While he initially wanted her onboard as Eloise, he soon chose her for the more dynamic and complicated role of Sandie. 

The cast of the film includes Thomasin McKenzie as Eloise, Anya Taylor-Joy as Sandie, Matt Smith as Jack, Terence Stamp as present-day Jack, Diana Rigg as Miss Collins, Jessie Mei Li as Lara, Michael Ajao as John, Synnøve Karlsen as Jocasta, Rita Tushingham as Peggy Turner, James and Oliver Phelps as Charles and Ben while Margaret Nolan and Lisa McGrills’ roles haven’t been disclosed. Like many other productions, Last Night in Soho was originally supposed to debut in 2020 but the date was delayed because of the pandemic and Edgar Wright wanted his film to open in theaters only. The film has already had had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival and is currently scheduled to be released on October 29, 2021.