If you caught Jeremy Saulnier’s Blue Ruin back in 2013 - and if you didn’t, track it down at the first opportunity – his ability to seamlessly thread together a knotty bluegrass thriller marrying violent shocks and comic beats would have left you looking out for his next film. Well, it’s on its way. Empire is delighted to be debuting the world-first look at Green Room, an Oregon roadhouse thriller that looks like channelling all Saulnier’s directorial hallmarks into another gripping piece of work.
Green Room, hopefully the second part of some kind of three colours crime trilogy, offers the delicious prospect of Professor X turning to the dark side. Patrick Stewart is the big bad, here getting his redneck on in a turn that looks like having echoes of Walter White in its blank-eyed sociopathy, with a group of goons in close attendance.
The set-up sees a hard-up punk band, The Ain’t Rights, stop by a remote Oregon roadhouse for a spontaneous gig. Bad, bad idea. The venue has just seen a blood-splattering murder spree of Tarantino proportions. Stewart’s club owner and his goons wants no witnesses, a stance that sees the band barricade themselves in their green room desperately trying to come up with a way out or a means of fighting back. Let’s hope someone thought to ask for a grenade launcher on the rider.
With Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole, Macon Blair and Callum Turner all strutting their stuff, Green Room lands in UK cinemas on May 13. Look out for much more on it here in the weeks ahead.