With a wealth of thespian talent led by Tom Hiddleston already in place, Ben Wheatley is adding actors as he prepares to kick off shooting on High Rise. Luke Evans and Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss are the latest to sign on.
High Rise, which Wheatley has adapted with partner Amy Jump from J.G. Ballard’s 1975 thriller, is set in a gleaming new residential tower that is finished just as Margaret Thatcher is making her way to the head of the government. Designed to showcase luxury lifestyles, it’s a gleaming spire of apparent contentment a world away from more troubled areas of the city.
But there is a rotten core at the heart of the skyscraper, something that Robert Laing (Hiddleston) realises once he moves in, seduced by the romance of the place. There is, in fact, a broiling current of rage waiting to burst through the polished surface. Jeremy Irons is playing the tower’s architect, Anthony Royal, while Sienna Miller is his devoted aide, Charlotte, who takes a liking to Laing.
Moss and Evans’ roles haven’t been announced, but it’s possible Evans is set as Wilder, the troublemaker who stirs up tension through the place. They join a cast that already includes James Purefoy, Reece Shearsmith, Peter Ferdinando and Dan Renton Skinner. Wheatley is scheduled to begin cranking the cameras next month in Belfast.