‘Fingernails’ Premiere at BFI London Film Festival
In advance of the global release of the Apple Original feature “FINGERNAILS” on November 3, the film premiered as part of a London Film Festival Official Competition red carpet premiere at BFI Southbank.
Produced by Cate Blanchett’s production company Dirty Films and directed by Christos Nikou, the premiere was attended also by one third of its production team Coco Francini.
The film is a romantic drama exploring modern love and human connection where Anna (Jessie Buckley) and Ryan (Jeremy Allen White) have found true love. It’s been proven by a controversial new technology. There’s just one problem: Anna still isn’t sure. Then she takes a position at a love testing institute and meets Amir (Riz Ahmed).
At the premiere, writer Sam Steiner explained that the initial idea came from director Christos Nikou. “He kind of had this idea about a world where love was a rarity,” Steiner said. “I loved that idea and was fascinated by it.” Nikou envisioned an institute with a test to objectively prove love. “We started kind of spitballing on that and chatted about our own loves,” Steiner said, “and came up with a movie eventually.”
When asked about the genesis of the film, Greek director Christos NikouNikou said “We were trying to create a movie about love in general and trying to find what is love even if we don’t know at all what is love.”
He continued, “We’re seeing so many people nowadays trying to find love through dating apps and swapping right or left to find the perfect match.” This observation sparked the initial idea for the film.
On working with leads Jessie Buckley and Riz Ahmed, Nikou remarked “I always am surprised by Jessie and what she’s doing in all her previous films so I really wanted to work with her.” About Ahmed he said, “He’s a chameleon, he can adapt from comedy to drama very easily.” Nikou added, “I really wanted to see both of them together…they both have never been in something really romantic so I wanted to see this chemistry.”
The director was thrilled with the results, saying “There is so much chemistry and I hope the audience will feel it because they created something very special together.” He also praised the supporting cast, noting “I love when characters can perform with their body language and feel free to dance and express their emotions.”
While not wanting to provide definite answers on the nature of love, Nikou hopes the film inspires audiences to “question a lot of things about their own relationships, emotions, experiences.” His message is “love is not something you have to prove but something you have to work on every day.”
At the premiere of “Fingernails” at the BFI London Film Festival, producer Coco Francini discussed the process of bringing this unique romantic drama to life. Francini was introduced to director Christos Nikou by her producing partner Kate Blanchett after seeing his first film “Apples.”
On working with Nikou, Francini said “He’s incredibly collaborative from the script to the casting to the design of the movie and beyond.” They spent a lot of time discussing potential actors for the three pivotal roles, feeling “so lucky” to cast Jesse Buckley, Riz Ahmed, and Jeremy Allen White.
Francini explained the magic of the casting and characters, saying “You want to see them all, it is a little bit of a love triangle and the magic of the casting is you want both couples to make it.” She praised the hilarious scene where Buckley’s character electrocutes herself to get a reaction from Allen White’s character as it “gets the biggest laugh in the movie theater.”
Though the film has comedic moments, Francini notes it is “really grounded in the reality of what it feels like to be in love, to fall in love and to stay in love.” She says “we confront all that – it’s not always magical and sometimes it can hurt and be sad and painful and those parts of being in love are also beautiful.”
Capturing the full emotional spectrum of romantic relationships was the goal for this thought-provoking and poignant film.
Editor in Chief of Ikon London Magazine, journalist, film producer and founder of The DAFTA Film Awards (The DAFTAs).