“It’s a contemporary rom-com set in 1818,” says director Emma Holly Jones.
Read more after the trailer below and catchMr.
Malcolm’s Listin theaters on July 1.
‘Mr. Malcolm’s List’.Ross Ferguson/Bleecker Street
Walk me through all of that.
EMMA HOLLY JONES:It’s the most backward tale.
Because it was 17 or 18 years ago that Suzanne Allain wrote the book, but it was self-published.
Years later, she decided to turnMr.
Malcolm’s Listinto a screenplay.
And she sent it toThe Blacklist.
Malcolm’s List.So I listened to that podcast.
I didn’t read the script first; I heard it while driving my car.
I knew that was going to be an issue.
They financed the short film version ofMr.
Malcolm’s List,which sort of acts as an overture, trailer.
It’s on YouTube now.
They really gave us the resources we needed to do it.
It was that proof of concept and that short film that got the novel published.
It’s been seven years in total from when I heard the script.
What was it like having an author adapt their own novel?
I fell in love with it from the screenplay version.
I didn’t get to read the book until way into the short film.
During the short film, we created new characters: the footman and maid, John and Molly.
I really wanted to inject my sense of humor.
It’s been a real labor of love from both Suzanne and me.
I didn’t want these girls to feel dated.
BeforeBridgerton,we hadn’t really seen adaptations in this era cast people of color.
Did that series inspire any casting choices?
Why was that important to you?
The short film was shot in 2018 and came out in February 2019.
None of us had heard the wordBridgertonwhen we started developing the film this way.
Obviously, the success ofBridgertonhas not hurtMalcolm’strajectory in finding an audience.
For me, it came down to two really simple things.
I’ve watched every British period drama countless times.
History does not suggest that England was just made up of white people.
But for all of us who got involved, it became about something so much bigger than that.
I don’t think we need to see another period drama the way they’ve always been made.
How did you come to Zawe and Freida and the rest of your cast?
Freida was involved from day one with the short film.
Who doesn’t want to see Freida Pinto in a rom-com?
She is so vivacious, so beautiful, super talented, and she’s kind.
We were looking for our Mr. Darcy, and it was instant for me.
I could see the character the moment I met him, and I’ve never wavered on that.
It was him and Freida from day one.
And they were the only people I was willing to do this with.
I was fiercely loyal to them as they were to me.
But we gained the most amazing Julia when Zawe got involved.
It was very last minute.
I have gone on a huge journey with this.
There’s a few films that stand out to me Joe Wright’sPride and Prejudice, Ang Lee’sSense And Sensibility.
Those are movies I have watched time and time again because I love them.
I always knew I wanted to do something in the Austen world.
But the fact that I got to do something completely original is a true gift.
Because Jane Austen wrote six books, and we’ve made them all however many times.
If you ask Suzanne, it was written from a space of being a fan of those stories.
It’s not as heavy as Jane.
It’s almost got a bit of Oscar Wilde vibes with the comedy and the camp.
It’s an amalgamation of all those inspirations for Suzanne and me.
Visually, it was about trying, with very little money, to create that Joe Wright scale.
We wanted to consume everything about those 10 years of Regency England that we could.
We read books; we spoke to historians; we had historical consultants; we visited art museums.
But we weren’t going for documentary-style accuracy.
Then it became aboutMalcolmand the world we were creating taking over.
I broke a lot of rules.
And that’s what makesMalcolmspecial.
We made something that was inclusive.
