Watch: Sharper’s team talks to Yahoo about the film’s topical themes
The Menu, Triantán na Brón, The White Lotus; we’re fascinated by the world of millionaires – and Sharper, a thriller starring Julianne Moore coming to Apple TV+ on Friday, February 17, takes another look at the wealthy.
“We’re exploring the consequences of money and, to some extent, capitalism,” Sebastian Stan, one of Sharper’s directors, tells Yahoo UK when asked about the current wave of ‘eat the rich’ content coming to cinemas and streamers.
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“Money is supposed to give you all these opportunities, but at the same time, it takes so much out of it.
“It screens in so many ways, and it imprisons you and isolates you.”
Judge Smith, who appears alongside Stan in Sharper, believes that we are all haunted by “the darkness within ourselves”.
“We all like to imagine that we would be good people under different circumstances,” says the actor – best known for Detective Pikachu and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
“But we’re fascinated by our ability in the dark. The same reason serial killers fascinate us so much. We are fascinated by how horrible people can be to each other.
“Because we recognize in ourselves how we are, how we could be terrible.”
Watch a trailer for Sharper
It’s a fitting theory considering Sharper is about a group of people who seem normal on the surface, but turn out to be a group of liars, thieves, and double scam artists.
To say too much would spoil the fun – during the running time, the film slowly reveals itself, each new scene unraveling more secrets as we discover what drove a young woman (Briana Middleton) $350,000 stole from a bookstore owner (Smith) .
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Directed by Benjamin Caron, who directed the last two episodes of the Star Wars Andor series, Sharper is a solid mystery that should, ideally, be seen on the big screen. However, the film is set to stream a week after its US theatrical debut. That’s no big deal for Smith.
“I like streaming,” he says. “It’s accessible. “There are people, me included, who sometimes I can’t sit through a two-hour film. I have to watch it on my own terms. And I enjoy it because I got to watch it on my own terms.”
Stan is a little more cautious. “I think choice is important,” he says. “But maybe I’m old school. I hope we continue to protect the theater experience as well.”
Yahoo points out that a movie like Sharper probably wouldn’t be made without streamer support. “Where is [a movie like this] alive today?” Stan asks. “I’d rather be there, ironically, than otherwise.”
“I was going to sit through the movie [in a cinema] because I was like, ‘I don’t remember what my acting looks like on the big screen. I don’t even know if there’s any good in it,’” he continues.
“Something is processed differently when it’s like that.”
Sharper will enjoy a limited theatrical release in the US and UK, and will stream on Apple TV+ from February 17, 2023.
Watch: Sebastian Stan shares some dance moves on the red carpet