It seems that everyone you speak to at the minute has watched Saltburn. Along with their parents, their siblings, and their neighbours, and so on. You can barely scroll on TikTok without hearing the song ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’, or open Twitter to see a photo of Jacob Elordi. It is one of the most talked about films of the year, and for good reason – Emerald Fennell has created a film that is beautiful and bold; glamorous and grotesque. I was lucky enough to spend a few weeks working on it in various locations during the summer of 2022, and it was without a doubt one of the best experiences of my life.
It is important to note that this was my first film I had ever worked on. Even though I grew up surrounded by theatre, the world of film and television seemed entirely foreign and unreachable, on another level that was accessible only through wealth or nepotism (and I had neither). The one friend I had who was a series regular on a popular CBBC show made life on set sound extremely glamorous, and I envied him a lot growing up. Being on a film set had always been on my bucket list. My gap year was coming to a close, and I had come back to theatre after COVID and fallen back in love with acting. I was feeling all the highs of a gap year summer – freshly back from being abroad, eager to earn money to fund my first year at university, and desperate to do something other than stack shelves in my supermarket job in my small town. Needless to say, when Saltburn’s casting call came about (I live quite near its filming location), I jumped at the opportunity.
I was incredibly lucky to be chosen to play a student, one of Oliver and Felix’s classmates, and, after an excruciating meeting with my manager to try and get time off to “work on a film”, I was off, driving to Kettering and not knowing at all what the next few days involved.
My first two days on set were night shoots, filming the Midsummer Night’s Dream party that occurs in the last act of the movie. The Saltburn estate – actually called Drayton House – was one of the grandest buildings I have ever seen. The road to crowd holding was a dusty single lane, and I actually gasped when I turned the corner. The film does a beautiful job at capturing its grandeur. It was extremely hot that day, pushing 30 degrees, and as myself and the other two-hundred or so 20 year-olds queued up to get COVID tested, various crew members were having to pass out umbrellas and water, but that did not stop my enthusiasm. I was on a film set!
The party was just as fun as it looked in the film. There were so many university-aged extras there, and we were able to mill about in the gardens of this insane house, getting to know one another and how we got to be there. One girl I spoke to was Margot Robbie’s foot double in Barbie! When night set, it got cold very quickly, and one very kind assistant director (AD) managed to sneak me inside the house to film the scene where we sing ‘Happy Birthday’, and Oliver (Barry Keoghan) is presented with a birthday cake. This is where I am most visible in the film, right at the front (as I was a last-minute addition to the scene) and in a white skirt, leggings and green top. 2000s to the max.
After filming for these two days, I was then booked to spend a week filming in Oxford, and a few days in London. There was a certain irony to this, being that I am actually an Oxford University reject myself. But everything that goes around comes around, and getting to play an Oxford student was certainly more fun than having to do the associated work. I spent a week fakely celebrating the end of fake exams, getting fakely made up to go to a fake ball, and drinking fake beer in a fake pub, and having a genuinely good time. The energy in that week was just incredible. We got to explore the university and see parts that were not open to the public and eat in the Hogwarts-esque dining halls.
Credit must be given to Emerald Fennell and the rest of the cast and crew, as the environment they created on set was one of pure creativity. Saltburn was the film that got me into working as a supporting artist. I now do it alongside my degree to fund it, and it is incomparable to any other student job, in my opinion. The pay is excellent, especially on night shoots, and getting three meals a day, especially ones of such a high standard, is not something to be sniffed at (neither is Margot Robbie sitting at your dinner table – that happened once). I have worked on numerous other jobs, including The Crown, A Gentleman in Moscow, and The Regime, but nothing has ever compared to my experience on Saltburn. The creatives didn’t make us feel unimportant at all – something that so often happens to supporting artists on set. One day, Emerald even bought us all cookies. The cast were all lovely, and I got to chat to so many actors I deeply admire. Having directed myself, the director sets the tone for the project, and Emerald Fennell’s kindness and dedication shows her brilliance as a director, and the film is an absolute testament to that. I am so proud to say that I worked on Saltburn, even if in the smallest role on set.
Written By: Charlotte Hunter
Edited By: Ozioma Ofoezie