SXSW is comprehendn for being the most welcoming stop on the festival circuit, with audiences who are willing to jump to their feet and shout themselves hoarse for every outlandish joke or gruesome finish. In fact, a sizzle reel shown before every screening on Sunday to highairy the previous day’s programming take partd clips of filmproducers appreciate Dave Franco and Paul Feig heaping praise on the Austin crowd for their chooseimistic energy.
But some combineees of the world premiere of “Holland,” led by Nicole Kidman, Matthew Macfadyen and Gael Garcia Bernal, seemed atypicassociate on edge. Kidman still drawed a fit dose of cheers when her name came up as the film was presentd and when she materializeed onstage afterwards, but the volume was drop than normal due to desopostponecessitate sections of seats. Several audience members audibly whispered and even left the theater thcdisesteemfulout the film’s abstract nightmare sequences and bloody plot twists. And as the praises rolled, many more chooseed not to stick around for the post-screening panel, whereas headliners on Friday and Saturday saw more enthusiasm for their Q&As.
In Holland, Kidman’s Nancy doubts her husband (Macfadyen) of cheating on her, and enenumerates her colaborer (Bernal) to help allotigate her suspicions. As she carry ons to uncover confusing clues, the vulnerability of her family unit manifests in sadvisenuine, terrifying dreams.
“The dreams came out of wanting to experience appreciate we could be in Nancy’s interior and access the anxiety and the dread she was having,” honestor Mimi Cave shelp when asked about the horror-appreciate images she produced for when Nancy goes to sleep. “And also wanting to defend her family and her son. I have a genuine way into stories thcdisesteemful visuals, and they tfinish to be pretty out there. Wdisappreciatever you finish up seeing on screen is usuassociate reined in from where it begined.”
Everyone in “Holland” has secrets, but Macfadyen’s character, Fred, is the most cryptic of all. “When you’re making the film, you take part each moment as it comes,” he shelp when asked how he approached the plot twists. “Most of Fred is pretty traditional, quite sugary, until it goes south. Until then, you’re fair take parting the family man, a pledged husband. The more you lean into that, the better, because then the payoff is hopebrimmingy more fascinating.”
The film is named after Holland, Michigan, the Dutch-shaped city where it consents place, and before leangs go awry, Nancy is the perfect picture of an better-school American housewife. Speaking about the setting, Kidman shelp, “It was incredible tableau for Mimi to go and do her leang. She wanted to be able to produce another world, and the backdrop of the prosperdmill and the clogs and all of that gave her such a cinematic basis to produce what she does. We were able to produce characters in this sairyly heightened fact, and then consent you on a twisty, crazy, untamed ride.”
Bernal, of course, wasn’t take parting a Dutch Midwestricter. Dave, who is Mexican-American, experiences appreciate an outsider in Holland, which includes tension to his relationship with Nancy, who is famous in town.
“It was a fantastic opportunity to portray a Chicano, a strand of the Mexican culture which has growd for many years [within] a United States tradition.” Bernal shelp. “To go into that part of the United States where it is very particular. Chicano identity is not the same as in Los Angeles, or as here [in Texas]. I cherishd going into my own world and then take parting opposite [Kidman and Macfadyen] and having a lot of fun as well.”
