Doctor Who favourite Matt Smith confirmed for new thriller full of "pent-up revenge" - and he's not alone
Imogen Poots will also star in the intriguingly titled The Salamander Lives Twice.
Doctor Who and House of the Dragon star Matt Smith has found his next film role – with the actor set to star alongside Imogen Poots in a new mystery-thriller titled The Salamander Lives Twice.
According to Deadline, Smith will play a "debonair stranger who washes ashore on a remote island wearing a Rolex and holding a briefcase he can’t open, with no memory of who he is or why he is there."
On the island, he is taken in by its only inhabitants, who are described as "a glamorous wine-soaked matriarch" named Iris, "her erudite daughter" Goggy (Poots) and "their giant naked butler" called Baby.
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The synopsis continues: "He is drawn into their bizarre and decaying world. But this is no accident. And what begins as sanctuary turns into something far stranger, far darker – a world of pent-up revenge, sinister family betrayal and shocking violence".
The film is written by Toby Harvard and will be directed by Ant Timpson, after that pair previously collaborated on the 2019 black comedy film Come to Daddy and 2024 adventure comedy Bookwork, both of which starred Elijah Wood.
It's not yet clear who might be joining Smith and Poots in the cast for this one, but producer Archie Faulks of Embankment Films has described it as "a wildly entertaining Hitchcockian thriller served up on a gourmet platter of absurdist comedy and psychological suspense."
He added: "It keeps audiences guessing right up to an ending they won’t see coming and won’t forget."
Both Smith and Poots have been keeping very busy of late, with the former having led the cast of Nick Cave TV adaptation The Death of Bunny Monroe last year as well as appearing in Darren Aronofsky's Caught Stealing.
He will shortly be reprising his role as Daemon Targaryen in the third run of House of the Dragon and will also be playing the villain opposite Ryan Gosling in next year's Star Wars: Starfighter.
As for Poots, she was widely praised for her leading role in Kristen Stewart's directorial debut The Chronology of Water last year and has also had recent film roles in Hedda and All of You.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
