Beast premiere: A chat with Johnny Flynn, Jessie Buckley and Michael Pearce

Beast is the utterly unique and unsettling debut feature film from director Michael Pearce.

Set on his home turf of the British Isle of Jersey, the genre-defying slow-burn thriller-esque fairytale has its roots in the true story of a serial killer nicknamed ‘Beast’ who was loose on the island while Pearce was growing up. Having fired up his imagination as a kid, the story became a point of inspiration for a film which subsequently took the director over seven years to be made a reality.

Period drama-cast actress Jessie Buckley and musician Johnny Flynn put in raw, electric performances as the rebellious outcasts who find love. With the pair leading the charge, Pearce’s story steadily unfolds to reveal unexpected turns of horror and humour.

Continuing what looks to be a growing trend of independent British film exploring regional, rural settings (God’s Own Country, Lady Macbeth, The Levelling to name but a few) Beast is a fascinatingly original and enthralling piece of cinema.

We were there at the film’s London premiere to chat with Buckley and Flynn about what drew them to Pearce’s film and the intense but fun experience they had filming.