A
2021 British, U.S.A. television co-production film [Wolf Gate Productions LTD,
Eight
Rooks Ltd., Drama Republic, All 3 Media]
Producers:
Elinor Blick, Hugo Blick, Emily Blunt, Greg Brenman, Mona Quareshi,
Daniel Toland, Collin Written, Nicolás Tapia
Director:
Hugo Blick
Story:
Hugo Blick
Screenplay:
Hugo Blick
Cinematography:
Arnau Valls Colomer [color]
Music:
Federico Jusid
Running
time: 6 episodes x 60 minutes
Story:
Set in the mythic mid-American landscape in the year of 1890, The English
follows Cornelia Locke, an Englishwoman who arrives into the new and wild
landscape of the West to wreak revenge on the man she sees as responsible for
the death of her son. Upon meeting Eli Whipp, an ex-cavalry scout and member of
the Pawnee Nation by birth, they join together and discover a shared history
which must be defeated at all costs, if either of them are to survive.
Cast:
Lady
Cornelia Locke – Emily Blunt
Eli
Whipp – Chaske Spencer
Thomas
Trafford – Tom Hughes
Thin
Kelly – Steve Wall (Stephen Wall)
Sheriff
Robert Marshall - Stephen Rea (Graham Rea)
Martha
Myers – Valerie Pachner
Billy
Myers – Nicholas Aaron
Jed
Myers – Walter Klink
Clay
Jackson – Cristian Solimeno
David
Melmont – Rafe Spall
Jerome
McClintock – Julian Bleach
Red
Morgan – Malcolm Storry
Kills
on Water – William Belleau
Timothy
Flynn – Miguel Alvarez
Black
Eyed Mog – Nichola McAuliffe
Madoc
Morgan – Kristian Philips
Keir
Grant – Ian Pirie
Hans
Steiger - Maarten Dannenberg
Herr
Brubacher - Christian Stamm
Frau
Brubacher – Julie Nash
John
Clarke – Gary Farmer
Katie
Clarke - Kimberly Guerrero
Evan
Morgan – Arturo Vázquez
Rachel
- Matilda Ziobrowski
Touching
Ground – Tonantzin Carmelo
Flathead
Jackson – Jack Klaff
Tap
O’Neil – Tadhg Murphy
Cam
McKewan – Jimmy Shaw
Major
MacKay – Stuart Milligan
Captain
Grann – Edward Cook
Captain
Clegg – Jan Knightley
Captain
Knox – Sule Rimi
Sergeant
Ellroy – Andy Williams
Dutch
Van de Lote – Ben Temple
Trooper
Charlie White – Rod Rondeaux
Trooper
Scott – Sam Alexander
Young
White Moon – Corey Bird
Simon
– Benjamin Victor
Hogarth
Soloman – Adam Brown
Lead
horseman – Cokey Falkow
Herr
Steiner – Maarten Dannenberg
Brubacher
– Christian Stamm
Master
of ceremonies – Jamie Wilkes
Tobias
Biskind – Christian Patterson
Shotgun
rider – Julian Nicholson
Driver
– Alex Walton
Clegg
– Jan Knightley
Drew
- Jon Bermúdez
Sebold
Cusk – Toby Jones
E.J.
Jenson - Nathan Osgood
Grover
Best – Tom Godwin
Richard
M. Watts - Ciarán Hinds
Red
Elk – Sheldon Peters Wolfchild
White
Moon - Forrest Goodluck
Civilian
woman in sheriff’s tend – Alba Enriquez
Piano tuner - Matthew Zajac
Stunt
coordinators: Rebeca
López Estacio, José Antonio Oña Sánchez, Domingo Beltrán
Stunts:
Domingo Beltrán, Pablo Casillas, Samuel Icasto (Samuel Álvarez),
Jeremy Oña, David Munoz Sacristan, Ricardo Rocca, Brandy Rodríguez,
Chemi Hitos, Anton Kostov, William Monrabal Cook, Alicia Moreno, Iván Pérez
Rodríguez, Juan José Rodríguez (Juan Gil)
Stunt
double: Lorenzo Casares (Lorenzo Baturone) for Eli Whipp
Stunt
double: Lucile Perez for Emily Blunt
Stunt
double: Miguel Juzgado for Red Elk
Stunt
double: Alicia Moreno for Tonantzin Carmelo
Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer are two lost souls in search of meaning in this 1890s-set six-part drama
Financial Times
By Dan Einav
November 4, 2022
[‘Nothing fosters camaraderie quite like a shootout
against cold-blooded mercenaries’]
In the 1960s we had the spaghetti western. Now the British film-maker Hugo Blick brings us the cream-tea western with his new BBC series about a patrician Englishwoman who traverses the American frontier of the 1890s in pursuit of her son’s killer.
The English is a six-part drama steeped in the storytelling traditions and visual vernacular of the genre. The tale it tells is a simple, time-honoured one of retribution, justice and self-determination, set in a landscape at once spare and stifling. But though our two heroes are the classic lost souls in search of meaning, they’re not exactly archetypal.
One is Lady Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt), who may not be the first woman to make her mark in the machismo of the Old West, but is probably the first to do so from a family who “own half of Devon”. The other is Chaske Spencer’s Eli Whipp, a Pawnee native and former cavalry sergeant in the American army. That his identity and the broader historical context of this period is so foregrounded feels especially significant in a genre hardly renowned for its approach towards representation.
The duo first cross paths outside a standalone hotel where Cornelia emerges from a carriage, a shock of vital pink in an arid prairie, to find the manager (Ciarán Hinds) in the process of torturing Eli — who had been passing through on his quest to reclaim ancestral land in Nebraska. Her attempt to intervene is met with indifference by the stoic Eli and a beating from her host. This, they suggest, is no country for young women.
Those who underestimate Cornelia do so at their peril. She displays true grit in the face of the hotelier who, it transpires, plans to kill her until help comes in the form of Eli, fresh from escaping his own dramatic ordeal. He assures her that he was only acting in his own interest, and is seemingly unmoved by her plea for support on her revenge mission.
What follows is a treacherous cross-country journey in which the two forge an engaging rapport built on shared experiences of loss and existential uncertainty. And nothing fosters camaraderie quite like a shootout against cold-blooded mercenaries.
Between the exquisitely choreographed stand-offs — all twitching fingers and shifting eyes — the Morricone-inflected soundtrack, the sweeping vistas and the cool, broody dialogue, Blick delivers a stirring love letter to the great westerns of yesteryear. But this is as much a human drama as it is a laudable pastiche, driven by strong, textured characters who manage to stand out in the vast expanse. Amid the ubiquity of death, The English doesn’t forget to emphasise the richness and complexity of life.
★★★★☆
On BBC2 from November 10 at 9pm and on Amazon Prime in
the US from November 11
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