Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, George Mackay, Dominic West in ‘& Sons’

For Argentina’s Pablo Trapero, best known for his acclaimed crime drama ‘The Clan’, who directs his first English -language feature film ‘& Sons’, feels both new and familiar.

An adjustment of the novel of the same name by David Gilbert, together with Oscar-winning screenwriter Sarah Polley (“Women Talking”) and Trapero, the drama, which will premiere on September 7 in Tiff, revolves around the world-famous writer An Dyer who is shaken by the demise of a good friend. Faced with his own mortality, he calls on his alienated sons in an attempt to reconcile with them. But when they arrive, he reveals something too far -fetched to believe.

Bill Nighy (“Love, actually”) Dyer, Imelda Staunton (“Downton Abbey”) plays his divorced wife while Dominic West (“The Crown”) plays a crucial supporting role. They lead a Stellar cast that includes Anna Geislerová (“Anthropoid”), as well as George Mackay (“1917”) and Johnny Flynn (“One Life) as the older alienated sons while Noah Jupe (” A Quiet Place “) plays the youngest, Andy.

Although he has previously worked on the English-language series, “Echo 3” is for appletv+ and multi-toutual skein “zerozerozero”, “& sons” indeed the first English-language film by Trapero, but also marks the first time he has worked with an impressive number of Bafta-winning and/or nominated actors. And in the case of Nighy and Staunton, Oscar-nominated to start.

The remarkable pedigree is also behind the camera. It is scored by Emmy-winning “The White Lotus” composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer. Multiemmy winning casting Maven Nina Gold (“Baby Reindeer”) assembled the Stellaire cast.

Trapero notes: “I have been making films and my Cast, especially Bill, Imelda and Dominic-being internationally praised, established actors for many years. And yet they approached every line as if it were their first film, with the same passion and drive to give the best possible performance.”

In a sense, “& sons” reminds him of his latest film “The Quietude” or even “The Clan” or “Rolling Family”, all of which bear themes that he is always deeply interested in exploring: “Not only [about] The family in which we were born, but the ties that we form with the people around us. That emotional circle can be your blood relatives, your friends, your colleagues it is the group that gives us a feeling of connectedness … or, just as powerful, the feeling of not hearing anywhere. “

When adjusting the story, he decided to set it in the UK instead of the original New York setting of the novel. “The story moves in a somewhat abstract house, in a somewhat undefined setting. Although you may recognize Oxford or certain parts of London, the heart of the story unfolds in a more ambiguous space. It can be any house, in every city – or in this case, somewhere and removed from the noise,” he explains.

“There was a real sense of care and mutual respect on the set,” he says and added: “The scenes we were filming did not look like everything I had done before and the same was for bill. Every time we approached a new line, it was about discovering its meaning, it was still a dense dedication.

Add: “And to feel surrounded by people who approach everything with the same kind of passion that we had when we made short films in the film school – that’s just incredible.”

“& Sons” is produced by Infinity Hill (Axel Kuschevatzky, Phin Gynn and Cindy Teeperman), Toronto-based height photos (Christina Piovesan and Emily Kulasa) and Maven Screen Media’s Trudie Styler, Celine Rattray and Jackie.

Trapero also produced because of his own gravel, Matanza Cine.