Journalists at Berlin Film Festival wasted no time asking Callum Turner about rumors that he’s the next James Bond at the press conference for his new film “Rosebush Pruning.”
The 35-year-old British actor — whose name has been swirling as Denis Villeneuve preps his first Bond movie for Amazon — was questioned on the topic just a few minutes into the presser, with the reporter acknowledging that it could be good to “get it out of the way.”
“You’re right, it’s very early for that question,” Turner said with a slight smirk. “I’m not going to comment on it.”
Turner’s co-star, Tracy Letts, then took some heat off him by adding, “I’m sorry, I’m the next James Bond!” to much laughter from the room. Turner replied, “Tracy, I thought you weren’t going to say anything.”
Bond was back on the menu in another question just moments later, when director Karim Aïnouz was asked what a 007 movie that he directed would look like. Letts again jumped to the rescue, saying that Aïnouz was directing “my James Bond.”
The film’s starry cast also includes Riley Keough, Jamie Bell, Elle Fanning, Lukas Gage and Pamela Anderson. All were on hand at the Berlinale press conference besides Keough and Fanning.
The panel was also inevitably asked about politics, which is always a hot-button topic at the Berlinale but has been avoided by many celebrities this year. Letts continued that trend, saying: “I can’t speak for other artists, I don’t necessarily feel comfortable taking away from the work that I’ve done. Obviously, it’s an awkward thing to discuss because of our political situation .. but one thing this movie gets at is that this disparity of wealth breeds bad behavior and, in fact, creates fascism.”
“Rosebush Pruning” follows four American siblings as they “wallow in isolation and their inherited fortune, eschewing the demands of their blind father and seeking love and validation through each other and their latest designer clothes,” according to the film’s synopsis. “When Jack, the eldest brother and linchpin of this family, announces that he is moving in with his girlfriend Martha, blood ties are severed and Ed is forced to uncover the truth surrounding their mother’s death. Generational lies begin to unravel, and the fabric of this family slowly begins to disintegrate.”
The film was written by Yorgos Lanthimos collaborator Efthimis Filippou, who penned the scripts for “Dogtooth,” “The Lobster,” “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” and “Kinds of Kindness,” and loosely based on Marco Bellocchio’s 1965 film “Fists in the Pocket.”
In an exclusive interview with Variety previewing the film, Aïnouz said that he hopes to spark a conversation with the film’s dark themes, which include incest, sexual abuse and murder.
“Only through absurdity can you perhaps touch certain issues,” he said. “I think it’s important to know and to discuss and to understand that sometimes the biggest amount of violence comes from within the family. The way that patriarchy has been naturalized, it’s really something that we need to deal with. There’s a cycle of violence, and perhaps violence is the only way to break that cycle.”