The Riot Club

The Riot Club
UK theatrical poster
Directed by	Lone Scherfig
Produced by	Graham Broadbent Peter Czernin
Written by	Laura Wade
Based on	Posh by Laura Wade
Starring	Sam Claflin Max Irons Douglas Booth Jessica Brown Findlay Holliday Grainger Freddie Fox Ben Schnetzer Olly Alexander
Cinematography	Sebastian Blenkov
Edited by	Jake Roberts
Production company	Blueprint Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures International
Release dates	19 September 2014 (2014-09-19)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	$3.5 million [1]

The Riot Club is a 2014 British drama film directed by Lone Scherfig and written by Laura Wade, based on Wade's 2010 play Posh.^[2] The film stars Max Irons, Sam Claflin and Douglas Booth.^[3] It is set among the Riot Club, a fictional all-male, exclusive dining club at Oxford University. When the play Posh premiered, the Riot Club was often described as a thinly veiled version of the real-life Bullingdon Club, or High Trees Society, although according to Wade it is entirely fictitious.^[4]

Synopsis

Alistair (Sam Claflin) and Miles (Max Irons), both with aristocratic connections, start their first year at Oxford University. Though they are very different — Miles is friendly and level-headed who does not care that his girlfriend Lauren (Holliday Grainger) comes from a lower background, whilst Alistair is an insecure, arrogant and cold-hearted snob with aspirations to follow his friend's uncle, Jeremy (Tom Hollander), a Conservative MP — the common ground is that they both become members of the Riot Club, a long established elite drinking club priding itself on hedonism and the belief that money can buy anything.

Alistair takes the club in more of a competitive fashion and ends up hating Miles. Having been barred from most establishments in Oxford, they have their annual dinner at the function room in a country pub, where their raucous behaviour annoys other patrons though they reimburse Chris, the landlord. After hiring a prostitute who refuses to perform group oral sex, Alistair takes Miles' phone and texts Lauren without Miles knowing, whom they proposition to Miles' disgust. Getting progressively more drunk and ingesting drugs, they start to wreck the room, and when Chris comes to confront them, Alistair punches him followed by the others who viciously attack him, sending him to hospital. Miles attempts to stop them, by calling for an ambulance.

The boys are all arrested but believing that the club is more important than the individual, they agree not to give statements and go on to suggest that Miles, as the newest club member, should take the blame for the attack on Chris. Alistair's skin is then found underneath Chris' fingernails, meaning they can arrest and charge him. Miles' now-ex girlfriend refuses to talk to him, and Miles is approached by the new president of the Riot Club (Guy Bellingfield) to re-join next year, but after nearly having to leave university because of this scandal, he decides to leave the club, a decision which the new president mocks.

Alistair is invited to a meeting with Jeremy, who asks for the Riot Club to be kept out of future court appearances, and assures Alistair that in spite of being kicked out of Oxford, the boy is still a Riot member. Though Alistair is at first aggressively dismissive of Jeremy's proposed assistance, Alistair is brought around when Jeremy offers the boy a position in his office and an assured future. The film concludes with Alistair leaving the meeting with Jeremy, a smug smile on his face as he walks down the street.

Cast

• Max Irons as Miles 'Milo' Richards - A first-year history student who joins the Riot Club. Miles possesses the 'honourable' title which implies that his father is either an Earl, Baron or Viscount. Miles is politically left and becomes disillusioned and frustrated with the actions of his club mates. He attended Westminster School.^[5]
• Sam Claflin as Alistair Ryle - A first-year history student whose brother, Sebastian, was considered a 'legendary' member of the Riot Club. Alistair is politically right, leading to intense conflict and rivalry with Miles. Alistair attended Harrow School, unlike his brother, who attended Eton.^[6]
• Douglas Booth as Harry Villiers - An older, charismatic student whose family is quite wealthy, though they partially maintain this by allowing tourists to view their home, something which deeply rankles Harry. His uncle, Jeremy, was previously a member of the Riot Club. Educated at Eton.^[6]
• Holliday Grainger as Lauren - A Northern first-year student from a middle class/working class family who enters into a relationship with Miles at the start of the film.
• Freddie Fox as James Leighton-Masters - The president of the club; he is criticized by the other members of the club for scaling back the club's activities in an effort to not jeopardize his future.
• Natalie Dormer as Charlie - An escort hired by Harry.^[7]
• Gordon Brown as Chris - Owner of the pub where the club has their dinner.
• Jessica Brown Findlay as Rachel - Daughter of Chris and a waitress at his pub.
• Sam Reid as Hugo Fraser-Tyrwhitt - An older student whose family, though aristocratic, is not financially well-off. He attended Westminster with Miles and although they didn't socialize, Miles remembers Hugo composing limericks in Latin, something which is implied got him bullied. Hugo is homosexual, and has a romantic interest in Miles.
• Ben Schnetzer as Dimitri Mitropoulos - An older student of Greek heritage who seems to act as the club's primary bankroll. It is also suggested that Dimitri is nouveau riche. He appears to have a close friendship with Guy Bellingfield, though it is the very same member who constantly mocks Dimitri and his heritage.
• Matthew Beard as Guy Bellingfield - An older student who makes no secret of his desire to succeed James as president of the club. He is close friends with Dimitri, though he often makes jokes about his Greek heritage. He presents himself as very enthusiastic with little to no regard for any serious matters.
• Tom Hollander as Jeremy Villiers MP - Harry's uncle and a successful Conservative MP. In the play, he is Guy's godfather.
• Jack Farthing as George Balfour - A 'country gentleman' who displays enthusiastic interest and knowledge in farming, farming equipment, pheasants and llamas. Balfour seems more egalitarian than some of his fellow club mates, and spends time with his family's tenant farmers, though Alistair manipulates Balfour's insecurity about his position with the farmers to convince him to take part.
• Olly Alexander as Toby Maitland - An older student who appears to have a very close friendship with Ed. Attended Eton.
• Josh O'Connor as Ed Montgomery - An older student who appears to have a very close friendship with Toby. Attended Eton.
• Andrew Woodall as Alistair's father.
• Anastasia Hille as Alistair's mother.
• Julian Wadham as Miles' father.
• Geraldine Somerville as Miles' mother.
• Harry Lloyd as Lord Ryot.

Production

On 5 February 2013 it was reported that HanWay and Blueprint Pictures would produce the adaptation of the play Posh written by Laura Wade. The producers would be Graham Broadbent and Pete Czernin, with the BFI Film Fund and Film4 Productions.^[2] On 15 March 2013 Robert Pattinson, Sam Claflin, Max Irons and Douglas Booth were understood to be under consideration to play the lead.^[8] On 18 March Max Irons was confirmed as the lead.^[5] On 19 May 2013 Sam Claflin also joined the cast, as well as Douglas Booth.^[6] On 20 May 2013 Universal Pictures International acquired the film for UK and Irish rights.^[9] On 11 July 2013 Natalie Dormer also joined the cast.^[7]

Filming

The shooting of the film began on 30 June 2013 in Oxford, England.^[10] The crew were spotted during the filming of scenes at Magpie Lane.^[3] Filming also took place at Pinewood studios and Winchester College.

Marketing

The first trailer for the film was released on 16 May 2014.^[11]

References

External links

• The Riot Club at the Internet Movie Database
• The Riot Club at Rotten Tomatoes