Posted in: Movies, Searchlight | Tagged: Anya Taylor-Joy, movies, searchlight, The Menu, the witch

Anya Taylor-Joy Turned Down A Disney Pilot For The Witch

Since she burst onto the scene in The Witch back in 2015, Anya Taylor-Joy has been making her way through all sorts of fun genres in Hollywood. From more independent features to critically acclaimed Netflix series to a forgotten X-Men movie, to say that Taylor-Joy has been blowing up would be an understatement. She is taking on Furiosa, which just wrapped filming and is due to come out in 2024, and The Menu from Searchlight comes out later this month. It's hard to imagine Taylor-Joy going for anything but the weird and eccentric roles, but the story was almost very different. In a long interview with Harpers Bazaar, Taylor-Joy explained how, after only doing a few minor television roles, she got offered her leading role on Robert Eggers' The Witch the same day she was offered a Disney pilot.

"I remember it was the same day I got asked to be in a Disney Channel pilot, and it was so exciting to be offered anything at all that I ran around the house like a loon," she says. "But I just had this really good feeling about The Witch that made me willing to forego the Disney experience for the thing that felt unknown to me, the thing that felt sacred."

It was a risk that many young actors likely wouldn't take, opting to go for the safer-sounding role at something like Disney, but The Witch was clearly the right decision for Taylor-Joy. Not only was it her breakout role, but it was also a role that helped define her entire career going forward.

"It gave me the cornerstones of the way I work now, which is essentially the idea that there is no hierarchy on set: you work hard, you stay on top of the shots, and you don't assume anyone else is going to do that for you," she says. "Your title doesn't stop at actor – you're a creative on this film, and that's how you need to approach it."

Taylor-Joy is still at the beginning of what looks like an extremely impressive career on the horizon. Would she have made it if she had taken that Disney pilot? Maybe, but the star that is forming in front of us would shine much differently were it not for The Witch and a secluded set in the middle of nowhere.

The Menu: Cast, Summary, Release Date

A couple, Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Tyler (Nicholas Hoult), travel to a coastal island in the Pacific Northwest to eat at an exclusive restaurant, Hawthorn, where the reclusive, globally celebrated Chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) has prepared a lavish tasting menu for select special guests. Joining the couple are three young, already inebriated tech bros, Bryce (Rob Yang), Soren (Arturo Castro) and Dave (Mark St. Cyr), an older wealthy couple and repeat clients, Anne and Richard (Judith Light and Reed Birney), renowned restaurant critic Lillian Bloom (Janet McTeer) and her slavish magazine editor Ted (Paul Adelstein), and a famous middle-aged movie star (John Leguizamo) with his assistant Felicity (Aimee Carrero). Hosted by the immaculately dressed front of house staff led by general Elsa (Hong Chau), the evening unfolds with increasing tension at each of the guest tables as secrets are revealed and unexpected courses are served. With wild and violent events occurring, Slowik's motivation begins to rattle the diners as it becomes increasingly apparent that his elaborate menu is designed to catalyze to a shocking finale.

Searchlight Pictures presents, a Hyperobject Industries / Gary Sanchez production, THE MENU, from director Mark Mylod. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau, Janet McTeer, Reed Birney, Judith Light, Paul Adelstein, Aimee Carrero, Arturo Castro, Rob Yang, Mark St. Cyr, and John Leguizamo, written by Seth Reiss & Will Tracy. It will open on November 17th.

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