Imagine being a teenager in boarding school and some hot man was suddenly living downstairs. Well, imagine if that man is Colin Farrell. That’s what happens in “The Beguiled,” and let’s just say Colin’s enough to drive these Southern belles mad.
Damn Yankees! In “The Beguiled,” a wounded Union soldier finds shelter at an all-girls boarding school right in the middle of the Civil War.
Nicole Kidman (as Miss Martha): “We do not propose to entertain you.”
Colin Farrell (as Corporal McBurney): “You’ll find I’m easily amused.”
Nicole Kidman (as Miss Martha): “You won’t be here long enough for that.”
Colin Farrell: “He’s a Yankee soldier, so the girls feel threatened by that.”
Colin Farrell plays Corporal McBurney. And the Colonel knows darn well, you can’t put a red-blooded man in that kind of tempting situation.
Collin Farrell: “I think the greatest danger for McBurney could come from something that has nothing to do with North and South. It’s nothing to do with geography, politics, war. It was just that he was a man.”
As a Union deserter, Farrell’s not fighting for the North.
He’s just fighting his urges … and the girls just want him to surrender to them.
Elle Fanning (as Alicia): “Can I get you anything?”
Soon, the real war is between the young women fighting for Colin’s affection.
Elle Fanning: “I’m a little wild and rebellious, so they’re just trying to — Kirsten’s character is trying to kind of calm me down a bit.”
Kirsten Dunst: “She’s a naughty girl, and she was sent to our school because she’s, you know, sexually exploratory, and for that age, it’s just inappropriate.”
Too bad there’s just not enough Colin to go around.
Colin Farrell (as Corporal McBurney): “Come with me.”
On the surface they’re all sweet as pie.
Elle Fanning (as Alicia): “I hope you like apple pie.”
Kirsten Dunst (as Edwina): “Is that my recipe?”
Elle Fanning (as Edwina): “It is.”
It’s their Southern proper manners that keep things polite, but director Sofia Coppola says you can feel the tension boiling under the surface.
Sofia Coppola: “I just think that’s so interesting that women can give a glance and a guy will be like, ‘What? She didn’t say anything,’ but it says so much so I wanted to convey that dynamic of how women interact.”
Nicole Kidman (as Miss Martha): “We ask for your protection over our school, and we pray that we will be kept from harm throughout the night.”
“The Beguiled” is currently out in theaters.
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