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The Royal Hotel (film)

The Royal Hotel
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKitty Green
Written by
Based onHotel Coolgardie
by Pete Gleeson
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyMichael Latham
Edited byKasra Rassoulzadegan
Music byJed Palmer
Production
companies
Distributed byTransmission Films
Release dates
  • 1 September 2023 (2023-09-01) (Telluride)
  • 23 November 2023 (2023-11-23) (Australia)
Running time
91 minutes[1]
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1 million[2][3]

The Royal Hotel is a 2023 Australian psychological thriller film directed by Kitty Green, who co-wrote the screenplay with Oscar Redding. The film stars Julia Garner, Jessica Henwick, Toby Wallace, and Hugo Weaving. It is inspired by the 2016 documentary Hotel Coolgardie by Pete Gleeson.

The Royal Hotel premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on 1 September 2023. It was released in Australia by Transmission Films on 23 November 2023.

Plot

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Two young American backpackers, Hanna and Liv, are travelling through Australia. After running out of money while partying in Sydney, they take up an employment agency's offer to work as bartenders at the Royal Hotel, a pub in a remote outback mining town. Upon arrival, they meet the pub's owner Billy and his wife Carol, who also works as the pub's chef. Hanna and Liv's first shift is handling the raucous farewell party for their predecessors, English tourists Jules and Cassie. While working, they meet several of the regulars. Hanna is disturbed by the casual sexism, misogynistic jokes, and inappropriate behaviour displayed by the pub patrons, who are mostly men, although Liv brushes it off as a culture shock.

The next day, Jules and Cassie are driven back to town by a mysterious local named Dolly. Matty, a young regular at the pub who crudely flirted with Hanna and Liv the previous night, pays them a visit and the group goes swimming nearby; Hanna begins to bond with Matty. Returning, they observe Billy and Carol's unstable relationship and learn that Billy has not paid deliveryman Tommy for the last three months, much to Carol's chagrin. That night at the girls' upstairs living quarters, while Liv is asleep, Hanna rebuffs Matty's sexual advances, before ordering him to leave. In the morning, Matty apologises to Hanna. Over the next few nights, Hanna continues to endure harassment and microaggressions by the pub patrons, while Liv is embraced by the regulars for her easygoing attitude.

Liv begins to slack off at work and joins the regulars in drinking, striking up a friendship with local miner Teeth. During one quiet night, after an intoxicated Liv retires early and leaves Hanna to work alone, a drunk and aggressive Dolly antagonises Hanna and a few patrons before he is finally forced to leave by Billy. Hanna is rattled by the incident, but Liv believes Dolly to be harmless. Shortly afterwards, when a snake invades the girls' living quarters, Dolly offers to retrieve it. The next morning, Hanna discovers Dolly has left the dead snake in a jar of alcohol with her name on it, further upsetting her, but Liv once again dismisses Hanna's concerns.

After unsuccessfully attempting to get Dolly banned from the pub, Hanna announces that she and Liv are quitting, but Billy refuses to pay them. During an argument with Carol over paying Tommy and the girls, Billy injures himself in a drunken fall, forcing Carol to drive him to the nearest hospital. Before leaving, Carol reveals she has taken most of the money to pay Tommy and has left some for Hanna and Liv. She instructs the pair to make as much money as they can and then leave when the next bus arrives in two days.

On their last night at the pub, Hanna throws a birthday party for Liv. Learning from Teeth that Liv has left with Dolly, Hanna soon finds her drunk in Dolly's car. When Dolly attempts to drive off, Hanna intervenes, slashing one of his tyres with an axe. Hanna and Liv return to the pub where they argue. The next morning, Hanna awakens to let Matty in, only to discover Dolly is with him. The two men break in and chase Hanna to her living quarters. Liv leaves with Dolly while an agitated Hanna attempts to ward off Matty with the axe. A scuffle ensues and Hanna is injured.

As Dolly and Matty take Liv to their car, Hanna steps outside. Alarmed at her friend's injuries, Liv breaks free from Dolly and reunites with Hanna. As Dolly approaches, Teeth smashes into his car with his truck and proceeds to assault Dolly as Matty flees. Retreating to the pub, the girls begin to break several bottles. When Teeth walks in, declaring that he beat up Dolly to claim Liv for himself, Liv angrily turns him away. With the pub covered in liquor, Hanna sets the building on fire. Hanna and Liv walk away in silence as the Royal Hotel burns.

Cast

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Production

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Development

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The film reunited actress Julia Garner with director Kitty Green

Kitty Green co-wrote the script with Oscar Redding,[4] inspired by Pete Gleeson's 2016 documentary Hotel Coolgardie, which chronicles two young Finnish female backpackers who face misogyny while working as barmaids at a pub in the mining town of Coolgardie, Western Australia.[5][6][7] Production comes from See-Saw Films through producers Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Liz Watts along with Scarlett Pictures' Kath Shelper. HanWay Films and Cross City Films handled international sales, with Neon taking North American distribution rights, in April 2022.[4][8]

Casting

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Hugo Weaving and Jessica Henwick joined the cast in April 2022.[9] Toby Wallace was confirmed to have joined the cast in August 2022.[10]

Filming

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The Yatina Hotel where the film was shot.

Principal photography took place in the town of Yatina and other areas around South Australia in August 2022. A disused bar in Yatina, a town with a population of 29, was used for The Royal Hotel.[11] While the upstairs living area of the building was used for filming, scenes of the bar on the ground floor were shot on a separate stage.[12]

Filming took place over 21 days.[12] Green and cinematographer Michael Latham storyboarded many of the scenes prior to filming.[12]

Release

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The Royal Hotel had its world premiere at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on September 1, 2023.[13][14] It also screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival on 7 September 2023.[15][16] It was released by Neon in the United States on 6 October 2023,[17] and was released by Transmission Films in Australia on 23 November 2023.

Critical response

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 139 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "A chilling immersion into a place and time fraught with constant danger, The Royal Hotel reunites Kitty Green and Julia Garner to electrifying effect."[18] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[19]

Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter called the fim, "a well-etched story on dread overload".[20] Writing for RogerEbert.com, Marya E. Gates described the film as "a Gen Z twist on the Australian classic Wake in Fright".[21] She added, The Royal Hotel "remains a chilling and tense examination of the Outback’s toxic alcohol-fueled culture. Green continues to establish herself as an insightful chronicler of the minor yet devastating terrors of violent masculinity that many women endure everywhere they go."[21]

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ "The Royal Hotel (18)". BBFC. 9 October 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  2. ^ "The Royal Hotel (2023)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  3. ^ "The Royal Hotel". The Numbers. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  4. ^ a b Vlessing, Etan (27 April 2022). "Neon Nabs Julia Garner's The Royal Hotel Thriller". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  5. ^ Quinn, Karl (24 November 2023). "The real-life roots of outback horror film The Royal Hotel". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 25 November 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  6. ^ Li, Shirley (4 October 2023). "The Royal Hotel Taps Into Every Female Traveler's Fears". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 5 October 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  7. ^ Turner, Kayla (22 March 2024). "7 Biggest Changes The Royal Hotel Makes To The Terrifying True Story". Screen Rant. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  8. ^ Bergeson, Samantha (27 April 2022). "Neon Buys Assistant Team Julia Garner and Kitty Green's Next Film 'The Royal Hotel'". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  9. ^ Yossman, K.J. (12 April 2022). "Matrix Stars Jessica Henwick, Hugo Weaving Join Julia Garner In Kitty Green's Thriller The Royal Hotel". Variety. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  10. ^ Keast, Jackie (10 August 2022). "Toby Wallace joins cast of Kitty Green's 'The Royal Hotel'". The Latch. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  11. ^ Anderson, Stephanie (16 August 2022). "Inventing Drama: Cameras Are Rolling on Julia Garner-Fronted Aussie Flick The Royal Hotel". The Latch. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  12. ^ a b c Canfield, David (6 October 2023). "How 'The Royal Hotel' Pulls Off the Most Potent Cinematic Tension of the Year". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  13. ^ Davis, Clayton (30 August 2023). "Telluride Lineup Includes World Premieres of 'Saltburn,' 'The Bikeriders' and 'Rustin' With Tributes for Yorgos Lanthimos and Wim Wenders". Variety. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  14. ^ "Program Guide" (PDF). Telluride Film Festival. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  15. ^ "The Convert, The Royal Hotel, The New Boy selected for TIFF". IF Magazine. 25 July 2023. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  16. ^ "The Royal Hotel". Toronto International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 18 August 2023. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  17. ^ Bergeson, Samantha (7 September 2023). "'The Royal Hotel' Trailer: Julia Garner Is Trapped in a Living Nightmare for Kitty Green Reunion". IndieWire. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  18. ^ "The Royal Hotel". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 27 January 2024. Edit this at Wikidata
  19. ^ "The Royal Hotel". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  20. ^ Linden, Sheri (3 September 2023). "The Royal Hotel Review: Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick in Kitty Green's Bruising Outback Drama". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  21. ^ a b Gates, Marya E. (5 October 2023). "The Royal Hotel". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  22. ^ "Cinéfest reveals 2023 award winners". Sudbury.com. 28 September 2023.
  23. ^ Cain, Sian (8 December 2023). "The Newsreader, Deadloch and Colin from Accounts lead TV nominations". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
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