Viva International Pictures and MVP Entertainment proudly present Serenity, a film filled with thought-provoking scenes that will give its viewers more sense of mystery than serenity.
Matthew McConaughey (Academy Award Best Actor for Dallas Buyers Club) plays Baker Dill, a fishing boat captain leading a quiet life in Plymouth Island until his ex-wife Karen shows up with what Matthew has described in an interview as “a very indecent proposal.”
Karen, played by Anne Hathaway (Academy Award Best Supporting Actress for Les Miserables), is now married to a multi-millionaire named Frank, played by Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty, Terminator Genisys).
Talking about her character, Hathaway says that she’s “in a desperate situation” because she is “trapped in a toxic and abusive marriage. She wants Baker to get rid of Frank by taking him out on a fishing tour and dropping him in the ocean for the sharks.
Hathaway reveals that she and Baker “got together when Karen was quite young”. They had a child, but he went to war and it tore their family apart. “And so she has to figure out what she’s gonna do, being a single mom. She finds this guy (Frank) who kinda reminds her of Dill. He likes to fish. She starts to think like maybe she can build a life with him, and then he turns out to be her worst nightmare come true.”
Baker, who is now romancing Constance, a moneyed beauty of Plymouth Island, played by Diane Lane (Academy Award nominee for Unfaithful), is still trying to move on from his troubled past. But can he truly turn his back on his ex-wife? What will it take for him to forget about his conscience and help her out?
Director Steven Knight (Lock, Redemption), who also wrote the screenplay, attests that “Matthew is the best there is” when it comes to playing Baker Dill. He explains that the character “doesn’t give of himself too readily, someone who’s closed in and I thought that was Matthew. Because of the nature of the twist I want beautiful people…and he’s also beautiful.” As a writer, two of Knight’s best known works are Seventh Son and The Girl in the Spider’s Web.
Serenity is McConaughey and Hathaway’s second movie together. The first was Interstellar in 2014.
Asked what drew them to do this movie, Matthew replies, “I saw a character that I could be very personal with, really find an identity that I can understand.” It’s also a well-written story, plus Knight is a writer/director that he trusts.
Hathaway agrees with McConaughey about the story being creative and extraordinary. “I got half-way through (reading) and I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m completely in and I just let it carry me away. And I wind up in a place that was very different than I thought it was going to, but it was a place of feeling and intelligence and soulfulness.”
Serenity was filmed in Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean off the southeast coast of Africa. It opens in cinemas today.
