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Fanny Lye Deliver'd trailer: Maxine Peake and Charles Dance star in new Puritan thriller

Maxine Peake and Charles Dance in Fanny Lye Deliver'd. (Vertigo Releasing)
Maxine Peake and Charles Dance in Fanny Lye Deliver'd. (Vertigo Releasing)

Vertigo Films has today launched the first trailer for Fanny Lye Deliver'd a new 1657-set period thriller starring Maxine Peake and Charles Dance, that is described by its director as a “Puritan Western”.

Peake and Dance play a couple whose quiet Puritan life is turned upside down when a young couple seeking help arrive on their doorstep.

Written and directed by Thomas Clay (The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael, Soi Cowboy) the film also stars Freddie Fox (Black 47, Pride) and Tanya Reynolds (Sex Eduation, Emma).

Watch the first trailer below.

Clay said of his third feature film, “In Fanny Lye Deliver'd, I am exploring the English Revolution in microcosm. There are no Kings or Queens, no royal courts. Just common people with competing opinions and agendas – the Puritan, the Ranter, the burgeoning Quaker, the Royalist in disguise, accompanied by the ‘mob’ to whom he panders.

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“And Fanny in the centre of all this, the common woman who must adapt and survive and forge her own path through all the violence and upheaval that revolution inevitably entails. Alternatively, you might see it as a western – a ‘Puritan Western’ – or a thriller, take your pick. For me, it is all these things.”

The first trailer gives off Witchfinder General vibes, while the poster below evokes Ben Wheatley’s magnificent A Field In England, both of which put it high on our ‘to watch’ list.

The UK artwork for Fanny Lye Deliver'd. (Vertigo Releasing)
The UK artwork for Fanny Lye Deliver'd. (Vertigo Releasing)

The BFI-backed film, shot on 35mm, premiered at the 2019 London Film Festival after spending three years in post-production.

After a troubled production, the film ran out of money during post leading Clay to personally shepherd it over the line including editing and composing the score.

Visitors call in Fanny Lye Deliver'd. (Vertigo Releasing)
Visitors call in Fanny Lye Deliver'd. (Vertigo Releasing)

“One of the ways we realigned the budget was that I agreed to take on a lot more of the post-production,” Clay told Deadline in 2019. “On my previous films I’ve done a lot of the post myself, and we decided I would do the colour grading, a lot of the sound work, among other things. We didn’t want the quality to drop.”

It was met with warm reviews at LFF with Screen calling it “a meticulous work”, while the Guardian praised Peake’s performance as “fierce, strong, intelligent – a convincing depiction of someone who will learn from what she will survive.”

Fanny Lye Deliver'd will be released across digital platforms on 26 June 2020.