‘After The Hunt’ Producer, Cinematographer Enjoy Debate About Film’s Subject – And Its Location: Contenders Los Angeles

After the Hunt dramatizes a lot of the questions that have been asked in the last 10 years. Julia Roberts plays a Yale professor torn between her colleague and a student who accuses him of sexual assault. Luca Guadagnino’s film began with a script from Nora Garrett. Producer Allan Mandelbaum told Deadine’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles crowd that Guadagnino pushed the film in more ambiguous directions.  

“Luca was adamant about leaning into the morally gray area of it all and ambiguity, not making it as clear cut as the original draft of the script was,” Mandelbaum said.

RELATED: Luca Guadagnino On Why He Was Drawn To Dynamics Of Desire & Power In ‘After The Hunt  — Contenders London

It was Garrett’s first produced screenplay. She was previously a hostess at the Chateau Marmont and worked for Meta, but got to take a meeting with Guadagnino at her old hotel. 

“Not only are you going to sit down with Luca Guadagnino, you’re going to do it at your old stomping ground,” Mandelbaum said. 

Mandelbaum hopes the Amazon MGM Studios film, which opened October 17, leaves audiences debating what happened and how the characters should have responded.  

“Hopefully adding to the cultural conversation and the dialogue about these issues and these themes, questioning our own biases and prejudices and how that may influence our beliefs in someone else’s narrative,” Mandelbaum said. “I hope people leave this movie wanting to talk about it and debate it.”

Another major topic for debate in After the Hunt was the film’s location. Set at Yale, the film was shot in England; New England was created with visual effects. Cinematographer Malik Hassan Sayeed visited New Haven before filming. 

“I was able to go myself and really see the quality of light that existed there,” Sayeed said. “Then we came back and that was very helpful for us as we’re re-creating the spaces. We were all surprised. It’s all green screen. All the interiors were green screen. Even the Beinecke, the quad, that’s all blue screen. There’s actually people on the film that I just worked with that went to Yale. They 100% thought we shot there.” 

Mandelbaum felt the ultimate compliment was that the university itself was confused. The official Yale X account posted a reaction to the trailer.  

“The official Yale account said, ‘When did Julia Roberts and Luca Guadagnino shoot a movie on our campus?’” Mandelbaum said. “That’s the greatest compliment.” 

Check out the panel video above.