A movie that could be budgeted from its own swear jar, period comedy-drama ‘Wicked Little Letters’ will be turning the air blue when it lands in UK cinemas this weekend. Based on real life events that took place in early 1920s England, the film stars Jessie Buckley and Olivia Colman as two acquaintances whose relationship is poisoned by a series of abusive letters. It’s all set in Littlehampton, Sussex, where the events actually took place – a seaside town that became the focus of a whole nation when the mystery behind the poison-pen letters reached the newspapers.
Directed by Thea Sharrock (‘Me Before You’) and penned by writer-comedian Jonny Sweet, the film used a little production magic to bring ’20s Sussex back to life on screen – whispering neighbours, busy police constables, inquisitive broadsheet hacks and all. Here’s how they did it.
Where is Wicked Little Letters filmed?
The films centres around the toxic relationship between Littlehampton’s pious Edith Swan (Colman) and Irish single mum Rose Gooding (Buckley), the woman she accused her of sending a series of insulting and obscene letters. Investigating police officer Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan) quickly realises that Rose may not be the culprit.
Rather than shoot in Littlehampton itself, a radically different-looking town a century on, the production used the nearby Sussex towns of Arundel and Worthing to recreate it, after initially looking at locations in Norfolk.
Art director Romain Hémeray dipped into the archives to find books, as well as sepia postcards, showing Littlehampton as it was in the 1920s. ‘They not only have much better quality than photographs that can ever be found on the internet,’ he says, ‘but they also inform and explain through descriptions why things are and look a certain way’.
Western Road, the street on which Rose and Edith both live, was painstaking reconstructed – sometimes literally – in Arundel, with fences, boards, and corrugated metal added to give extra period detailing.
Eagle-eyed Arundel locals will spot the town’s high street, as well as Bond Street and Tarrant Street in the film. Look out, too, for Worthing beach and lido, which also made a starring appearance in another period flick: Harry Styles drama ‘My Policeman’.
The attention to detail in ‘Wicked Little Letters’ extends to the costumes, too, with pictures sourced of the real Gladys Moss. The character’s costume – flat cap, skirt and scarf – was based on those images.
When does the film get released?
‘Wicked Little Letters’ is in UK cinemas on Friday, February 22. It’s released in Australia on March 21 and US theaters on March 29.
‘Wicked Little Letters’: inside the surprising true story behind the comedy.