In conversation with the director and star of The Little Stranger

Adapted from the 2009 Booker Prize-nominated novel of the same name by celebrated author Sarah Waters, The Little Stranger (in cinemas 21 September) is a darkly mysterious drama directed by Oscar nominee, Lenny Abrahamson (Room), and starring cross-generational British/Irish talent including Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter, Charlotte Rampling and Ruth Wilson.

The Little Stranger tells the story of Dr Faraday, the son of a housemaid, who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor. During the long hot summer of 1948, he is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall, where his mother once worked.

The Hall has been home to the Ayres family for more than twocenturies, but it is now in decline and its inhabitants - mother, son anddaughter - are haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life. 

When he takes on his new patient, Faraday has no idea how closely, and how disturbingly, the family's story is about to become entwined with his own.

"One of the most originalBritish horror films of recent times." - The Independent | ★★★★ The Guardian

With comparisons to books and films including The Innocents, Rebecca, Great Expectations and The Beguiled, the text sits on the Edexcel English Literature A Level syllabus alongside other gothic fiction such as Dracula and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Our Film Curator Joe interviewed both director Lenny Abrahamson and actor Domhnall Gleeson for a podcast in advance of The Little Stranger's theatrical release (21 September). We asked them a wide variety of questions about their approach to the film, its characters, and its themes, designed specifically to support English literature teachers using The Little Stranger in the classroom.

Abrahamson is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker, and has directed films including Room and What Richard Did. Domhnall Gleeson is a BIFA-nominated actor who has starred in titles such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Ex Machina, Brooklyn and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The two have previously collaborated on Frank.

"Deliciously macabre" - The Washington Post | ★★★★ Financial Times