This facet is also intriguing since How to Make a Killing is ostensibly a film noir throwback as well, complete with its own femme fatale (Margaret Qualley) and a root in 1940s cinema, albeit of the British variety since it is loosely inspired by the 1949 English comedy, Kind Hearts and Coronets.
“It’s funny how the original is so deeply entrenched in British classism, yet how incredibly John has made it feel so American,” observes Jessica Henwick, who plays Ruth, a woman Becket is also drawn to despite her lacking the cutthroat ambition of a Wall Street bro.
And the actor who plays the man between her and Becket, Zach Woods as the Redfellow ne’er-do-well Noah, even points out that the Global Social Mobility Index of 2020 ranked the UK as having a higher degree of class mobility than the U.S. (although both are, notably, not even ranked among the top 20 these days).
Says Woods, “There’s less barriers to socioeconomic advancement in a place where you can grow up three hundred yards from a place and have a totally different accent than your neighbor, yet still even there it’s easier to get ahead.”
Given both How to Make a Killing’s own lineage and stereotypes about UK culture versus the U.S., it’s a topic director Ford has a lot of fun with. But then, the whole movie features a curious joie de vivre despite offing new characters left and right. One such target includes Topher Grace in the delicious role of a Redfellow who’s gone into Christian rock evangelizing, and has the mega-church cult following to prove it.
“I’ve always been fascinated, even before I got the role, with not only religious leaders but also self-help gurus,” Grace reveals. “Basically it’s under the banner of anyone who gets up in front of the rest of the world and says, ‘I can show you how to lead a better life.’ I always thought that was hilarious, and then on top of it, there were a couple real specific people that I watched closely, and to me it’s endlessly hilarious because it’s so ironic.”
