Tom Hiddleston & Luke Evans push each others buttons in High-Rise (trailer & images)

Martin Amis called the novel “harsh and ingenious ... an intense and vivid bestiary, which lingers unsettlingly in the mind.” High-Rise 1975 novel by J.G. Ballard is one of those books filmmakers have been longing to adapt for a, well, long time. In an odd bit of synchronicity, J.G. Bollard also wrote Empire of the Sun, we looked at the adaptation starring Christian Bale for this past #SaturdayMatinee.

Now they have. The film stars Tom Hiddleston (very much in our sights lately with his take on Hank Williams in I Saw the Light and The Night Manager based on the LeCarré novel) and Luke Evans—who my hubby had the pleasure of working with in Message from the King and I’ll have the pleasure of seeing Mr. Evans as Scott in The Girl on the Train AND as Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. 

Set for release April 28th, High-Rise also stars Sienna Miller, Jeremy Irons, Elizabeth Moss and James Purifoy.

It’s a dark dystopian tale, which to be honest, doesn’t seem that far-fetched when you think about the state of things in 2016 vs when Bollard wrote iy in 1975. At the heart of the story, a hi-rise where the cheapest rents are at the bottom levels, the mid-levels are in the mid-range with the upper floors being the highest priced units. That’s the way it’s always been though, hasn’t it? The apartments on the highest floors having the best views have always carried the highest price tags. Hence the much coveted penthouse units. 

 The apartment dwellers of High-Rise seem to take the elevator buttons they push very seriously. Here’s the description of the book from Simon & Schuster:

When a class war erupts inside a luxurious apartment block, modern elevators become violent battlegrounds and cocktail parties degenerate into marauding attacks on “enemy” floors. In this visionary tale, human society slips into violent reverse as once-peaceful residents, driven by primal urges, re-create a world ruled by the laws of the jungle. 

The posters, especially this one above, remind me of MadMen (good thing) but also 9-11(bad thing). Give the trailer a look, and let me know what you think.