Copyright /FILM
This article contains discussions of sexual assault. Luca Guadagnino's "After the Hunt," which hit theaters on October 10, has been making headlines for its mostly negative reviews from prominent movie critics. (Even /Film's Bill Bria gave it a pretty middling review.) So, what do Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri, who star in the film alongside Julia Roberts and Michael Stuhlbarg, think about the pretty dour response to their latest project? Both actors spoke exclusively to the Radio Times about the reaction to "After the Hunt," and I have to say that both of them crafted beautifully diplomatic answers to the feedback for their film — which, I should note, is a study of the "#MeToo" movement that addresses the issue of sexual assault on a university campus (and, for that matter, amongst colleagues). "We were talking earlier about how great it is to be a part of something that there's no consensus on, in a way," Garfield told the outlet, regarding a conversation he apparently had with Edebiri. "How rare that is, and how strange that is, and how kind of exciting and liberating that is." Garfield continued by saying that artists often want a strong reaction to their work: "Sometimes as a creative person, or as a person that's putting work into the world for people to have opinions about, there's a kind of a seduction, or a kind of temptation to want just a consensus." When that consensus is overwhelmingly good, Garfield says, it can be a little dull. "But there's something quite expanding and liberating about going, 'Oh, everyone is just having their own very subjective response to this piece of work,'" he mused. "And suddenly that becomes the story, in a way, and that becomes maybe more — I don't know — growthful or invigorating or challenging." Ayo Edebiri, best known for "The Bear" and her now-deleted but forever legendary Letterboxd account, also weighed in on the minor stir caused by the "After the Hunt" reviews. (Luca Guadagnino's track record of late has been almost impeccable, so this does seem like a rare miss for him and his actors, all of whom have pretty positive reputations in Hollywood.) "Even just reading and meeting with Luca, feeling like, 'Oh, this is going to be spicy and a challenge and a thing that's going to make me look at my convictions or my preconceived notions or my own personal histories or whatever,'" Edebiri said of her role as a young woman who experiences an assault (more on that shortly). According to Edebiri, the people behind "After the Hunt" — by which she presumably means Guadagnino, Andrew Garfield, Julia Roberts, and the other artists who worked on the movie — had a lot of in-depth talks about the film's difficult subject matter, which helped inform her performance — and that seems to be what matters most to Edebiri. "Throughout the whole process, we were just having these conversations, and so to feel that mirrored ..." Edebiri trailed off before continuing. "I feel after this process I've just learned so much and felt so much, and so to feel that mirrored is really cool." As for Garfield, he noted that a person's reaction to the movie can be quite telling, referencing a late screening of the movie at the 2025 London Film Festival. "Everyone I spoke to [...] I was like, 'Oh, you're responding this way because of this. Oh, you're responding this way because of what happened in your life, here," he remarked. "It's like a bellwether." Now that we know how two of the stars of "After the Hunt" are handling critiques of Luda Guadagnino's latest film, let's go back a little bit and dive into what the movie is really about. (Spoilers for the plot of the film to follow!) After Alma Imhoff (Julia Roberts) returns to her post as a philosophy professor at Yale University and wraps up a recent medical leave, she holds a dinner party along with her husband Frederik (Michael Stuhlbarg) and invites her closest friend Hank Gibson (Andrew Garfield), as well as PhD candidate Maggie Resnick (Ayo Edebiri). When Maggie doesn't show up to class in the party's aftermath, Alma tries to figure out what went wrong ... at which point Maggie tells Alma that Hank walked her home, invited himself inside, and sexually assaulted her. When Alma shows signs of not fully believing Maggie, things get much, much worse — and Alma's misguided attempts to stand up for Maggie, including revealing Maggie's accusation to the university's dean, go completely awry. As it turns out, Alma's past experiences may be coloring her view of the situation, causing a massive fallout between her, Maggie, Hank, and leading to further health problems for Alma herself. Reviews of "After the Hunt" have, frankly, accused the movie of being "toothless" when it comes to tackling the thorny and very serious topic of sexual assault, mostly saying that the film's stance isn't actually firm enough. Still, Edebiri and Garfield stand by their project — and you can decide for yourself, because it's in theaters now. If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
