The juicy production secrets and behind the scenes facts you need to know about Saltburn

Right I’m not even going to warn you that there’s spoilers in this article because by now everyone and their dog has seen Saltburn and is, rightly so, either absolutely obsessed with it or marginally horrified. We’ve all started 2024 by hyper fixating on the film, specifically the relationship between its two leads Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan, and with the amount of content about it online you might think you couldn’t possibly learn anything new about the movie but I can guarantee you don’t know all the production secrets from Saltburn because trust me, there are A LOT.

With the amount of super niche details and absolute genius that went into the film by its creator Emerald Fennel, I see something new every time I watch it and by that I mean every time I rewatch the same clips from it on my TikTok For Your Page. So if you’re wanting to elevate yourself just a little higher than all the other Elordi-Keoghan stans, then here are the juiciest production secrets and behind the scenes facts you absolutely need to know about Saltburn.

/That/ grave scene wasn’t actually in the original script

In the original script for Saltburn, Oliver wasn’t written to have sex with a grave – there was only kissing and fingering involved. But on the morning the scene was scheduled to be filmed, director Emerald Fennell pulled Barry aside for a chat to voice some concerns she was having:

“I spoke to Barry in the morning, and I just said, ‘I don’t know, Barry. I think that he would…unzip,’” she told Entertainment Weekly. “And Barry just said, ‘Yup.’”

Microphones were buried in the dirt of the grave to capture the real sounds

Right just as I thought the grave scene couldn’t get any weirder, apparently the audio you hear in the movie is the actual production audio from Barry Keoghan humping the dirt which just makes it even more uncomfortable if you ask me.

All the deaths in the film were foreshadowed from the start

Every single death in the movie was foreshadowed but it’s so subtle you’d be forgiven for missing it. Earlier on in the movie, when they’re all sat at the breakfast table Venetia tells a story about how Percy Shelley’s house keeper apparently saw him walk in front of the window even though he was dead. In this scene, Felix is sitting next to Venetia at the table but as she talks, a doppelganger of Felix wearing the exact same outfit can be seen walking in front of the window with doppelgangers often thought of as being an omen of death. This scene also mirrors that of later on in the movie when the butler struggles to close the curtains of the same window so that the family won’t see Felix’s body being wheeled past.

Venetia and Elspeth’s death are then also foreshadowed, again whilst they’re sat at the same table. As they hear Felix’s body being wheeled past the window by the coroner, Venetia tops up her wine but doesn’t stop when the glass is full, causing red wine to overflow all over the table. This mirrors the spilling of her blood when she dies in the bath a little later on. Whilst Venetia is endlessly pouring her wine, Elspeth chokes on her food again mirroring her own death where Oliver pulls out her breathing tube causing her to suffocate. 

The fact Ollie’s father wasn’t actually dead was also alluded to early on

The fact that Oliver’s dad isn’t actually dead was alluded to early on in the filming when Felix takes Oli to throw a stone in the river with his dad’s name on, as per tradition in the Catton family whenever someone dies. However, when Oli throws the stone, he misses and it doesn’t land in the water, foreshadowing the revelation that we find out later on that he made the whole thing up about his dad dying.

Ollie’s lies are also foreshadowed by the song he and Felix listen to whilst driving to his parent’s house

Whilst Felix drives Oliver to his parent’s house where all his lies are eventually exposed, Mr Brightside is playing on the car ride. Not only was this a massively popular song at the time, and still is now, but its a song about lying and deception foreshadowing that the web of lies Ollie has spun is about to become undone.

The movie was shot in an unusual aspect ratio to make viewers feel like an outsider

Right, having never studied film in any capacity I’m not going to pretend I understand what this means but Saltburn was filmed in a four by three aspect ratio which is apparently pretty unusual and is the reason we get those gorgeous extreme close up shots of the actors. It was used to make the viewer feel like an outsider intruding in the lives of the Catton family, just like Ollie.

The end party scene went on for so long that the actors held their own party whilst filming

Archie Madekwe who plays Farleigh in Saltburn revealed some production secrets in an interview, sharing that the filming for the party scene at the end of the movie went on for so long that the main cast ended up actually parting. Archie said: “We had a separate party going on with the party scene. There was so much waiting around doing those night scenes so whenever the cameras weren’t rolling we were dancing and having just such a fun time.”

Saltburn, the new film by Emerald Fennell, is streaming on Amazon Prime now. For all the best film, music, reality TV and entertainment news, like Pop Culture Shrine on Facebook. 

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Featured images via Amazon Prime.