Robert Carlyle has directed a new short film: here’s the trailer for three

Robert Carlyle’s new film, three, has debuted in Edinburgh, and there’s a trailer for it out in the wild as well. For the third time in his career, Robert Carlyle – a man best known for his work in front of the camera – has stepped in the director’s chair for his latest project. He’s ... Robert Carlyle has directed a new short film: here’s the trailer for three

Robert Carlyle’s new film, three, has debuted in Edinburgh, and there’s a trailer for it out in the wild as well.

For the third time in his career, Robert Carlyle – a man best known for his work in front of the camera – has stepped in the director’s chair for his latest project.

He’s premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival the short movie three, the project first announced just over a year ago. Running for 23 minutes, it’s from a script by Isaac Gryn and Patrick McPherson. It follows over a decade on from Carlyle’s feature directorial debut, The Legend Of Barney Thomson.

This time, the story follows a young man accepting a late night invitation from a wealthy, older couple.

Specifically, “Matt, 24, arrives at the opulent London home of Sarah and Ed, an older married couple who have invited him for a sexual encounter. What begins as a charged proposition soon becomes harder to read. As drinks are poured and boundaries shift, each of the three begins to test what the others want, what they will permit and what they can be made to admit. Darkly funny and increasingly unsettling, three follows a seductive game of control in which desire, class and consent collide — and no one can agree on who is using whom.”

The trailer for the film plays as follows…

It’s unclear as of yet when the rest of us who weren’t in Edinburgh can see the film, but Carlyle’s appetite for directing appears reignited. “I’m delighted with the project. I’ve read many scripts over the years and it’s very rare that I come across something that feels as original as three. It’s dark, it’s funny, and I was really drawn in by the sense of tension,” he said.

Who knows? Maybe he’ll expand this to a feature in due course. More, for the moment, as we hear it.