Slow West

Jay (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a lovelorn 17-year-old Scottish aristocrat who travels to the American West at the close of the nineteenth century to track down his former lover. Confronted with the harsh realities of the frontier, he falls in with a rough and mysterious traveler named Silas (Michael Fassbender), who soon discovers that the focus of Jay’s affection has a price on her head.

With performances buoyed by Fassbender's enigmatic and modern take on the stoic Western hero, a wry sense of humor, and stunning panoramic cinematography, Slow West is a surreal journey through a gorgeous yet inhospitable landscape.

"John Maclean's impeccably crafted writing-directing debut at times has a distinctly Coen-esque flavor in its mix of sly intelligence, bleak humor and unsettling violence, exuding fierce confidence even when these qualities don't always cohere." - Justin Chang, Variety

"It's the rare western that invites you to imagine what life then and there might actually have felt like, sight gags and all. Maclean is a supremely promising talent." - Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice

Crew Biographies

John Maclean - Director/Writer
It was during his time as a founder member of The Beta Band, one of the most highly revered and respected bands of the last two decades, that John discovered his love for filmmaking. The creative brain behind many of their most iconic and groundbreaking music videos, he continued his impressive work as a promo director with his next band, The Aliens, before making his first dramatic work – Man on a Motorcycle - starring Michael Fassbender in 2009. The film, shot entirely on his mobile phone, retains the ingenuity and distinct visual style of his promos with a blistering central performance by Fassbender at its core. It played at the London Film Festival to critical acclaim - Sight and Sound called it "a masterpiece." John's short film, Pitch Black Heist, funded by Film4 and the UKFC and starring Michael Fassbender and Liam Cunningham, won the BAFTA for Best Short Film.

Iain Canning – Producer
Academy Award® winning producer Iain Canning founded See-Saw Films with Emile Sherman in 2008. See-Saw is a UK and Australian company specializing in international film and television. Recent productions include Jane Campion’s Emmy Award® nominated 6-part television series Top of the Lake and the multi- Academy Award® winning The King’s Speech, directed by Tom Hooper, and starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter. See-Saw followed The King’s Speech with Steve McQueen’s award winning Shame, starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan and John Curran’s Tracks, starring Mia Wasikowska and Adam Driver.

Prior to founding See-Saw, Canning executive-produced the award-winning films Hunger and Control. Hunger, Steve McQueen's debut feature, which recreated the final weeks of Irish Republican Bobby Sands, won the Camera d'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and the BAFTA Carl Foreman Award. Control, the story of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, also earned a Special Mention Camera 12 d'Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and won a BAFTA Carl Foreman Award the same year.