#FIRSTLOOK: “THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN” TRAILER

Mark Rylance stars alongside Sally Hawkins in Craig Roberts’ The Phantom of the Open, a charming dramedy that tells the unbelievable – yet true – story of Maurice Flitcroft, a British crane operator who became known as the “world’s worst golfer.”  

Script is by Simon Farnaby, based on the same-titled book he wrotewith Scott Murray.  No surprise that the film is filled with humour and heart, given that Farnaby was also the Paddington 2 script.

Maurice (Rylance) lives with his loving wife (Hawkins) and theirthree boys in Barrow-in Furness, an English port town where he’s employed at the local shipyard.  But when 1976 arrives, redundancies
are looming, causing Maurice to wonder what he will do with his spare time – that is, until he sees a golf game on the telly.  He’s always been a life-long optimist.  So at age 46, without having played a round of golf in his life, he finds a way to enter the British Open Golf Championship. 

When Maurice shoots the worst score in the Open history, he draws the ire of the golfing elite and becomes a folk hero in the process.

Also starring is Rhys Ifans as the Open’s uptight guardian, Christian and Jonah Lees as the Flitcrofts’ twin sons who are following their own dream of becoming disco champs (what fun to see them whirling
and twirling!) and Jake Davies as their older son who is worried that his embarrassing dad might damage his career as a manager at the shipyard.

Adding to the effervescent feeling is the bubbly pop music, from Abba’s “Money Money Money” to The Foundations’ “Build Me Up Buttercup”.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN opens June 17, 2022 in Toronto, Vancouver,
Montreal, Ottawa and more via Mongrel Media.

(Photo/video credit: Mongrel Media)