[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Death of a Unicorn]

Summary

A24’s Death of a Unicorn is a timely satire mirroring public disdain for the ultrarich, with Téa Leoni, Will Poulter, and Richard E. Grant portraying the worst the film has to offer.

Preparing for any role comes with a level of terror for Grant and Poulter that Leoni didn’t have to worry about before this interview.

The trio also discuss their upcoming projects (none of which are as fun as Death of a Unicorn according to them) like Only Murders in the Building, more A24, and a World War II-period film with Russell Crowe and Rami Malek.

A24’s upcoming film Death of a Unicorn is a twisted satire that skewers the ultrarich with a blend of horror and humor. Directed by Alex Scharfman, the film follows a privileged family whose greed and moral decay take center stage when they accidentally kill a mythical unicorn. Téa Leoni, Richard E. Grant, and Will Poulter play downright despicable members of this dysfunctional elite family, embodying characters that are as repulsive as they are compelling. With its wit and social commentary, the film arrives at the perfect time, tapping into the growing public disdain for unchecked wealth and power.
In the movie, this trio brings an electrifying dynamic to a film that is as outrageous as it is timely. Collider’s Steve Weintraub recently spoke with the three actors to discuss their experience working on Death of a Unicorn. In this interview, the actors reflect on audience reactions at SXSW 2025 to the film’s premiere, preparation for their roles, their favorite scenes to film, and showcase the close bond they developed on set playing this family, all while exploring the timely themes of wealth, power, and entitlement among the ultra-wealthy that flow throughout the film.
Before wrapping up, the trio also discuss their upcoming projects, like Leoni’s experience filming for Hulu’s hit series Only Murders in the Building, Poulter’s next A24 project, Warfare, and the WWII period film Grant’s co-starring in with Russell Crowe and Rami Malek. Check out their conversation in the video above, or you can read the full transcript below.
Why ‘Death of a Unicorn’ Is Such a Timely Film

“I think it mirrors how people are feeling right now.”

COLLIDER: I really want to start with congrats. The premiere last night played fantastic. I’m just curious, what was your experience last night at the premiere and seeing the audience go a little bit apeshit?
RICHARD E. GRANT: Well, the first thing you know in the title is that it’s about the death of a unicorn. It already grabs, as actors, your attention. But when you do a comedy, you have no idea—because there’s no audience—how stuff is going to play. When people laughed right from the get-go and then threw their hands up in horror at the sort of real splat horror moments, it was incredibly satisfying.
TÉA LEONI: Yeah. It was.
First of all, I really want to commend all three of you. You guys are fantastic in the movie, and you played deliciously evil people, just awful human beings.
LEONI: Thank you!
GRANT: Thank you!
I’m so sincere. The audience hated you, and that’s how you know you did a great job. I do feel like right now in the universe, especially in the United States, there’s a lot of anti-ultrarich sentiment. I feel like this movie might be coming out at the right time to capture some of that.
GRANT: I think you’ve spoken the truth.
LEONI: I don’t think when we were making it we knew how beautifully this would land timing-wise. I mean, there’s a lot in it. There’s a lot of disrespect for the things that, ironically, are real. The timing is spectacular, I would say. I also, just from a standpoint of living in this kind of mayhem that we’re in—worldwide mayhem—this is a great movie to offer up, and you could feel that with the audience last night. I think it mirrors how people are feeling right now, and to be able to take down a family like ours, it was really beautiful.
“The World Is Looking for Its Jenna”

“She’s five feet of goodness.”

Image via A24

When you guys saw the shooting schedule, and you saw what you had to do, what day did you have circled in terms of, “I cannot wait to film this?”
GRANT: Death day.
LEONI: Death.
GRANT: When I got garroted by the horn, I couldn’t wait. I also knew that I’d be going home because I was dead. That’s always a great bonus.
WILL POULTER: I love the ensemble scenes. The times with the more actors in one room, the better. I really love the one shot that’s in this film where it involves absolutely everybody, and we’re all making our individual plan, some group plans, and kind of everyone’s actually making a plan independently of Jenna [Ortega], who’s trying to sort of wrangle some sense from this group of mental people. So yeah, any time we were all together as an ensemble, those were the days I looked forward to the most.
LEONI: It’s funny, I was just thinking when you said that—it’s like the world is looking for its Jenna, and she plays that for us in this movie. It’s sort of following her around and seeing the insanity. There are no words for how insane this all is, and you see her playing that for us.
POULTER: And she’s just encouraging people to make…
LEONI: Better choices!
GRANT: She’s the tiniest person. She’s five feet of goodness.
POULTER: And mighty. Dynamite comes in small packages.
LEONI: We’re all looking for a Jenna right now.
I didn’t think about that, but you’re 100% right. Just common sense, it’s all we’re looking for.
This Trio Had “Ironclad Confidence” In Playing Terrible People

“That was fun to play for us, not judging our characters and leaning into the lack of self-awareness.”

Image via A24

I’m fascinated by how actors get ready for roles. What is it actually like in the months leading up to, or the weeks leading up to the first day of filming on something like this? You guys have all done tons of other projects. Do you have a similar routine, or do you do individual things for a certain role?
GRANT: Terror. I always assume that the read-through and on the first day of shooting, I’m going to get fired. I’ve been on jobs where it’s happened. The last job I did was called The Franchise. The lead actor was fired and replaced after the read-through, so I know that it’s an omnipresent threat.
LEONI: Oh my god, I didn’t have that in my body until you just said that. Now that’s going to follow me around for the rest of my… What?! After the read-through?!
GRANT: Yeah.
LEONI: Ugh, god.
POULTER: I think every job also requires—and I say this in acknowledgment that I am the least experienced person when it comes to acting here—but every job requires slightly different preparations. There are some common denominators: you spend time on the script, you hopefully get some rehearsal, there’s a read-through, etc., but every character kind of requires you to do some individual preparation. The thing that was really fun is, whatever individual prep we all had to do when it came to being on set and actually playing with each other, it was just about letting it fly, and we were afforded the opportunity to do that, to just kind of like let go and just have fun.
GRANT: Do you not have this thing on read-through where you think every other person is doing their part perfectly…?
POULTER: Oh, I’ve got imposter syndrome.
GRANT: And it’s coming, like, “clunk” out of your own mouth.
POULTER: Oh, yeah, 100%.
LEONI: Oh, mine is just showing up on set and forgetting to put my pants on. But this is like a whole other level of… Now I’ve got this to think about.

Related

HBO Decides the Fate of the Acclaimed Super Hero Satire ‘The Franchise’

“Marty says we ruined cinema.”

I’ve heard that story before, but the people are in the first two days. I think of Eric Stoltz on Back to the Future.
LEONI: Oh, my god, would you guys stop?
GRANT: We were born to play these parts, and we felt ironclad with confidence—according to Téa.
By the way, you three are fantastic in this. I don’t say that when I don’t actually mean it. You’re terrible people in this.
GRANT: Thank you!
POULTER: And that was fun. That was fun to play for us, not judging our characters and leaning into the lack of self-awareness, believing our own bullshit, believing our own hype, and then having ironclad confidence to convince other people that our plan, our way, our worldview was absolutely the way to go.
And that is uncomfortably true of some quite famous people in the world right now in quite powerful positions.
What’s Up Next for This Trio?

The ‘Death of Unicorn’ stars share their big upcoming projects.

Image via A24

I do like asking about future projects, and all three of you are doing cool shit in the future. What do you want to tell your fans about what’s coming up for each of you?
LEONI: [To Grant and Poulter] Why are you looking here?
GRANT: Because you’re the lady.
You’re also in Only Murders in The Building.
LEONI: Yeah, it’s really fun. I’m in the middle of it! It’s really fun.
POULTER: You didn’t have as much fun with them, right?
LEONI: No, I’m not having as much fun with them. No! No, no, Will. I mean, it’s fun, but it’s not like our fun. [Quieter, to the camera] It’s really fun. [To Poulter] What are you up to?
POULTER: I did another A24 film, which comes out soon, called Warfare, and that was also fun, but not as fun as the fun that we had on this.
LEONI: That’s right.
POULTER: Yeah, it was a different type of fun. We got very close, and we love each other and all that, but it was not a comedy.
LEONI: Oh, on there, you got close with them, too? You had fun with them?
POULTER: Not as close as we all got!
LEONI: Really?
POULTER: Yeah, it was a different type of closeness, I promise.
GRANT: I’m in Nuremberg with Russell Crowe and Rami Malek, which is about the Nazi trials at the end of the Second World War—putting Göring into a noose.
LEONI: So that definitely was not as much fun.
Death of a Unicorn is now playing in theaters.

Death of a Unicorn

Release Date

March 28, 2025

Director

Alex Scharfman

Writers

Alex Scharfman

Get Tickets