Based on Warren Adler’s classic 1981 novel The War of the Roses, Jay Roach’s black, satirical comedy The Roses is the second filmic adaptation, following the film of the same name helmed by Danny DeVito in 1989, which starred Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner as a warring couple determined to destroy the other by any means necessary.
Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch have stepped into such villainous shoes for the new film, which sees their Ivy and Theo Rose take on the joys and eventual jabs of marriage.
As the film arrives in theatres from August 29th, The AU Review’s Peter Gray was invited to speak with a wealth of the talent involved in making the film, including director Jay Roach and cast members Jamie Demetriou, Zoë Chao, Ncuti Gatwa and Sunita Mani . Hear what the creatives had to say about approaching the visual language of the film and forming their own character relationships separate from the script
I wanted to ask about the visual language of the film. The house is very much a character itself. The original film famously weaponised the domestic space. How did you reimagine the home as both a battleground and a metaphor?
Jay Roach: Oh, that’s good. I’ll talk for Mark Ricker, our incredible production designer, but it was always part of the script. But it’s also part of the big move in their relationship. (The Roses) think this giant house is going to rescue their marriage, that it’ll be their paradise. Their new womb, but it becomes a tomb (laughs), in a way. It’s a metaphor for a sort of false investment in things, and status, and space, as being the answer, when the answer was obviously much more just about the relationship. It was important for it to be an incredibly impressive space, and Mark, we built it on the stage here at Pinewood and we manufactured it in computers for the exteriors. It’s supposed to be so much bigger than life, so that when it implodes on them, it’s all that much more meaningful.
And I’m obviously going to be a little bit biased about being Australian, because your writer, Tony McNamara, is Australian, and we write well. I wanted to ask you both, Zoë and Jamie, were there any scenes that took on a new meaning once you saw each other’s performances? Was there something in Zoe’s delivery or Jamie’s emotion that reshaped how you saw your characters?
Jamie Demetriou: Yeah, I think that it’s really helpful to be in the presence of someone who is kind of annihilating you. It’s like bumpers on a bowling lane. Your performance has to exist within what they’re doing to you, which I thank (Zoë) for for providing the road for my car. I think that was so helpful. Also, I think that seeing Zoë playing someone so horrible when she is occasionally really nice in real life (laughs) was really exciting.
Zoë Chao: Yeah, we got to work on The After Party together, this Apple TV show, and, truly, the idea of doing anything with Jamie is so thrilling to me, whether it’s just running errands, but, you know, ideally acting with him. I really do trust him implicitly, and his instincts, and it’s just fun to have a scene partner that you’re so excited to wake up and play with that day. So, thank you, Jamie.
Your characters, Sally and Rory, in some ways feel like mirrors to the Roses, but they’re probably younger and dumber, but also wise at the same time. And that’s meant in the nicest way possible. How do you both construct the tragedy or farcical nature of their relationship? How did the two of you come to that dance? Outside of Tony’s script.
Jamie Demetriou: I think they’re both very shallow.
Zoë Chao: And I think you’re right, they are dumber.
Jamie Demetriou: Yeah, but I think that they’re dumb in that they think that being snarky architects is enough to constitute a life, whereas I think that there’s more Earth and meaning to that there. I think that Ivy and Theo are seeking meaning in their relationship, whereas (Rory and Sally) are satisfied with some surface crap.
Zoë Chao: Yeah, I agree. You sort of go, “Okay, how do we serve this script the most responsibly we can?” And these other couples around the Roses shine a light on them in some way. It’s about figuring our what needs to be and then trying to do that.
Ncuti, Sunita, your characters are very much the outside pair. I guess there’s this fresh generational lens that you guys are looking through. What do you feel your characters reveal about how we process conflict today?
Ncuti Gatwa: That’s interesting. That’s a very good question. In the role of a more therapy friendly generation (laughs)…
Sunita Mani: I think there’s a bit of comedy in having Jane and Jeffrey sort of just like open mouth witness people of a particular generation. They’re holding on to what they know, what seems to be successful. I’m speaking a little more generally, like the way Jane and Jeffrey reflect, they’re more removed from certain kind of values. I think there’s comedy in that. We’re working on a spin-off where we are just Jane and Jeffrey, just partaking on love and romance.
Ncuti Gatwa: Watch for that coming soon.
Sunita Mani: Did I cut you off? Were you going to say something?
Ncuti Gatwa: Nothing better than what you did.
The Roses is screening in Australian theatres from September 4th, 2025, following Advance Screenings from August 29th. It will open in the United States on August 29th.
