‘Fingernails’ First Look: Jessie Buckley Is Torn Between Riz Ahmed and Jeremy Allen White in Sci-Fi Romance

Samantha Bergeson
·2 min read

Forget reading palms: What if the key to finding your soulmate was at the tip of your fingernail?

Director Christos Nikou’s (“Apples”) feature “Fingernails” offers a sci-fi love triangle rooted in nature over nurture. The film is co-written by Nikou, Stavros Raptis, and Sam Steiner, and is set in an alternate reality where a machine can determine whether a couple is in love or not by studying the makeup of their discarded fingernails.

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Jessie Buckley stars as Anna, a new employee at the institute where the machines are housed. She starts training with senior instructor Amir (Riz Ahmed). Yet Anna is already dating Ryan (Jeremy Allen White) and the machine has confirmed they are a perfect match. So why is she developing feelings for Amir?

“Fingernails” is the second feature and first English-language film from visionary director/writer/producer Christos Nikou, whose directorial debut was the critically acclaimed “Apples.”

Luke Wilson and Annie Murphy also star in the feature that is produced by Cate Blanchett through her Dirty Films banner, along with Andrew Upton and Coco Francini. Lucas Wiesendanger produces for FilmNation Entertainment. The film is executive produced by FilmNation Entertainment’s Glen Basner, Milan Popelka, Alison Cohen, and Ashley Fox, plus Kevin Lafferty and Jerome Duboz.

Emmy-winning cinematographer Marcell Rév, who has collaborated with Sam Levinson on “The Idol” and “Euphoria,” shot “Fingernails” on film to capture the ‘90s-inspired retro technology used in the plot.

“Fingernails” will make its world premiere at 2023 TIFF alongside fellow buzzy titles like “Mother Couch,” “Pain Hustlers,” “Seven Veils,” Chris Pine’s “Poolman,” Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers,” Viggo Mortensen’s “The Dead Don’t Hurt,” Anna Kendrick’s “Woman of the Hour,” and Ethan Hawke’s “Wildcat.”

According to write-director Nikou, the film captures “how difficult it is for people to fall in love right now, especially through the extensive use of social media and all of these apps,” as he told Vanity Fair.

And working with the critically acclaimed core trio of Ahmed, Buckley, and White to create the onscreen love triangle proved to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for Nikou.

“Riz will give you different things in every take and then you have so many choices in the editing,” Nikou said. “Jeremy is a one-taker. I mean, from the first take, you always have the best. You don’t need another one. For me, he’s the new Ryan Gosling, that’s what I was telling him all the time.”

“Fingernails” premieres in Los Angeles and New York City theaters October 27 and on Apple TV+ and select national theaters November 3. Check out the first-look photo above.

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