The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling power. He is alienated and in love - and his talisman, the painting, places him at the centre of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle. As he grows up, Theo learns to glide between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty antiques store where he works. He is tormented by an unbearable longing for his mother, and down the years clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, strangely captivating painting that ultimately draws him into the criminal underworld. Alone and rudderless in New York, he is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. See more from The Goldfinch and read about how Crowley adapted an unwieldy novel for the big screen in the Once Upon A Time In Hollywood issue, hitting newsstands on Thursday 13 June.Donna Tartt, author of the phenomenal bestsellers The Secret History and The Little Friend, returns with a breathtaking new novel.Īged thirteen, Theo Decker, son of a devoted mother and a reckless, largely absent father, survives an accident that otherwise tears his life apart.

“Boris is the one character who's mad enough and bad enough to get them into trouble and out of trouble.”

'Theo's life is dominated by this one great big event, which he's got stuck in, stuck between the grief of losing his mother, and holding onto this painting,” Crowley tells Empire in a trailer breakdown interview. In the moment he nabs a painting from the rubble – the titular Goldfinch – the ramifications of which ripple throughout his adolescence.Ībove is an exclusive new image from The Goldfinch, as seen in the upcoming issue of Empire, revealing a new look at Ansel Elgort as a grown-up Theodore, and Aneurin Barnard as Boris, his friend who operates in the criminal underground. That allowed us into a certain kind of visual editorial idea, if that makes sense – you’re intercutting in a way that’s rather exciting.”įor those who haven’t waded through the epic tome, the story concerns Theo – a kid whose life changes forever when he witnesses his mother die in an explosion in an art gallery. “The past and the present sit on top of each other a lot more than they perhaps do in the book. The decision “allowed us an entrance to a more cinematic storytelling form,” he explains. Speaking to Empire in the upcoming issue, the director said that his version moves away from the linear storytelling of the book.

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