A Monster Calls

An exciting and instructive fantasy tale, a heart-rending story of a boy who has faced many life problems one-on-one, including his mother's illness. A fairy-tale monster from his imagination comes to the aid of little Connor, who helps him fight against unforgiving circumstances. An extraordinary story based on a world literary bestseller will tell whether the main character will be able to overcome all life's troubles and what friendship with a monster will lead to... Read more The film is based on the novel of the same name by Patrick Ness, which is a world bestseller. Filming took place in Barcelona (Spain), as well as near Manchester, Huddersfield and Bolton (Great Britain). The film was directed by a friend of the famous director Guillermo del Toro - Juan Antonio Bayona. The Catalan previously worked on such projects as "Asylum" (2007) and "The Impossible" (2012). The main role of the boy Conor was played by Lewis McDougall. This work became the most difficult in the actor's career. According to the script of the film, his mother is dying of cancer. Lewis' real mother died shortly before filming. The film also starred: Felicity Jones ("Northanger Abbey" (2006), "The Universe of Stephen Hawking" (2014, nominated for the "Oscar" for "Best Actress"), "Rebel One: Star Wars. Stories" (2016)); Sigourney Weaver ("Alien" (1979), "Ghostbusters" (1984), "Aliens" (1986)); Toby Kebbel ("Rock and Roll" (2008), "Warcraft" (2016), the series "Black Mirror"), and the facial expression for the monster was given by actor Liam Neeson ("Schindler's List" (1993), "Real Love" (2003), "Hostage" (2007)). The premiere of the film took place on September 9, 2016 at the film festival in Toronto, Canada. Film critics received the film very warmly, giving it a score of 76/100 on the website http://www.metacritic.com, and 87% positive reviews on the website www.rottentomatoes.com (187 reviews out of 216).