Director Paul Wright Pushes George MacKay to the Edge in ‘Mission’: ‘How Do You Feel Something When You’ve Been Numbed to the Modern World?’

For Scottish director Paul Wright, “Mission” began with a feeling.

“For the first time with a film I’ve made, it was kind of tapping into a feeling,” he tells Variety. “More so than plot or story, it was just that feeling that some of us get sometimes of feeling maybe disconnected from the world and feeling you need more. You need something more.”

Starring George MacKay as Dylan, an alienated man who pushes himself toward increasingly extreme experiences in a bid to evade death, “Mission” will have its world premiere in competition at Edinburgh Intl. Film Festival. Rosy McEwen co-stars as his estranged sister Claire.

The film is backed by BBC Film, Screen Scotland and Ffilm Cymru Wales with National Lottery funding. A co-production between Early Day Films and 65 Wilding Films, it was developed with Screen Scotland and BBC Film. Producers are Kate Byers, Linn Waite, Alex Thiele, Marie-Elena Dyche and Lowri Roberts, while Blue Finch Films handles worldwide sales.

For Wright, Dylan’s increasingly dangerous behavior grew out of a romantic ideal: the desire for an “all or nothing” existence.