Is The Menu inspired by real-life events? Explained

The Menu is a black comedy horror film directed by Mark Mylod and co-written by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy. It stars Ralph Fiennes as the high-end celebrity chef Julian Slowik, who plans to kill his guests after serving them a five-course meal at his exclusive restaurant, Hawthorn. The movie's plot is fictional and is not inspired by real-life events.

The Menu was released in theaters on November 18, 2022, two months after its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022. Moreover, Adam McKay, Betsy Koch, and Will Ferrell serve as the film's producers, while Seth Reiss, Will Tracy, and Michael Sledd serve as their executive producers.

The film's official synopsis, as per Rotten Tomatoes, reads:

"A couple (Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult) travels to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef (Ralph Fiennes) has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises."

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The Menu: Exploring the inspiration behind the movie

The screenwriters Will Tracy and Seth Reiss told Bon Appétit on November 18, 2022, that the central theme of The Menu was inspired by Tracy's fine-dining experience at a high-end restaurant located on a remote island near Bergen city in Norway.

"(The restaurant was not Fäviken, but like Fäviken). There’s something relentless about all of these tasting menus. You can’t leave. You’re being held hostage by a story which they’re telling for hours," said Tracy.

Furthermore, the French chef Dominique Crenn served as the culinary consultant and cooked all of the film's dishes on set to ensure the actors were not "faking the emotion."

Reiss and Tracy also shared that they based the film's fine-dining experience on chef Curtis Duffy’s restaurant Grace which is located in Chicago's West Loop. The three-Michelin-starred restaurant was opened in 2012 and shut down in 2017 owing to a conflict between the owner, Michael Olszewski, and its staff members.

In the interview, Reiss praised the restaurant as being the "epitome of fine dining" where everything made "perfect sense, top to bottom."

Also, chef Phillip Foss's Chicago-based EL Ideas was another location that informed The Menu's setting.

"To see him (Foss) really wanting to hang out and just watch other people put something together was really cool. That’s when I saw the chef as an artist, or the chef as a collaborator," Reiss said.

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Plot summary

The Menu follows the enigmatic chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes), who runs the highly-exclusive restaurant Hawthorn on a private island. Slowik has dedicated his whole life to perfecting his craft and considers his dishes as an expression of his art. Throughout his career, he has strived to offer the best culinary experience to his guests, who seem largely unappreciative of his efforts.

He invites his frequent guests, including the foodie Tyler Ledford (Nicholas Hoult), who made him feel disenchanted with the art of cooking, for one final round of fine dining before he sets everything on fire.

The only person he spares is Margot Mills (Anya Taylor-Joy), an escort who Tyler invited as his last-minute date. She helps Slowik reconnect with his love of cooking and he thanks her by making her a cheeseburger and some french fries before she leaves.

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Cast and characters

An image from the 2022 film The Menu (Image via Instagram/@themenufilm)

The Menu's full cast list is mentioned below:

• Ralph Fiennes as Chef Slowik
• Anya Taylor-Joy as Margot
• Nicholas Hoult as Tyler
• Hong Chau as Elsa
• Janet McTeer as Lillian
• Paul Adelstein as Ted
• John Leguizamo as Movie Star
• Aimee Carrero as Felicity
• Reed Birney as Richard
• Peter Grosz as Sommelier
• Mark St. Cyr as Dave
• Judith Light as Anne
• Rebecca Koon as Linda
• Rob Yang as Bryce
• Jon Paul Allyn as Boat Waiter
• Mel Fair as Boatman
• Christina Brucato as Katherine
• Arturo Castro as Soren
• Adam Aalderks as Jeremy
• Cristian Gonzalez as Server #1
• John Wilkins III as Server #2
• Matthew Cornwell as Dale / Coast Guard Officer
• John Cola as Chef (uncredited)
• Michael A. Dean as Chef (uncredited)
• Marcus Aveons Duncan as Chef (uncredited)
• Alexander Goldstein as Chef (uncredited)
• Grant Henley as Chef (uncredited)
• Brandon Herron as Front of House (uncredited)
• Melisa Lopez as Police Officer (uncredited)
• A. Jae Michele as Chef (uncredited)
• Michael Neal as Doug Verrick (uncredited)
• Jay Shadix as Front of House (uncredited)
• Rachel Trautmann as Chef (uncredited)
• Victor Zheng as Chef (uncredited)

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The Menu is available to stream on Netflix and Apple TV+.