Buckle up, fantasy lovers and movie obsessives, 100 Nights of Hero is serving up fantasy realness, and the latest trailer confirms what we already suspected: it’s the fairy tale we never knew we needed.
Galitzine’s Glorious Body-ody-ody Moment
Before Nicholas Galitzine transforms into the swole, Power Sword-wielding He-Man in Masters of the Universe, he’s already slaying us as Manfred in 100 Nights of Hero. In the trailer, he’s shirtless, flush with physique, drenched in blood, and clutching a stag’s head, a tableau of camp fantasy perfection, echoing masculine myth.
A Queer Sapphic Folktale Reimagined
Adapted from Isabel Greenberg’s lush, sapphic graphic novel, the film is a kaleidoscopic reinvention of One Thousand and One Nights. It opens in a kingdom where women are illiterate, and cherry blossoms of queer rebellion emerge in the defiance of Cherry (Maika Monroe) and her sharp-as-a-knife maid Hero (Emma Corrin). When Cherry’s husband (Amir El-Masry) wagers her fidelity for a castle, she and Hero orchestrate a nightly storytelling counterspell that echoes Scheherazade while subverting the patriarchy.
Hero winds Manfred into a labyrinth of stories, queer fables of love, strength, and survival, blunting his seduction attempts while undercutting toxic entitlement with intellectual queerness.
Charli XCX as Bard Extraordinaire, Brat Meets Bards
And just when you thought the fantasy couldn’t get any queerer, BRAT-in-chief Charli XCX gallivants into the frame. In what may be her dainty yet campiest acting moment yet, she plays Rosa, who looks to be an ethereal bard carved from glitter and gothic pop, plucking at a lute (or something bard-y), planting seeds of dream logic.
This marks her feature film debut, because of course the raddest pop star of the moment would walk into a queer-coded medieval jaunt as though she’s always belonged there.
An Ensemble Worth Fangirling Over
If all that wasn’t enough for maximum queer cinematic craving, prepare for the “May I have the ensemble please?” moment. Joining Galitzine, Corrin, and Monroe are:
- Felicity Jones as Moon/the Narrator – channeling ethereal fairy godmother vibes.
- Richard E. Grant as Birdman, suitably flamboyant and arch.
- Safia Oakley-Green as Kiddo – playful and presumably rebellious.
- Varada Sethu, Tom Stourton (ooh, Earring Magic Ken energy in the indie fantasy messenger role)
Aesthetic Narrative & Queer Spectacle
Under director Julia Jackman’s care, who proves she’s fully living her Bonus Track dream fantasies, 100 Nights of Hero is bursting with over-the-top color, luxurious costume flourishes, and a queer fantasy sensibility that blends Dali, disco, and duchess energy.
It’s camp in all its best senses, theatrical, satirical, erotic, and stylized, but also rooted in emotional sincerity: love, liberation, and storytelling as resistance.
The film closes Critics’ Week at Venice Film Festival on September 6 before spinning out into theaters on December 5.
100 Nights of Hero isn’t just fantasy, it’s a queer-coded catwalk in cinematic form. Nicholas Galitzine offers us glistening muscle fantasy that’s rich in implication, Emma Corrin and Maika Monroe gift us sapphic affection that’s cunning and fierce, and Charli XCX wanders in with pop star bard energy that’s witchy in the right way.
