Remakes are ten a penny in Hollywood, but sometimes you get one intriguing enough to make you wonder how 21st-century audiences will take to it. Case in point: The Roses. This brand new comedy is based on the 1981 Warren Adler novel The War Of The Roses, previously directed by Danny DeVito in 1989 as a black-hearted satire. It featured his fellow Romancing The Stone co-stars Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner playing a warring couple fighting every inch of the way to the divorce courts.

‘I don’t think you have to watch the first one as a prep for this. It is its own thing,’ says Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays architect Theo Rose, a father-of-two, married to Ivy (Olivia Colman), a rising star on the gastronomy scene. To start with, gender roles have been reversed, with Ivy the breadwinner and Theo nursing a spectacular failure. Secondly, it’s a British couple living on the west coast of America, whose marriage implodes into tit-for-tat revenging.

The film also comes written by Tony McNamara (‘Australia’s laid-back genius’, as Cumberbatch calls him) who previously penned the bawdy period romp The Favourite, starring Colman. ‘It’s got that McNamara flair. The repartee… it’s deliciously British. It’s completely perfect,’ adds Kate McKinnon, the American comic from Bridesmaids and Barbie, who here plays Amy, a lascivious friend of the Roses. 
Directed by Jay Roach (Austin Powers, Meet The Parents), The Roses is stacked with comic talent, including McKinnon’s Saturday Night Live alumni Andy Samberg and Stath Lets Flats’ Jamie Demetriou, as well as ex-Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa. But at its heart is a love story gone sour, says McKinnon. ‘They have such a connection. When things get in the way of that, it’s really devastating, because they really do care for each other. They’re really good friends.’

The Roses is in cinemas now.