Agatha Christie once said Crooked House was one of her favorites. It's easy to see why. Unlike the polished, globetrotting adventures of Hercule Poirot or the cozy village vibes of Miss Marple, this story is nasty. It’s claustrophobic. It’s a family tearing itself apart in a mansion that looks like a fever dream of Victorian architecture. But honestly? The 2017 film adaptation works because of the people. The cast of the Crooked House isn't just a list of famous faces; it’s a masterclass in casting actors who can look both grieving and incredibly guilty at the same time.
You’ve got legends like Glenn Close and Gillian Anderson sharing screen time with younger stars like Max Irons. It creates this weird, jagged energy.
The Leonides Family: A Nest of Vipers
When Aristide Leonides dies from a poisoned insulin injection, everyone becomes a suspect. That’s the rule. But the cast of the Crooked House handles the "suspicious relative" trope with more nuance than your average whodunnit.
Glenn Close plays Lady Edith de Haviland. She is the backbone of the house and, frankly, the movie. Close plays her with this sharp, clipped authority. She’s the aunt who stays because she has to, not because she wants to. You see her out on the lawn blasting moles with a shotgun, and you immediately think, "Yeah, she could definitely kill a man." It's the kind of performance that reminds you why she has so many Oscar nominations. She doesn't need big monologues. She just needs a cold stare and a pair of gardening shears.
Then there is Gillian Anderson. If you’re used to her as Dana Scully or even her role in Sex Education, her turn as Magda Leonides will throw you for a loop. She’s a washed-up actress living in a permanent state of melodrama. She wears these heavy, theatrical robes and talks in a voice that sounds like it’s being projected to the back row of a theater that’s been empty for twenty years. Anderson brings a tragic, drunken humor to the role. Magda is desperate for money to fund her "comeback" play, which makes her a prime suspect, but she’s almost too chaotic to pull off a calculated murder. Or is she? That’s the fun of it.
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The Outsider Looking In
Max Irons steps into the shoes of Charles Hayward, our private investigator. Honestly, Charles is a bit of a disaster. He’s a former diplomat who got his heart broken in Cairo by Sophia Leonides, played by Stefanie Martini. Irons plays Charles with a sort of weary, rumpled charm. He isn’t Poirot. He doesn't have "little gray cells" that solve everything instantly. He’s mostly just confused and overwhelmed by how deeply weird this family is.
His chemistry with Martini is essential. If you don't believe that Charles would risk his career and reputation for Sophia, the whole plot collapses. Martini plays Sophia with a steeliness that suggests she’s the only sane person in the house—which, in a Christie novel, is usually the biggest red flag of all.
Supporting Players Who Steal the Spotlight
You can't talk about the cast of the Crooked House without mentioning Christina Hendricks. As Brenda Leonides, the much younger second wife and former casino dancer, she is the family’s favorite punching bag. They call her a gold-digger. They treat her like trash. Hendricks plays Brenda with a soft, wounded vulnerability that makes you actually feel for her, even when the evidence starts stacking up. It’s a complete 180 from Joan Holloway in Mad Men.
And then there's the brothers. Julian Sands and Christian McKay.
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- Sands plays Philip, a man simmering with resentment because his father never gave him the validation (or the money) he felt he deserved.
- McKay is Roger, the "failure" of the family who manages the family business into the ground.
They represent two different types of masculine fragility. One is cold and intellectual; the other is loud and prone to outbursts. Seeing them interact in the library is like watching two different types of wood rot.
The Kids Aren't Alright
Special shoutout to the younger members of the cast of the Crooked House. Honor Kneafsey plays Josephine, the precocious, spying granddaughter. She’s creepy. There’s no other way to put it. She skitters around the house in her ballet gear, writing everything down in her notebook. Kneafsey captures that unsettling "child who knows too much" energy perfectly. Then you have Preston Nyman as Eustace, the teenage brother struggling with polio and a massive chip on his shoulder.
They aren't just background noise. In this story, the children are central to the atmosphere of decay.
Why This Specific Cast Works for the 2017 Version
Directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner and co-written by Julian Fellowes (the Downton Abbey guy), this version of Crooked House needed a specific tone. It’s not a "fun" mystery. It’s dark. The production design is gorgeous—all mismatched patterns and crumbling grandeur—and the actors fit into that world seamlessly.
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Terence Stamp shows up as Chief Inspector Taverner. He’s the old guard. His scenes with Max Irons provide a grounded, procedural contrast to the high-stakes drama happening inside the Leonides mansion. Stamp’s voice alone is worth the price of admission; it’s like gravel rolling over silk.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Movie
People often compare this to Knives Out. That’s a mistake. Knives Out is a romp. It’s a subversion of the genre. Crooked House is a straight-up Greek tragedy disguised as a British mystery. The cast of the Crooked House had to play it straight. If they had winked at the camera or played it for laughs, the ending—which is notoriously one of the most shocking in mystery history—wouldn't have landed.
The nuance in the performances allows the "crookedness" of the title to shine. Everyone is slightly "off." No one is quite what they seem, but not in a cartoonish way. It’s more about the small lies people tell to survive a toxic family environment.
Actionable Insights for Mystery Fans
If you’re planning to watch or re-watch the film, keep these details in mind to appreciate the performances more:
- Watch Glenn Close’s hands. She uses physical props—the gun, the tea, the shears—to signal Lady Edith’s control over the environment.
- Pay attention to the background. The Leonides house is a character itself. Notice how the actors interact with the cramped, cluttered sets. It’s meant to feel like they are being squeezed.
- Track the "gaze." Much of the story is about who is watching whom. Josephine is always watching, but so is Lady Edith.
- Compare to the book. Agatha Christie wrote this in 1949. If you’ve read it, you’ll notice the film moves the setting to the late 1950s (the rock and roll era), which adds a layer of "old world vs. new world" tension that the cast leans into, especially Gillian Anderson’s character.
The best way to experience the cast of the Crooked House is to look past the primary mystery. Focus on the subtext of the dinner scenes. Look at the way the siblings look at Brenda. The real story isn't just about who put the poison in the bottle; it's about why everyone in that house was secretly glad someone did.
To get the most out of the experience, watch it back-to-back with the 1945 film noir classics or modern deconstructions like The Pale Horse. It sits in a unique middle ground. You can find it streaming on most major platforms like Amazon Prime or Apple TV, and it remains one of the most underrated Christie adaptations of the last decade.