Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick turn to the dark side for the mystery thriller A Simple Favour, about two mums in a small town. They talk to Laura Harding their inspiration from 1940s films and more
Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick are tucking into scones with cream and jam and giggling conspiratorially. Their new film together, A Simple Favour, is a stylish suburban noir that centres around mummy vlogger Stephanie Smothers, played by Kendrick, who falls under the spell of another glamorous mother and then seeks to learn the truth when she mysteriously disappears.
If a darkly comic thriller about two mums sounds unusual, then that’s because it is. Especially one directed by Paul Feig, the man responsible for Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy and Ghostbusters.
“I don’t even know what films I would compare this to,” Lively says between bites of scone, “because to me it’s not really a thriller and it’s not really a comedy.
“But what I loved about it is that it was like movies like What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? where the plot is very sinister and disturbing and full of twists but the characters are so over the top and fabulous.
“That happened in Hollywood back in the 1940s but not so much now and I think it’s just time to do it again.
“Women have such layered, complicated, confusing relationships, so it’s great to have a chance to really explore that in such an exciting thriller.
“We have different iterations of ourselves that we put out into the world - our social media ‘personality’ versus who we are at home, who we are at home versus who we are at work, etc.
“In this film, I think there’s an interesting examination of that who we are versus who we present ourselves to be.
“Women are nurtured to strive to maintain a certain level of perfec- tion, whether outward or inward, but we are all imperfect and that’s a conversation that’s much more awesome to me than perfection.”
Someone who has long been interested in the complexity and imperfection of women is Feig, who has always put actresses at the centre of his films, working repeatedly with stars including Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Rose Byrne.
“What is great about Paul is he is not ‘stepping up’ to make films about women, it’s what he wants to do.
“I asked him about it when we were making this film, about what is it that draws him to stories about women and he said it’s because he’s seen all the stories about men.
“I mean there are always new stories to tell but, in his lifetime, he’s mainly seen stories about men and so he’s more interested in telling stories about women.
“He isn’t doing it to be politically correct or different or because he feels he should. It’s because he wants to, which is great.”
And while Feig has become famous for his female-led comedies, he’s venturing into a different genre for the first time while still keeping women front and centre.
“Women are often put in such specific boxes,” he says. “This is the ‘beatific wife’ or this is the ‘bossy bitch,’ but in this film you might think Stephanie is the ‘chirpy mum’ you want to make fun of, but then you start realising maybe your perception isn’t quite right.
“Stephanie has other sides to her and she’s got all these secrets. I loved the idea that you’re always having the rug pulled from under you.”
Both Kendrick and Lively have been vocal about the need for change in Hollywood, particularly with the way those specific boxes