No./5 How the revenge movie got a timely twist
Promising Young Woman, the feature directorial debut from writer-director Emerald Fennell, hits back at the so-called nice guys
It’s been two years since women the world over said time’s Up — and the impact is finally being felt on our screens, from
Bombshell’s depiction of the Roger Ailes case, to The Morning Show tackling workplace sexual harassment on Apple tv+. now 2020 brings
Promising Young Woman, a revenge movie that turns the tables on so-called ‘nice guys’ with a stellar cast, genre know-how, and razor-edge wit.
At its barbed heart is Carey Mulligan’s Cassie — a seemingly vulnerable woman who hangs around in nightclub corners where men invariably swoop in and take her home. except, they’re not in for the night they thought they were. “I want the film to feel like a first date that’s going unbelievably well. It’s too good to be true, it feels really familiar and fun and sexy,” says the film’s writer/director, emerald Fennell. “And then you go back to their flat and there’s something wrong — but the door’s locked and it’s too late. For the audience, that’s the effect.”
Having taken over as showrunner on Killing Eve season 2 (“Just too gorgeous and sexy and amazing an opportunity to pass up”) and helmed sundance-approved short Careful How You Go, starring Phoebe waller-bridge, Fennell was primed to make the jump to the big screen. “working so closely with the amazing directors on Killing Eve helped,” she says. “so did writing it, because I know it so much. Also I’m a megalomaniac, so directing really suited my personality. I didn’t have the time to be anxious — we just went for it.”
As a big fan of revenge flicks (“I love films like To Die For, or any film by the Coens”) the filmmaker is bringing a new perspective to a genre she knows inside-out. “I’d not seen a revenge movie with a woman doing the thing I might do if I wanted revenge, how anger manifests itself when you’re not used to expressing it physically,” she explains. “If I felt something unjust had happened, I would most likely fuck with people’s heads. I wouldn’t get very far with a weapon, but I might be able to teach them a lesson.”
on the receiving end of those lessons are some of cinema’s nicest guys, from Adam brody and bo burnham to Christopher Mintz-plasse — which only adds to the moral murk. “I wanted to cast people that we all want to like,” says Fennell. “when you hear something about somebody you love, you don’t want to believe it. I want to test our allegiances at every point. It’s so much more interesting than, ‘oh, well he’s evil and I hope he dies.’” watch out, nice guys — your time is well and truly up.