Emerald Fennell wanted to write about female rage. Before #MeToo became ubiquitous, she had been thinking about complacency and the teen movies of her youth where consent was often little more than a throwaway joke. That鈥檚 when the idea for her audacious debut 鈥� Promising Young Woman,鈥� out Friday, started to take shape.
There wouldn鈥檛 be a machete or a
鈥淚 think comedy is usually the best way of communicating anything really difficult,鈥� Fennell said. 鈥淚 wanted to make a film that was accessible to everyone, that would say like, 鈥極K, come in, everyone鈥檚 welcome. But, sorry, now that you鈥檙e here, the doors are locked.鈥欌��
Cassie dropped out of med school after something traumatic happened and now works at a coffee shop in the day and goes out to bars at night appearing to be blind drunk. It鈥檚 only after she鈥檚 gone home with supposed 鈥済ood guys鈥� that she reveals she is quite the opposite. Fennell knew Mulligan wouldn鈥檛 fight to make her nice.
鈥淪he鈥檚 an enormously subtle and enigmatic performer and very grounded,鈥� Fennell said. 鈥淏ecause the movie is sort of allegorical and heightened it really needed the person playing Cassie to feel completely real.鈥�
Mulligan didn鈥檛 hesitate to sign on and was taken aback recently when someone asked if she had any trepidation around playing a 鈥渃ontroversial role.鈥�
鈥淭here is literally nothing controversial about this,鈥� Mulligan said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just seeing it for the kind of disturbing truth that it is as opposed to a sort of odd trivialization."
The supporting cast is packed with familiar faces like Bo Burnham, Jennifer Coolidge, Adam Brody, Alison Brie, Laverne Cox, Alfred Molina, Connie Britton, Molly Shannon and Max Greenfield, to name a few. Mulligan said the quick 23-day-shoot felt like a revolving door of excellent actors who would often be there for a day or less.
鈥淭he writing was so strong and everyone just wanted to be in it,鈥� Mulligan said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no empty role.鈥�
And it wasn鈥檛 a coincidence that many of them are comedians.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very easy to be villainous in a kind of sexy way. It鈥檚 quite difficult to be weak and lazy and pathetic and misogynistic in a sort of ill-thought out way. The great thing about comedians in general is they think about this stuff all the time. They鈥檙e very self-aware and very eager to find those awkward, funny, nasty spaces,鈥� Fennell said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also incredibly useful if you鈥檙e making a film like this where you want to talk about good people doing bad things. If you鈥檙e using actors who we already identify as good, who we have crushes on, who we think are really funny and cute and great or women who we feel like are our best friends or somebody who we would go to in an emergency...that鈥檚 when you start to make the audience a little bit complicit or at least stretch their allegiances.鈥�
鈥淧romising Young Woman鈥� is perfectly suited to the moment, but just as the #MeToo reckoning didn鈥檛 start with the Harvey Weinstein articles, Fennell鈥檚 disgust with the 鈥渃ompletely and utterly twisted culture of seduction鈥� she grew up around had been brewing for some time. It's no surprise that it has struck a nerve and it's bound to keep people talking into the new year as the general public finally gets an opportunity to see it.
鈥淵ou want to be a part of a film that people will think about and won鈥檛 just sort of hang up and move on from!鈥� Mulligan said. 鈥淏ut I think what鈥檚 so great about it is that this is a film that you want to see, you don鈥檛 feel like you ought to.鈥�
One of the most extraordinary things about something as assured as 鈥淧romising Young Woman鈥� is that it was Fennell鈥檚 first time directing a film. But the actor (she plays Camilla Parker Bowles in 鈥淭he Crown鈥�), writer and 鈥淜illing Eve鈥� showrunner was steadfast in her vision.
Although some financiers were scared off by the provocative ending, Fennell was grateful to have found supportive partners in Margot Robbie鈥檚 production company Lucky Chap. They never asked her to step aside for a more seasoned director. And besides, Mulligan said, you鈥檇 never have known it was her first anyway.
鈥淚 never for a moment felt like it was her first film,鈥� Mulligan said. 鈥淚 felt like she鈥檇 made 50 films, like she was some legendary filmmaker who鈥檇 won lots of Oscars.鈥�
She didn't even see any anxiety or stress from her director. Although there was one time Fennell got slightly frustrated with her lead. Fennell had asked Coolidge to improvise answers about what she did for a living at a dinner scene and Mulligan kept breaking.
鈥淪he just kept coming up with the most hilarious jobs, one of which was that she trained animals to detect carbon monoxide. One of them was she was a roofer. I was just ruining every take because I couldn鈥檛 stop laughing,鈥� Mulligan said. 鈥淏ut it was Emerald鈥檚 fault!鈥�
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
