Craving a Regency romance where a bunch of beautiful people flirt, send mixed signals, and hatch plots for marriage, revenge, and/or love? Well, you don’t have to wait for the next season of “Bridgerton” or a new Jane Austen adaptation: the trailer for “Mr. Malcolm’s List” has arrived. It sees a young woman “without fortune or prospects,” and without a desire to marry for convenience, agreeing to help her jilted friend get even with an arrogant Mr. Darcy type — and unexpectedly falling for him.
Selina Dalton (Freida Pinto, “Slumdog Millionaire”) travels to London at the behest of her pal Julia (Zawe Ashton, “The Handmaid’s Tale”). Julia was rejected and publicly humiliated by Mr. Jeremy Malcolm (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, “Gangs of London”), who she later discovered has “a list of qualifications for a bride” that she did not meet. Julia wants Mr. Malcolm to get a taste of his own medicine, and that’s where Selina comes in.
“If we present you as the perfect woman, then he discovers he does not meet the requirements on your list,” Julia explains to her friend, “that would be a perfect sort of poetic justice.”
Selina agrees but finds she actually enjoys Mr. Malcolm. Meanwhile, the titular gentleman himself is realizing he’s been using his list as “a shield.” “You did not want to give your heart to a woman unworthy,” he is told.
“Mr. Malcolm’s List” is directed by Emma Holly Jones and based on screenwriter Suzanne Allain’s novel and Black List script. Jones and Allain previously collaborated on a short film version of “Mr. Malcolm’s List,” starring Pinto, Dìrísù, and Gemma Chan (“Eternals”). As we originally reported, the short, and now the feature, employed color-conscious casting as a way of reclaiming historical narratives that are usually populated with white characters, such as the many Jane Austen stories that have made it to the screen.
Jones previously helmed the shorts “They Grow Up,” “Everything Carries Me to You,” and “Dreams Play Apart.” Pinto counts “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and “The Path” among her best-known credits.
“Mr. Malcolm’s List” hits theaters July 1.
