If you enjoyed Bel Powley’s performance in Marielle Heller’s “The Diary of a Teenage Girl,” you’ll definitely want to check out “Carrie Pilby,” a coming-of-age story that sees Powley playing another precocious, defiant young woman. The dramedy just scored a release date. Deadline reports that the film will hit theaters March 31 with a digital and VOD release to follow April 4.
Directed by Susan Johnson, “Carrie Pilby” centers on a genius (Powley) who struggles to adapt to life in the world outside of academia. Carrie graduated from Harvard at the age of 18, but finds herself lagging behind her peers in other areas of life. She seeks refuge from the outside world — which she’s convinced is full of oversexed hypocrites — locked up in her apartment. After reluctantly agreeing to work on a checklist of goals her psychiatrist (Nathan Lane) created for her, Carrie enters the world of dating and the job market.
“I love that Carrie is a strong, intelligent, and funny young woman, but completely flawed like the rest of us. Just when she thinks she has it all sorted, reality slaps her in the face,” Johnson told Women and Hollywood. The director identified funding as the biggest challenge in making the film. She explained, “Our story is centered on a female protagonist, written by a woman, produced by extremely successful female producers, and helmed by a first-time female feature director making the transition from producing. Getting people to pay attention to us was much harder than it should have been.”
“Carrie Pilby” is based on Caren Lissner’s best-selling book and was adapted for the screen by Kara Holden (“Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life”). The film made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last year.
Johnson’s hopes for the film are admirable: “If we can send people home feeling ever so slightly less judgmental about the people they encounter daily, in person or online, we will have made a successful film,” she shared.
