“Promising Young Woman” stars Carey Mulligan as an ex-med student who spends her nights going to clubs, pretending to be wasted, and scaring the hell out of the dudes who try to have sex with her anyway. Writer-director Emerald Fennell breaks down the inspiration for the Oscar-nominated thriller in this exclusive interview footage.
As she explains in the spot, Fennell noticed how pop culture normalized sexual assault, and glossed over the notion of consent, and wanted to explore that through the lens of a woman-fronted revenge tale.
“Like everyone in my generation and a lot of generations, I grew up, you know, in the unfortunate world where consent was very murky,” Fennell says. “Picking up drunk people or getting people drunk in order to ‘seduce’ them was really the punchline of jokes in movies and TV and it was never really taken very seriously. And that seemed like such a kind of frightening and intriguing thing to me,” she adds.
“Promising Young Woman” is up for five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Original Screenplay. Fennell is the sole woman nominated in the latter category. She and “Nomadland’s” Chloé Zhao are both being recognized in the directing race, marking the first time that category has ever had two women nominees.
Fennell recently won the WGA Award for Original Screenplay for “Promising Young Woman.” She has also nabbed Golden Globe nods for Best Screenplay and Best Director, a BAFTA nomination for Best Screenplay, and a DGA nom for Outstanding Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film.
Fennell previously served as showrunner on Season 2 of “Killing Eve.” The multi-hyphenate’s acting credits include “The Crown” and “Call the Midwife.” She portrays Camilla Parker Bowles in the former, for which she is nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at this year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards. Next, she will write “Zatanna,” the story of the DC Comics sorceress of the same name, for Warner Bros.
“Promising Young Woman” is now available on digital, Blu-ray, and DVD.
