Promising Young Woman

Promising Young Woman (2020)

Timing: 1:54 (114 min)

7.391/10
3657

6.848/10
184417

7.5/10
253000

All about film

Video 28

Photo 130

Actors and characters

Release date

2020-12-13

Country

United States

Production

LuckyChap Entertainment, FilmNation Entertainment

Genre

Thriller, Crime, Drama

Budget

$10 000 000

Revenue

$20 379 604

Website

https://www.focusfeatures.com/promising-young-woman

Director

Emerald Fennell

Actors

Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Clancy Brown, Jennifer Coolidge, Laverne Cox, ​Christopher Lowell, Molly Shannon, Connie Britton, Adam Brody
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Emerald Fennell

Producer

Margot Robbie, Ben Browning, Emerald Fennell, Tom Ackerley, Josey McNamara, Ashley Fox, Carey Mulligan, Glen Basner, Milan Popelka, Alison Cohen

Operator

Benjamin Kracun

Composer

Anthony B. Willis

Artist

Audition

Mary Vernieu, Lindsay Graham Ahanonu

Editing

Frédéric Thoraval
All team (191)

• The film's title alludes to a Stanford University student who was tried in 2016 for sexual assault. Despite being found guilty, some referred to him as a "promising young man."
• The first scene conceived by screenwriter Emerald Fennell was as follows: a girl lies in bed, her underwear is being removed, and she drunkenly asks, "What are you doing?" – then asks the same question when sober. She wrote the entire script based on this idea, and this first conceived scene also found its place in the final version.
• Emerald Fennell asked her father-in-law, a retired police officer, how long it takes to strangle someone. He replied that 2.5 minutes is sufficient. The final strangulation scene in the film lasts exactly that long.
• Carey Mulligan performed the scene where her character is strangled herself, refusing a stunt double.
• According to Emerald Fennell, the lead actress Carey Mulligan was very worried about the prospect of portraying drunkenness on camera, which is always difficult enough. The director and screenwriter reminded the actress that she wouldn't actually be drunk, she would only have to portray being drunk while sober, so some imperfections in her performance were permissible. These assurances and arguments helped Mulligan relax, and soon Fennell was already assuring the actress that she was portraying drunkenness very convincingly.
• The first scene conceived by screenwriter Emerald Fennell was as follows: a girl lies on the bed, her underwear is being removed, and she drunkenly asks, “What are you doing?” — and then asks the same question in a sober voice. She wrote the entire script based on this idea.
• Emerald Fennell asked her father-in-law, a retired police officer, how long it takes to strangle a person. He replied that 2.5 minutes is enough. The final strangulation scene in the film lasts exactly that long.
• In the scene where her character is strangled, Carey Mulligan performed the scene herself, refusing a stunt double.
• According to Fennell, it was originally intended that the film would end tragically with Cassandra's death, but the director later decided to add a scene in which the character played by Chris Lowell receives his comeuppance. Discussing the film's ending with the producers, Fennell emphasized that a meticulous person like Cassandra would never allow herself to be in such a dangerous situation without taking precautions and carefully thinking everything through. This remark resulted in the appearance of the wedding scene and all related events in the script.
• Chris Lowell later recounted that the choking scene was difficult for both him and his co-star. Mulligan had to keep her head in a specific position to be able to breathe while Lowell pretended to strangle her. The assistant director observed the scene and was supposed to shout when the actress lost consciousness. During the filming of one of the takes, Mulligan didn't manage to position her head correctly, and Lowell had already begun to strangle her, this time actually choking her, but the actress managed to signal to him to stop.
• The film's title plays on a reference to one of the Stanford University students who was tried in 2016 for sexual harassment. Some called him a 'promising young man'.
• The first scene conceived by screenwriter Emerald Fennell was as follows: a girl lies on the bed, her underwear is being removed, and she drunkenly asks, “What are you doing?”—and then asks the same question in a sober voice. She wrote the entire screenplay based on this idea.