EMERALD FENNELL’S BUSY YEAR

BY: Amanda Jane Stern

On Monday will Emerald Fennell join the company of (so far) the less than 10 women ever nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards? 

Promising Young Woman, the debut directorial feature of the Emmy-nominated, Oxford educated English director, writer, actress has already earned Fennell three nods at the recent Golden Globes.

She directed, wrote and produced (with Margot Robbie) the comedic thriller that stars Carey Mulligan (also in Netflix’s The Dig this year) as med-school dropout Cassie Thomas. There’s so much to say about the film, but honestly, the less you know about the movie going in the better. Plus, we’ve already featured it as a PROVOKR Pick! Promising Young Woman, is one of the 2020 movies that  will deserve a re-release so audiences can watch it on the big screen post-pandemic.

In addition to Mulligan, the ensemble includes actors Christopher Mintz-Plasse (aka McLovin), Chris Lowell of Veronica Mars, and Netflix’s GLOW), and Bo Burnham (the comedian/musician who directed 2018’s Eight Grade). Fennell said she specifically cast nice actors to do bad things, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Fennell has been busy the last few years, and the success of Promising Young Woman will only mean a busier schedule. 

As an actress, she just finished-up portraying Camilla Parker Bowles (aka the current Duchess of Cornwall) on Season 4 of Netflix’s The Crown. Her other acting credits include the films Albert Nobbs (as Mrs Smythe-Willard) and The Danish Girl (as Elsa), plus the series regular role of Nurse Patsy Mount in the BBC period drama Call the Midwife.

And in between The Crown and Call the Midwife, Fennell was the Showrunner for Season 2 of BBC’s Killing Eve, replacing her close friend (and series creator) Phoebe Waller-Bridge. 

She will definitely be in demand, but  Fennell has been very hush-hush on the details of her next screenplay. In the meanwhile let’s look at her confirmed and potential upcoming projects

 

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella

Fennell came onboard to write the book (aka everything scripted beyond the lyrics) for this new West End musical adaption of the classic story. She described this adaptation as “Disneyland on crack” to The Wall Street Journal. Plus, Fennell confirmed that it will give the heroine more agency than the fairytale traditional provides.

The musical will feature a score from living legend Andrew Lloyd Webber (the powerhouse composer of Broadway’s The Phantom Of The Opera, Cats, and Jesus Christ Superstar). And the lyrics are penned by David Zippel (the wordsmith behind the tunes in Disney’s Hercules and Mulan).

West End Actress and YouTuber Carrie Hope Fletcher will play the title role.

It will premiere on London’s West End later this year, according to The Guardian.

And given the credentials of Fennell’s collaborators (and British Theater propensity making itself available to audiences who can’t travel to the West End), we hope that this project at least sees a TV simulcast soon after its opening night.

 

Spacebound

Fennel penned the script for this TV movie to be the opening pilot for a series about a stranded alien who meets a group of eclectic earth friends.  This project was allegedly in development with Fox. And at the time Fennell was supposedly attached as the Executive Producer and Writer.

Although it seems unlikely that this pilot will be heading to the small screen anytime soon —it was recently featured on a special February 2021 episode of the Dead Pilots Society podcast. 

That episode featured a reading of the script with Carey Mulligan as the leading character “G456,” and supporting performances from Richard E. Grant (Oscar-nominee for Can You Ever Forgive Me?) as “The Overlord,” and Rainn Wilson (the thrice Emmy-nominated actor best known as Dwight Schrute on NBC’s The Office) as “Tall Man.” And Fennell gave an interview to the podcast hosts after the reading. 

Given Fennell’s new star-power and the names attached to the recent reading, Fox may want to give this passed over property a second look.