TRIPLE THREAT

When Empire meets Emerald Fennell, it’s just ten short days until the premiere of the director-actor-showrunnerauthor-Christ-woman-we’rerunning-out-of-hyphens’ debut feature film at Sundance. Today, she’s in London, but as this is being written she’s in Park City, having just set it buzzing with the Carey Mulligan-starring, Margot Robbie-produced Promising Young Woman — her revenge thriller/horror/romcom with Mulligan in an entirely un-Mulligan role as Cassie, a young woman hell-bent on settling scores. Until maybe she isn’t. “Ballsy” and “brave” were the most commonly tossed-out adjectives to describe what had just screened. Both pretty apt adjectives, once you’ve spent a jot of time in Emerald Fennell’s company.

You might know her name from her showrunning the second season of Killing Eve . You might know her face from her playing Camilla Shand in the third season of The Crown . You might know her voice from her YA novel, Shiverton Hall . If you don’t know her at all, get ready to have that corrected. For the multi-hyphenate, multi-threat Fennell has made a film that is nothing like you expect, strident in its originality and, frankly, completely bonkers for a first piece of work. We really want to know what she was thinking.

Was this the very first idea you had for a feature script?

No, but it was the first one that I’d the opportunity to write, because LuckyChap [Margot Robbie’s production company] bought it when they did. What was amazing, both psychologically and financially, was that I was able to really set the time aside to do it. And in terms of the idea, the films I love are very unusual. I like thrillers. I like twisty-turnies. Story-driven, character-driven, but alsowant to take revenge.