Promising Young Woman Trivia | 40 facts about the movie

“Young Promising Woman” is an Oscar nominated and awarded movie, that revolves aroung a trauma caused by a rape.

Let’s find out more about the movie!

1. Promising Young Woman is a 2020 black comedy thriller film.
2. It was written, produced, and directed by Emerald Fennell.
3. This movie is her feature directorial debut.
4. The film stars Carey Mulligan as a vigilante seeking to avenge the death of her best friend who was a rape victim.
5. It also features Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Clancy Brown, Jennifer Coolidge, Laverne Cox, and Connie Britton in supporting roles.
6. Promising Young Woman had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2020.
7. It was theatrically released in the United States on December 25, 2020, by Focus Features
8. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise directed at its screenplay, direction, and Mulligan’s performance.
9. It grossed $15 million worldwide.
10. The film garnered five nominations at the 93rd Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress (for Mulligan), with Fennell winning Best Original Screenplay.
11. It also received four nominations at the 78th Golden Globe Awards including for the Best Motion Picture – Drama.
12. It also received six nominations at the 74th British Academy Film Awards where it won for Outstanding British Film and Best Original Screenplay.
13. Emerald Fennell devised the concept of the film in 2017, and she sold the script to Margot Robbie’s production company LuckyChap Entertainment after pitching the opening scene.
14. In January 2019, it was announced Carey Mulligan had been set to star in the film, with Fennell directing.
15. In March 2019, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Connie Britton, Adam Brody, Jennifer Coolidge, Laverne Cox, Max Greenfield, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Sam Richardson, and Molly Shannon joined the cast, with Angela Zhou and Clancy Brown being added in April.
16. Principal photography began in Los Angeles on March 26, 2019^.
17. It lasted 23 days.
18. The majority of exterior shots were filmed at Campus South, part of the Lanterman property at Cal Poly Pomona.
19. According to Carrie Wittmer of The Ringer, the film production crew deliberately chose male actors who previously played characters known as good or wholesome to reinforce the idea that predators can be anyone.
20. Fennell created “mood boards” to illustrate to the crew how Cassie has wildly different facets of her personality.
21. Originally, Fennell planned to end the film at the time Cassie’s body was burned, but the production’s financiers balked at having a negative ending.
22. She also considered an ending where Cassie appears at the wedding and kills responsible men but deemed it unrealistic.
23. She decided to have the ending where Cassie has a backup planned revenge as she felt Cassie would be thorough in her planning and she would be aware she could die in her final mission.
24. Additionally, Fennell stated that having Al apprehended at his wedding would reflect Cassie’s sense of humor, which is why she plans that event.
25. A deleted scene showed Cassie with a bruise from an encounter with a potential date rapist that had put her in danger.
26. The title is a reference to Brock Turner, a Stanford University student who was convicted of sexual assault in 2016. Despite his conviction, he was referred to by some as a “Promising Young Man.”
27. The very first scene writer Emerald Fennell thought of was a female character lying on a bed while someone takes her pants down, as she is drunkenly asking “What are you doing?”, then asking the same question in a completely sober manner. She wrote the rest of the film based on this idea, and the full scene did end up in the finished film.
28. The words “rape” and “sexual assault” are not spoken in the film.
29. Emerald Fennell said that one advantage to filming in L.A. was that production was able to entice a lot of her first choice actors to sign on for the smaller roles in the film, since it involved little to no travel and a much shorter time commitment on their part.
30. She referred to the cast as a whole as “an embarrassment of riches.”
31. Upon scoring the lead role, Carey Mulligan was sent a playlist by director Emerald Fennell, that would set the mood for the film.
32. ‘Toxic’ by Britney Spears featured twice. Fennell is a self-declared massive fan of Spears and considers the song to be one of the best of all time.
33. At the same time, she wanted to rebel against a dismissive notion that female pop culture is “guilty pleasure,” and therefore made it an integral part of the audiovisual side of the film.
34. In an interview, Emerald Fennell said that Carey Mulligan was very nervous about having to act drunk, a notoriously difficult thing to do. Fennell reminded her that she wasn’t actually acting drunk, but rather was playing a character that was sober, pretending to be drunk, so it didn’t need to be perfect. This helped Mulligan relax, and Fennell was quick to point out that her drunk acting was very good.
35. The book Cassie reads while working at the coffee shop is titled “Careful How You Go,” which is a nod to Emerald Fennell’s 2018 short film of the same name, starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Daniel Rigby and Linda Bassett.
36. Emerald Fennell receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Director, along with Chloé Zhao for Nomadland (2020) marked the first time two women have been nominated in the category in the same year.
37. Took a total of 23 days to film.
38. There are multiple shots where Cassie is seated in front of her headboard, with the white frame jetting out behind her symbolically forming angel wings.
39. Emerald Fennell described herself as “very pregnant” while filming took place, she gave birth 3 weeks after production wrapped.
40. This film makes Emerald Fennell the first British woman to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Director.