Emerald Fennell is reflecting on filming “Promising Young Woman” while nearing the end of her pregnancy.
The 35-year-old filmmaker welcomed her first child shortly after shooting her directorial debut.
RELATED: Emerald Fennell And Chloé Zhao Make History For Female Directors At 2021 Oscars
Fennell spoke about stepping behind the camera in her third trimester, while featuring on the cover of W Magazine Volume 2: The “Directors” issue.
“I couldn’t travel, and I happened to be in L.A.,” she recalled. “We were adamant that the film be universal and look like it could have been shot anywhere. I didn’t want to see any palm trees.”
Fennell’s baby boy was born just three weeks after filming wrapped on the black comedy thriller.
The Academy Award nominee directed, photographed, and styled herself as a woman who is “simultaneously fascinating and frightening” for the W Magazine shoot.
“She could be eccentric and diabolical. I wanted her to be simultaneously fascinating and frightening: a desperate housewife with nowhere to go; her whole existence has become an occasion to impress the Amazon deliveryman,” she explained.
Discussing the similar questions of humanity explored in “Promising Young Woman”, she added, “Everybody thinks they’re a good person. My question for ‘Promising Young Woman’ was, What do you do if normal, ‘good’ people are doing bad things?
“Most movie villains are sociopaths, and while sociopaths are fascinating outliers, most bad acts are committed by people who truly believe they are good.”
