Skip to content
  • Stories
    • Create
    • Connect
    • Capitalize
    • Intelligent Content
  • Events
  • Amplify+
  • Sign Up
  • Sign In
March 16, 2021
Posted March 15, 2021

How the “Promising Young Woman” Editor Balanced Rom-Com, Thriller and Horror | Source: The Hollywood Reporter

author
Jennifer Wolfe
Content Partner
NAB Amplify
Carey Mulligan stars as Cassandra in director Emerald Fennell’s PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN. Cr: Focus Features
Carey Mulligan stars as Cassandra in director Emerald Fennell’s PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN. Cr: Focus Features

“The black comedy of writer-director Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman effortlessly shifts from comedy to thriller to rom-com to horror movie, often within a single scene, as the Focus Features release tells the tale of the clever Cassandra Thomas, played by Carey Mulligan, who was viewed as a promising young woman until mysterious circumstances prompted her to drop out of medical school.”

Source: Carolyn Giardina, The Hollywood Reporter

AT A GLANCE:

Film editor Frédéric Thoraval discusses his collaboration with writer-director Emerald Fennell for her debut feature, Promising Young Woman, in an interview with Carolyn Giardina for The Hollywood Reporter.

Despite the film’s “roller-coaster tonal shifts,” Thoraval credits Fennell’s script for maintaining an emotional through-line. “It was set up in the script. We knew how Emerald wanted to play with the different genres and set up those clear moments that are more horror movie, more thriller or rom-com. Her writing is very precise,” he said. “The main thing was to follow the character of Cassie; she helps us to follow the changes of tone. [Once you] have the connection with the main character, you hopefully can accept when Emerald pulls the rug out [from under you], and Emerald is changing those emotions very fast.”

  • Carey Mulligan (left) stars as “Cassandra” and Connie Britton (right) stars as “Dean Walker“ in director Emerald Fennell’s PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features
  • Carey Mulligan stars as Cassandra in director Emerald Fennell’s PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN. Cr: Focus Features
    Carey Mulligan stars as Cassandra in director Emerald Fennell’s PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN. Cr: Focus Features
  • Carey Mulligan (left) stars as Cassandra and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (right) stars as Neil in director Emerald Fennell’s PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN. Cr: Focus Features
    Carey Mulligan (left) stars as Cassandra and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (right) stars as Neil in director Emerald Fennell’s PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN. Cr: Focus Features
  • Clancy Brown (left) stars as Stanley and Jennifer Coolidge (right) stars as Susan in director Emerald Fennell’s PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, a Focus Features release. Cr: Focus Features
    Clancy Brown (left) stars as Stanley and Jennifer Coolidge (right) stars as Susan in director Emerald Fennell’s PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, a Focus Features release. Cr: Focus Features
  • Alison Brie stars as Madison in director Emerald Fennell’s PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, a Focus Features release. Cr: Focus Features
    Alison Brie stars as Madison in director Emerald Fennell’s PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, a Focus Features release. Cr: Focus Features

Cassie’s meeting with Dean Walker (played by Connie Britton) exemplifies how the film moves from comedy to horror within a single scene. “In this moment, the audience perceives that scene is done,” Thoraval notes.

“But in reality, this is the start of a new phase — a ‘reset’ of the action for the tension to slowly build again as Cassie plays with the dean, telling her what she supposedly has done to the dean’s daughter — visually, with the camera tracking in on Cassie, and sonically, with an ominous score starting and a sound effect creeping in underneath — until the climax where a panicked Dean Walker is shouting.”

Head over to The Hollywood Reporter to read the full story.

  • Content Creation
  • Create
  • Media Content
  • Post Production
  • Motion Picture/ Film Production
  • Editing

Related Content

Carey Mulligan stars as Cassandra in director Emerald Fennell’s PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN. Cr: Focus Features

Crime and Punishment: Benjamin Kračun on “Promising Young Woman” | Source: British Cinematographer

CONTENT CREATION

Post in a Pandemic: How the Team From “What We Do in the Shadows” Evolved | SonyCine

remote workflows
CONTENT CREATION

Remote Collaboration is a Fact of Life as Post Production Finds a Home in the Cloud | Source: Sohonet

Subscribe

for more content like this sent directly to your inbox:

Sign Up
  • Main Pages
  • Homepage
  • Stories
  • Events
  • Companies
  • Products
  • Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Code of Conduct
  • Cookie Policy
  • Quick Links
  • Advertising & Thought Leadership
  • NAB Amplify Press
  • FAQs
  • Technical Difficulties
  • Contact
  • Cookie Preferences
  • RSS Feed
The Angle Newsletter

Weekly editorial newsletter covering the latest content, events and more taking place on NAB Amplify.

Subscribe

© 2023 National Association of Broadcasters. All Rights Reserved.