logo
Aubrey Plaza and Margaret Qualley are queer leads in new film Honey Don't! hitting theaters

Aubrey Plaza and Margaret Qualley are queer leads in new film Honey Don't! hitting theaters

Express Tribune18-04-2025

Margaret Qualley returns to queer cinema in Honey Don't!, a new lesbian detective movie directed by Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke.
Starring alongside Aubrey Plaza, the film features Qualley as Honey, a smooth and stealthy private investigator delving into a suspicious church led by none other than Chris Evans. Plaza, in peak form, takes on the role of a mysterious woman, continuing her streak of playing enigmatic, complex characters.
Revealed in a recent interview with i-D, Qualley shared more about her character, describing Honey as 'skillful' and 'slipping in and out undetected'—a departure from her naturally comedic instincts. The film, which is set in contemporary Bakersfield, draws inspiration from noir classics like The Long Goodbye and Fat City.
Honey Don't! marks the second installment in a planned trilogy of queer B-movies from the Coen-Cooke duo, following 2024's Drive-Away Dolls, where Qualley also played a queer lead. Cooke previously teased the film would feature 'more sex' and take cues from the Wanda Jackson song of the same name.
Fans can expect the same campy, stylized flair as Coen and Cooke's earlier work, with a modern queer twist. The film is slated for release sometime in 2025, and LGBTQ+ cinema lovers are already buzzing with anticipation.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

‘Honey Don't!' noir brings Ethan Coen's inventive violence to Cannes
‘Honey Don't!' noir brings Ethan Coen's inventive violence to Cannes

Business Recorder

time25-05-2025

  • Business Recorder

‘Honey Don't!' noir brings Ethan Coen's inventive violence to Cannes

CANNES: Ethan Coen, one half of the renowned Coen brothers, had to get even more creative when imagining how to kill off characters for 'Honey Don't!,' his new spin on 1940s LA noir starring Margaret Qualley. 'It's a challenge because we got a lot of good minds out there thinking about it all the time. So it's hard to come up with new ways,' the director told Reuters at the Cannes Film Festival. 'It sounds strange to say, but you want to make the violence fun, not just some like weird sadistic thing for some reason,' he added ahead of Friday evening's premiere. The Coen brothers are known for their notional plot lines juxtaposed with shock violence in films such as 'Fargo' and 'No Country for Old Men,' both of which earned them Oscar awards. In just one example, as seen in the 'Honey Don't!' trailer, a man has a fork violently rammed into the bottom of his chin. 'Somehow I think it (violence) kind of transcends sadism by virtue of its inventiveness,' added Coen, who said he was aiming to capture the feel of friend and fellow director Sam Raimi's early films, which includes cult horror classic 'Evil Dead.' Qualley stars as the Bakersfield, California-based sharp-tongued and seductive private investigator Honey O'Donahue, who gets tangled up with a cult while looking into a woman's death. 'Captain America' actor Chris Evans plays a crooked preacher, while Aubrey Plaza of 'The White Lotus' is Qualley's romantic interest and Charlie Day a homicide detective. 'We wanted to make a film noir that had a lesbian lead character' because there aren't many of those, especially compared with the number of ones with heterosexual characters, Tricia Cooke, Coen's co-writer and wife, told Reuters. Coen and Cooke said they immediately felt it was the right choice to cast Qualley, initially for their similar lesbian cross-country road trip caper 'Drive-Away Dolls' that marked Ethan Coen's first solo film without his brother Joel. 'We thought after we met her, well, she'll be good for 'Drive-Away Dolls,' but she'll be great for this other script we had written even then,' Coen added. Shooting sex scenes between Qualley and Plaza was not a challenge, as they both really liked each other, said Coen. They decided to set the film in Bakersfield, which is less well-off than Los Angeles, as part of the revamp of the genre. 'It Was Just An Accident' by Iran's Jafar Panahi wins Cannes' top prize LA has been patented by crime fiction writer Raymond Chandler, and that is its own kind of detective story, said Coen. 'We wanted to do it and not glamorous LA, but very much California, the inland desert,' added Coen, with the idea being to capture the bleakness that inhabits those locations. 'Honey Don't!,' which received lukewarm reviews from critics at Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter, is set to hit U.S. theatres on August 22.

The Weeknd releases music video to 'Drive' guest starring Jenna Ortega
The Weeknd releases music video to 'Drive' guest starring Jenna Ortega

Express Tribune

time19-04-2025

  • Express Tribune

The Weeknd releases music video to 'Drive' guest starring Jenna Ortega

The Weeknd has released the official music video for his track 'Drive' from his sixth studio album, Hurry Up Tomorrow, just days after sharing the second trailer for the upcoming film of the same name. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Trey Edward Shults, who also helmed the movie Hurry Up Tomorrow, the video stars actress Jenna Ortega, who plays a leading role in the film. In the dreamlike visual, Ortega and The Weeknd share a quiet moment on a neon-lit Ferris wheel at a carnival before she sets off on a picturesque, introspective drive that unfolds from day into night. The video then takes a dark, sudden turn, closing with a haunting shot of The Weeknd asleep in a bathtub, adding a layer of mystery to the narrative. Hurry Up Tomorrow the album was released in January and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. The highly anticipated companion film is due to premiere in cinemas on 16 May. The film's storyline follows a musician battling chronic insomnia, portrayed by Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd), who is drawn into an otherworldly journey after meeting a stranger, played by Ortega. This odyssey pushes him to confront the deepest parts of his identity and reality. The movie also stars Barry Keoghan and is produced by Tesfaye's Manic Phase alongside Reza Fahim, the late Kevin Turen, and Harrison Kreiss. Executive producers include Ortega, Shults, Michael Rapino, Ryan Kroft, Wassim 'Sal' Slaiby, and Harrison Huffman.

Aubrey Plaza and Margaret Qualley are queer leads in new film Honey Don't! hitting theaters
Aubrey Plaza and Margaret Qualley are queer leads in new film Honey Don't! hitting theaters

Express Tribune

time18-04-2025

  • Express Tribune

Aubrey Plaza and Margaret Qualley are queer leads in new film Honey Don't! hitting theaters

Margaret Qualley returns to queer cinema in Honey Don't!, a new lesbian detective movie directed by Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke. Starring alongside Aubrey Plaza, the film features Qualley as Honey, a smooth and stealthy private investigator delving into a suspicious church led by none other than Chris Evans. Plaza, in peak form, takes on the role of a mysterious woman, continuing her streak of playing enigmatic, complex characters. Revealed in a recent interview with i-D, Qualley shared more about her character, describing Honey as 'skillful' and 'slipping in and out undetected'—a departure from her naturally comedic instincts. The film, which is set in contemporary Bakersfield, draws inspiration from noir classics like The Long Goodbye and Fat City. Honey Don't! marks the second installment in a planned trilogy of queer B-movies from the Coen-Cooke duo, following 2024's Drive-Away Dolls, where Qualley also played a queer lead. Cooke previously teased the film would feature 'more sex' and take cues from the Wanda Jackson song of the same name. Fans can expect the same campy, stylized flair as Coen and Cooke's earlier work, with a modern queer twist. The film is slated for release sometime in 2025, and LGBTQ+ cinema lovers are already buzzing with anticipation.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store