11:41 am PDT 3/15/2021
in
Rebecca Ford
“It’s really incredible once in a lifetime,” says the screenwriter and director of five Oscar nominations for ‘Young Promised’.
Emerald Fennell made her debut as a feature film director with Promising young woman, and on Monday, she received her first Oscar nomination, becoming one of only seven women to receive a nomination in the direction category. The UK screenwriter and director also won screenplay and best film nominations.
She jumped on the phone with THR shortly after the nominations were announced to talk a little more about the film’s five nominations (including a best actress nomination for star Carey Mulligan) and his plans for what lies ahead.
What were you doing when the appointments were announced?
I planned to watch, but I didn’t know that daylight saving time had happened in America, which meant that the ads were an hour earlier than I imagined. In fact, I was in a Zoom meeting with someone, and then my phone started ringing and my husband burst in and said, ‘It’s on! ”So I had to leave the meeting, incredibly embarrassingly, with the words’ I’m sorry. I have to go. I think I may have just been nominated for an Oscar. “(Laughter) It’s really incredible once in a lifetime. In a strange way, I’m relieved to have been before, although I’m sad to have missed the first part, because I didn’t have that hour of pure terror, waiting.
Have you heard of Carey Mulligan and other members of your cast and crew?
Yea! Everyone who worked on this film is incredible, and everyone took a chance on it, frankly. They tried because they hoped it could be something. So today, when it happened, I feel immense gratitude and pride. We made the film in 23 days – I am very grateful to them. Carey and I were screaming and sobbing and jumping in the zoom. Fred Thoraval, the incredible editor, is working abroad and was sleeping, so I called him and woke him up and said, “I’m sorry, but you really should wake up because you were nominated for an Oscar.” I wish I could see everyone. It is hard not to be able to personally congratulate people.
How does it feel to be nominated in the direction category with Chloe Zhao – the first time that two women have been nominated in this category?
Chloe is so amazing and that movie is so spectacular, so being nominated alongside her and everyone else in that category is just wonderful. But there have also been so many filmmakers this year who have made films so beautiful, brilliant, challenging and different. That’s why I feel honored to be able to meet and talk to all these women along this journey.
This was his debut in the direction of a feature film. Do you know what you want to target next?
I guess after that I don’t know what to do! I think I just need to get some kind of agonizing drug addiction and a harem of boyfriends. I don’t know what to do, besides going completely crazy (laughs). No, I just wrote the next thing. I won’t do this to anyone until it’s done, and then I hope someone likes it and I manage to do it. I miss people and I miss working with people. So, the fact that this film made it possible to make another one, is so exciting.