Who are the winners and losers in the SAG-AFTRA strike post-mortem? It might be a bit simplistic but given the box office for films like “The Marvels” that didn’t have its cast to help promote it, and all the studios that pushed some of their projects into 2024, giving them a bit more runaway to work with, you could argue the winners are all those who waited out the strike. Take Focus Features. Its new film from Ethan Coen, “Drive-Away Dolls,” was set for September 2023, but once the strikes hit, the studio decided to wait, delay the film six months, and hope that their gamble would pay off.
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And it looks like it did. “Drive-Away Dolls” is scheduled for a nationwide release on February 23, and that’s plenty of time to assemble the cast for promotion now and until closer to release.
Certainly, that’s good for Coen and his first major post-Coen Brothers-split release. Joel and Ethan Coen haven’t quite “broken up,” but they have moved on a little to making films on their own, “Drive-Away Dolls” is actually Coen’s second following a Jerry Lee Lewis doc that screened at festivals but hasn’t officially come out yet.
Written by Ethan Coen and his new creative collaborator and producer Tricia Cooke (who is also his wife), “Drive-Away Dolls” is a crime camper comedy with a big cast and some starry names in some smaller roles. The film stars Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, and Beanie Feldstein as a trio of girls who embark on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee and get involved in some crime hijinx. Colman Domingo, Pedro Pascal, Bill Camp, and Matt Damon are among some of the characters they inadvertently cross in the movie and want to enact some revenge on top of getting their fortunes back.
Apart from Cooke, Robert Graf, Tim Bevan, and Eric Fellner are also producers on the film.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Written by Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke, this comedy caper follows Jamie, an uninhibited free spirit bemoaning yet another breakup with a girlfriend, and her demure friend Marian, who desperately needs to loosen up. In search of a fresh start, the two embark on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee, but things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals along the way. Directed by Ethan Coen.
Longtime Coen Brothers composer Carter Burwell wrote the score, and the cinematography is handled by Ari Wegner, who earned an Academy Award nomination for Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog.”
“Drive-Away Dolls” lands in theaters on February 23. Watch the new trailer below:
