You know Allison Janney from dozens of critically-acclaimed performances, including the Academy-Award-winning performance in “I, Tonya,” and Emmy-winning performances in series like “The West Wing” and “Master of Sex.” But you’ve maybe never seen her do anything like the upcoming Netflix action-thriller, “Lou.”
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In “Lou,” Jurnee Smollett plays a mother whose landlady is Janney, the eponymous loner of the film. When the mother’s daughter (Ridely Asha Bateman) is abducted by Smollett’s character’s abusive ex-boyfriend, portrayed by Logan Marshall-Green, the two women team up to get the child back.
“Without giving it away, what I like to say is [I play] an enigmatic older woman who lives on the San Juan islands and rents a trailer on the property to a single mom,” Janney told EW this week. “Everyone kind of gives Lou a wide berth. She’s not very personable. She’s got a sense of humor, but she’s a woman of few words, and I think she’s kind of a scary figure in town.”
Here’s the official synopsis:
A woman with a mysterious past finds her quiet life interrupted when a desperate mother begs her to save her kidnapped daughter. As a massive storm rages, the two women risk everything in a deadly rescue mission through the wilderness, testing their limits and exposing dark and shocking secrets from their pasts.
“Lou” comes from German-American director Anna Foerster. She is most known for her work in films like “Outlander” and “The Day After Tomorrow.” She’s also worked on shows such as “Jessica Jones” (2015), “Criminal Minds” (2005) and, “Westworld” (2016). “Star Wars” director J.J. Abrams serves as a producer alongside Hannah Minghella and Jon Cohen.
Janney trained extensively with fight choreographer Daniel Bernhardt at 87Eleven, the same location where Charlize Theron trained for “Atomic Blonde” and Halle Berry for “John Wick.“
“Lou” was written by Maggie Cohn; her most recent project, “The Staircase,” was released earlier this year. Cohn has also worked on the Netflix series “Narcos: Mexico” which was a spinoff from the original series “Narcos” starring “The Mandalorian” actor Pedro Pascal.
“Lou” will be premiering on Netflix on September 23. Check out the first trailer below.