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Aubrey Plaza has no other options in “Emily the Criminal”.
The actress stars as a woman saddled with student debt who turns to a life of crime in this new thriller. The film already premiered at Sundance Festival where Plaza’s performance drew critical praise.
In the trailer for the film, written and directed by John Patton Ford, Plaza plays Emily, a young woman locked out of the job market because of her minor criminal record. She becomes a criminal as a “dummy shopper” who makes purchases with fake credit cards. She is recruited by a charismatic middleman named Youcef, played by Theo Rossi. The stakes rise as she takes bolder risks and soon finds herself putting her life on the line.
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“You know what my mistake was? I didn’t go far enough,” Plaza declares ominously at the end of the trailer.
The film also stars Gina Gershon, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Jonathan Avigdori, and Bernardo Badillo.
“There’s an underlying theme in this film about making your own rules,” Plaza told IndieWire. “The system, the economy, the man, whatever you want to call it, is the villain of this film. You have someone who was punished by the system, and she has to make rules.
“I think people are interested in it because it’s fun to break rules, and it’s fun to watch someone break rules. It’s dangerous.”
Speaking on the inspiration for the film, director Ford revealed it came from a personal place.
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“At the time I was writing this, there was just a lot of uncertainty and insecurity in my life,” he said in an interview with Collider. “I was trying to get a career going and it was tough and things were expensive and I didn’t have any money, and I think one of the big fears is that the more time I put into this career was time that I was losing potentially doing something else.”
“Emily the Criminal” hits theatres on August 12.
