With his solo directorial debutDrive-Away Dollsdue in theaters next month, Ethan Coen is lining up his next project - and he’s working with one ofDrive-Away Dolls’stars again.Margaret Qualleywill star inHoney Don’t!alongsideAubrey PlazaandChris Evans.Deadlinereports that the trio will begin filming the new picture in New Mexico in March. Plot details are being kept under wraps for now, but it is said to be of a piece with the screwball crime comedy ofDrive-Away Dolls;Qualley will play a private eye, Evans will play a cult leader, and Plaza will portray a mystery woman of some stripe.
Drive-Away Dollsis the first feature Ethan Coen has directed without his brother Joel, who likewise went solo with 2021’sTragedy of Macbethfor A24 and Apple. While the two may work together again in the future, Ethan has found another collaborator in the form of his wife, Tricia Cooke; Cooke edited many of the Coens' classic films, includingBarton Fink,The Big Lebowski, andO Brother, Where Art Thou?She produced and co-wroteDrive-Away Dollswith her husband, and will do so onHoney Don’t!as well. The film will presumably be part of a loosely-connected “lesbian b-movie” trilogy they previouslydiscussedwith Collider’s Steve Weintraub last summer.
Said Cooke, “Over the past 20 years, we’ve been writing this lesbian B movie trilogy. Not really a trilogy, but the idea was to write three queer B movies that I always thought would just kind of sit in the drawer and our kids would look at one day when they were old and get some laughs. And now we’ve made one of them.”
Who are the Stars of ‘Honey Don’t!’?
The daughter of Groundhog Day’s Andie MacDowell, Qualley had roles inThe Nice GuysandThe Leftoversbefore breaking out with a role as one of Charles Manson’s disciples in Quentin Tarantino’sOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood. She currently stars in the Oscar-nominatedPoor Things, and can be seen next month in the aforementionedDrive-Away Dolls. Plaza became a comedy sensation as the deadpan April Ludgate onParks and Recreation, and has parlayed that into a successful film and TV career. She recently starred on the second season of HBO’sThe White Lotus, and will soon be seen inMy Old Ass, a time-travel comedy that debuted to great acclaim at Sundance. Best known for his own MCU role, that of the living legend of World War II Captain America, Evans has pursueddarker rolessince departing the franchise withAvengers: Endgame. Last year, he starred in the Apple action filmGhostedand the pharmaceutical crime dramaPain Hustlersfor Netflix. He can next be seen alongsideDwayne Johnsonin the Amazon holiday action film Red One.
WhileHoney Don’t!hasn’t started filming yet, viewers will be able to get a taste of Coen and Cooke’s comedic sensibilities on February 23, whenDrive-Away Dollshits theaters. The film stars Qualley andGeraldine Viswanathanas two women on a road trip to Tallahasse who get waylaid by a number of incompetent Coen-style criminals.Pedro Pascal,Colman Domingo,Beanie Feldstein, andMatt Damonalso star.
Honey Don’t!will begin filming this March. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates, and watch the trailer forDrive-Away Dollsbelow.
