The Substance star Margaret Qualley is set to play a lesbian detective alongside Aubrey Plaza in Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s upcoming detective comedy Honey Don’t!
It was announced in January that Qualley, Plaza, and Chris Evans were part of the film’s cast. Recently, Qualley did an interview with i-D in which she opened up more about the film’s plot and how she approached her role.
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Qualley reveals that her character, Honey, is a gay private detective who investigates a suspiciously shady church organization led by Chris Evans’ character in the film.
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For this role, Qualley describes having to dial back her “Natural Scooby-Doo” inclinations to be “more suave than I am”.
“I tend to want to diffuse things before they even happen, whereas Honey, she’s like honey – she’s skillful, smooth, is slipping in and out undetected, and of course she’s getting herself in plenty of sticky situations along the way.”
In regards to Plaza’s character, we still don’t know much, but according to IndieWire, her character has been described as a mystery woman.
Given that this movie is a detective film, it could be inferred that Plaza’s character could serve as a classic femme fatale, a role often critiqued in feminist theory for its objectification of women. However, in recent years, we’ve seen this concept completely dissected and presented in a way that’s more subversive to what audiences have been conditioned to expect, especially in films with lesbian themes that provide commentary on how societal patriarchy influences lesbian relationship dynamics in certain ways.
Qualley starred in a previous film from the husband-and-wife duo, the 2024 dark comedy Drive-Away Dolls, in which Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan played a lesbian couple on a Thelma & Louise style adventure.
Qualley confirms that Honey Dont! Is part of a planned trilogy of queer films kicked off by Drive-Away Dolls with this being the 2nd installment.
“Let the record show that if I’m not in [the third film],” Qualley jokes, “I will be offended and I will be upset.”
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