You’ve never seen Emily Blunt and Chris Evans quite like this. Pain Hustlers, their new film directed by BAFTA award winner David Yates, tracks one mother’s foray into the complicated dynamics of a failing pharmaceutical start-up. “From the very first minute of talking to Emily I knew we’d found our Liza Drake,” Yates told Netflix earlier this year. “Emily was inspired by the character and the world, and along with Chris shared our vision of realizing a film that was both entertaining yet had some serious and thought-provoking things to say about the opioid crisis.”
Catch a first glimpse of the two stars in the trailer above, and stream Pain Hustlers when it debuts on Netflix on Oct. 27 — doctor’s orders.
Liza Drake (Blunt) is a blue-collar single mom who has just lost her job and is at the end of her rope. A chance meeting with pharmaceutical sales rep Pete Brenner (Evans) puts her on an upwards trajectory economically but dubious path ethically as she becomes entangled in a dangerous racketeering scheme. Dealing with her increasingly unhinged boss (Garcia), the worsening medical condition of her daughter (Chloe Coleman), and a growing awareness of the devastation the company is causing forces Liza to examine her choices. Pain Hustlers is a sharp and revealing look at what some people do out of desperation and others do out of greed. The film is produced by Lawrence Grey.
“I was intrigued by the pharma world, particularly the low-rent end of it, the workaday reps and sales teams striving to make a living in a hugely competitive business of dealing with people'’s pain,” Yates said of the film. “I loved the characters [screenwriter Wells Tower] was creating on the page, and his writing.”
Blunt and Evans star alongside an all-star ensemble that includes Garcia, Catherine O’Hara, Jay Duplass, Brian d’Arcy James, and Chloe Coleman.
“Emily was probably the most prepared actor I’ve ever worked with,” Yates said. “She comes to set with a game plan every single day and knows exactly what she wants to explore in the architecture of the human being that she’s playing.” As for Evans, Yates took the opportunity to subvert the former superhero’s all-American screen presence. “Casting Chris Evans for that was a delight because his clean-cut, alpha male, heroic demeanor is completely turned on its head when you cast him as a sleazebag pharma sales rep,” he said. “I’d seen him do a couple of things that really surprised me previously. I love seeing an actor do something surprising.”
Pain Hustlers is now streaming on Netflix. The film had it’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
