Once upon a time, in a magical land known as Hollywood, a group of Nevers and Evers gathered for the red carpet premiere of The School for Good and Evil. Based on the bestselling fairy-tale saga by Soman Chainani and directed by Paul Feig, the film centers around two best friends, Agatha (Sofia Wylie) and Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso), whose dreams of escaping their quiet village and reaching the fabled School for Good and Evil magically comes true. There’s only one problem: Sophie, with her silky blonde locks and dreams of becoming a princess, is sent to the School for Evil, run by the fearsome Lady Leanna Lesso (Charlize Theron); headstrong and ambitious Agatha ends up in the School for Good, led by Professor Clarissa Dovey (Kerry Washington). As the two learn more about what it means to be a Never (a fairy-tale villain) and an Ever (a hero who lives happily ever after), they also discover some new things about themselves.
Sophie may be horrified by the mix-up in the film, but in real life, Caruso feels differently. “I’m absolutely a Never,” she told Tudum, adding that her evil-girl soundtrack includes “a lot of Avril Lavigne and Courtney Love.”
Wylie, who knows all too well that playing a villain can be a blast from her days as Gina Porter in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, found joy in channeling some hero energy for a change. “Everyone always says playing a villain is so much more fun, and honestly I would’ve agreed three years ago,” she said. “But filming this movie made me realize how fun it can be to be the hero because there’s so much heart to my character, Agatha. She has a lot of dimensions too.”
Meanwhile, the School for Evil can also count Patti LuPone among its prospective students. LuPone, who makes a memorable cameo in the film, says she always prefers to play the villain. “There’s more character development in a villain than there is in a nice person. There’s something underneath that made them villainous,” she said.
Theron agrees. As a villain, “you can kind of do anything to anyone and they can’t hate you,” she said. “I get to hit people and they don’t get to do anything about it.”
Other cast members were more divided in their allegiances. “I’d like to think I’m a Never, but I’m probably an Ever. I think I care too much,” said Kit Young, who plays Rafal, a shadowy figure bent on destroying the school and the world beyond it.
“Fashion Ever, head Ever,” quipped Jamie Flatters, whose character Tedros is the heir to King Arthur — literally, he’s his son.
Feig also wishes he could combine the two. “I’m an Ever who wishes he was a Never. To be a Never, you have to be able to be mean to people, and I can’t do that,” he said. “But I like the style of it!”
Still, sartorial flair isn’t the only thing that drew the director to the film’s darker side. “I hated fairy tales growing up,” he admitted. “I was really put off by them. I found them too scary or else they were too simplistic. And so when this project came along, I was just like, ‘This is my chance to get revenge on all the fairy tales I hated,’ because what we do is to kind of deconstruct the whole idea of fairy tales.”
Maybe there’s a little Never in there after all.
The School for Good and Evil premieres on Netflix Oct. 19.
