Focus Features had the final slot of the Official Selection here in Cannes this evening with Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t!, a dark comedy reuniting Margaret Qualley with the filmmaker on the heels of last year’s Drive-Away Dolls. Coen & Co. received a 6.5-minute ovation in the wee hours of the morning.
Qualley takes on the titular role of Honey O’Donahue, a small-town private investigator who delves into a series of strange deaths tied to a mysterious church.
Aubrey Plaza and Chris Evans also feature prominently in the cast, which additionally includes Charlie Day, Billy Eichner, Lera Abova, Jacnier, Gabby Beans, Talia Ryder, Kristen Connolly, Lena Hall, Don Swayze, Josh Pafchek, Kale Browne, Alexander Carstoiu and Christian Antidormi.
Coen directed from his script written with wife Tricia Cooke, the veteran editor who has cut such Coen Brothers classics as The Big Lebowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou?, also co-writing Drive-Away Dolls.
Focus releases domestically on August 22. Universal Pictures International is handling overseas distribution.
Producers on the project are Coen, Cooke, Robert Graf and Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.
Coen has been bringing movies to Cannes’ Official Selection since the 1980s, starting with 1987’s Raising Arizona which he co-wrote with brother Joel who directed.
Notable Cannes titles from the duo have also included Barton Fink (1991/Palme d’Or, Best Director, Best Actor); The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), Fargo (1996/Best Director); O’ Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000); The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001/Best Director); The Ladykillers (2004/Jury Prize); No Country for Old Men (2007); and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013/Grand Prize). In 2022, Ethan Coen brought his documentary Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind for a Special Screening.
