Netflix’s new Mila Kunis-starring movie, Luckiest Girl Alive, began streaming over the weekend, and let’s just say that people have strong feelings. The movie, which adapts a novel by Jessica Knoll (in a screenplay also by Knoll), has been criticized by viewers for its lack of a trigger warning. And that’s perfectly understandable, given that the film’s trailer only vaguely alludes to a high-school “incident,” when that incident actually turned out to be a mass shooting. In addition, Mila’s protagonist, Ani, endured multiple rapes by her fellow high schoolers. It’s a difficult movie to watch for those reasons, but those viewers who made it through did appreciate the the relatable way it portrayed trauma and its impossible-to-deny aftereffects.
In a new Vogue essay, Jessica Knoll discusses the long journey from bestselling book to movie, which the author describes as “nothing short of psychological warfare.” She rewrote the script several times, and the project hopped from Lionsgate to Netflix, where the casting process began. Mila Kunis popped into mind, and Knoll was sure that this wouldn’t go well due to the “risky” nature of the subject matter. As it turns out, Mila was excited to have been contacted for the project. At the time, “[s]he was looking for a dramatic role to take her back to her Black Swan days,” and overall, she loved the story, except for one thing, which she requested be changed. Via Vogue:
“The ending wasn’t there. That old ending, which already deviated from the ending of the book, which I had already written and rewritten dozens of times already, involved Ani getting a big fat book deal for coming forward with her story. There’s no arc for the character, Mila said in our first Zoom meeting. It’s all about using money and status as a crutch to feel superior to others, which is exactly who she is when we meet her at the start. Either let’s hang a lantern on that or let’s show at least an inkling of change. Mila was in, but only if I could resolve that. Preferably overnight, one of my producers added, joking but not.”
Knoll actually did come up with a new ending overnight: Ani still broke up with her wealthy fiancé, Luke, but she didn’t have an enormous book deal. Rather, she fostered a sense of community among survivors by penning an essay (in a pre-Me Too era) about how it’s alright to admit to not being alright. Ani acknowledged that striving for perfection (and “revenge” in life) is no way to recover from the damage that has been done by sexual assaults, and Luke had wanted her to stop tying her identity to what she’d endured, so she said see ya. It’s actually a more satisfying (and relatable) ending that way, rather than Ani continuing to secretly be miserable and put on a polished face.
The movie still could use a trigger warning, but hey, at least Scoot McNairy‘s teacher character is a genuinely good person and true to the book as well.
Luckiest Girl Alive is currently streaming on Netflix.
(Via Vogue)