Pain Hustlers – Picture: Netflix
Netflix’s biggest get from the 2022 Cannes Festival is Emily Blunt’s new feature film set for release on Netflix globally in 2023. The new movie, called Pain Hustlers, will be in the vein of Wolf of Wall Street. Here’s a rundown of everything we know about the movie so far that’s set to premiere at the TIFF Film Festival.
Picking up the “hot package” from the Cannes Film Festival, THR noted that Netflix picked up the package for a reported $50 million-plus deal. The project had been in development at Sony Pictures before landing at Netflix.
Director Davis Yates is set to helm the new Netflix movie. Yates is best known for being the main director of the Harry Potter franchise, having helmed four Harry Potter entries as well as Fantastic Beasts and its sequels, both released and the ones still upcoming. The script for Pain Hustlers was written by Wells Tower.
Pictured: David Yates filming Harry Potter
Netflix reportedly paid a hefty sum of $50M for the rights of this movie. It was previously set up at Sony
Lawrence Grey will produce under his Grey Matter Productions banner alongside David Yates and Yvonne Walcott Yates’ Wychwood Pictures. Here’s what else we know about Pain Hustlers:
What’s the Netflix release date for Pain Hustlers?
As part of its 2023 slate unveiling in January 2023, Netflix confirmed that Pain Hustlers will be hitting it in 2023. Better yet, they stated that the movie will be released in October 2023 alongside Damsel (which has since been delayed).
Pain Hustlers will be released on Netflix globally on October 27th, 2023.
If you can’t wait, the movie was announced as part of the TIFF 2023 lineup. There it’ll have its world premiere.
Pain Hustlers has a runtime of 122 minutes (2 hours, 2 minutes) and has been rated R for “language throughout, some sexual content, nudity, and drug use.”
Alongside the initial date announcement, we got a first look via a sizzle trailer which included multiple shots of the new movie.
First look pictures at Pain Hustlers on Netflix
On September 6th, 2023, Netflix dropped a trailer for Pain Hustlers.
On October 10th, Netflix released an official trailer for Pain Hustlers;
What’s the plot of Netflix’s Pain Hustlers?
Pain Hustlers is said to be tonally similar to such films as The Big Short, American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street. Here’s the official logline for the movie:
The film centers on Liza Drake (Blunt), a high-school dropout dreaming of a better life for her and her young daughter, who lands a job with a failing pharmaceutical start-up in a yellowing strip mall in Central Florida. Liza’s charm, guts and drive catapult the company and her into the high life, where she soon finds herself at the center of a criminal conspiracy with deadly consequences.
The movie is set to be loosely based on a 2018 New York Times interactive article called The Pain Hustlers. Evan Hughes, the author behind the article on his own website, describes it as the following:
“The New York Times Magazine, “The Pain Hustlers,” a feature about the Insys Therapeutics story, published in May 2018, before the case against the company’s top executives went to trial.”
The Pain Hustlers – Picture: NYTimes
Who is cast in Netflix’s Pain Hustlers?
When the title was first announced in May 2022, only Emily Blunt was initially known to star in Pain Hustlers.
Blunt will play Liza Drake, a single mother who starts her own company and finds herself at the center of a criminal conspiracy after its success. Blunt’s recent credits include the horror hit A Quiet Place and its sequel and Jungle Cruise. She’ll also star in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming star-studded movie Oppenheimer.
Chris Evans, best known for playing Captain America for the MCU and will feature in Netflix’s upcoming movie, The Gray Man joined the cast in the following months.
On August 29th, 2022, Netflix announced it had rounded out the cast, including:
- Andy Garcia (Father of the Bride, upcoming Book Club 2: The Next Chapter)
- Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek, upcoming Argylle)
- Jay Duplass (Industry, The Chair)
- Brian d’Arcy James (Spotlight, West Side Story)
- Chloe Coleman (My Spy, Marry Me)
- Britt Rentschler (Uncle Frank) as Camille Trask
- Aubrey Dollar (One Small Hitch, Women’s Murder Club) as Andy
- Hillary Harley (The Vampire Diaries) as Tina
- Sharon Conley (The Hunger Games) as Judge Susan Holman
What’s the production status of Pain Hustlers?
Netflix’s Pain Hustlers entered production on August 22nd, 2022 (pre-production started in May 2022) and filmed through October 25th, 2022.
Filming took place in Central Florida and Atlanta, Georgia.
Are you looking forward to Pain Hustlers coming to Netflix? Let us know in the comments.
