Up-and-coming indie studio Neon spent a pretty penny earlier this year to acquire the rights for the Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen dark comedy “Ingrid Goes West.” Early buzz surrounding the summer flick, which debuted earlier this year at Sundance, has been extremely positive (including our review) and as one of the few titles that made noise out of Park City this year, it’s certainly one to watch.
Matt Spicer’s directorial debut is an eerie flick about obsession and the dark side of social media. Olsen plays an Instagram-famous young woman who is stalked and followed by Plaza’s obsessed fan. It’s a pitch that spawned from a casual talk Spicer was having about social media. “It led to a larger conversation about Instagram and the effect it has had on our culture,” Spicer told IndieWire recently. “I was really excited to write something current about what’s happening right now and being able to work through my feelings about it.” Here is the official synopsis:
Ingrid Thorburn (Aubrey Plaza) is an unhinged social media stalker with a history of confusing “likes” for meaningful relationships. Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen) is an instagram-famous “influencer” whose perfectly curated, boho-chic lifestyle becomes Ingrid’s latest obsession. When Ingrid moves to LA and manages to insinuate herself into the social media star’s life, their relationship quickly goes from #BFF to #WTF. Built around a brilliantly disarming performance from Aubrey Plaza, Ingrid Goes West (winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance) is a savagely hilarious dark comedy that satirizes the modern world of social media and proves that being #perfect isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
In addition to Plaza and Olsen, “West” includes O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Wyatt Russell. The script was also penned by director Matt Spicer along with David Branson Smith.
“Ingrid Goes West” opens on August 11th and hits a little earlier on June 22nd at the closing night of the L.A. Film Festival if you happen to live in town.
