Between “To All the Boys I Loved Before,” “Set It Up,” and “Love, Simon,” 2018 has had some truly great and fun YA romcoms. And next on the list looks to be Carly Stone’s debut feature “The New Romantic.” Check out the official synopsis below.
Frustrated with the lack of chivalrous guys her own age, a college senior gives up on dating for love to date an older man in exchange for gifts instead.
The “New Romantic” cast Stone assembled is full of YA favorites. It stars Jessica Barden from “The End of the F**king World,” Camila Mendes of “Riverdale” fame, “Jane the Virgin’s” Brett Dier, Hayley Law from “Altered Carbon” and Avan Jogia of “Twisted” and “Victorious.”
Stone’s previous work includes writing a handful of episodes for the excellent “Kim’s Convenience” and directing a short film back in 2016 called “Girl Woman.” For Stone, the desire to tell a story about female characters we’re only just starting to see on screen came before any specific narrative. “I love telling stories about women who are unapologetically making bold choices.”
And it was that choice that attracted Barden to the film. “The insecurity within [the character], and also the confidence, the mix of that was the type of female character that I wanted to be portraying. It’s something that I try to find in all the roles I choose, where you’re not just seeing one dimension. People like to simplify female characters because I think there’s a lot of intricacies to being a woman… I thought that Carly did a brilliant job of making a whole woman, with lots of negatives, but also lots of positives.”
“The New Romantic” premiered at SXSW earlier this year where it won the award for Best First Feature. Be on the lookout for it to hit theaters on November 9 and on digital and on-demand November 13.