Kristen Stewart has found the right co-stars for her upcoming feature “The Wrong Girls.” Stewart, who co-wrote the film with her fiancée Dylan Meyer (“Moxie”), will also star in the feature and produce it. “The Wrong Girls” was announced in 2023, with Stewart describing it as a “stoner-girl comedy” at the time. Alia Shawkat will also star in the film; Stewart acted alongside Shawkat in “The Runaways” in 2010.
The supporting cast also includes Seth Rogen, Kumail Nanjiani, LaKeith Stanfield, Zack Fox, and Tony Hale. NEON will release the film theatrically in the U.S. and represent the international rights.
The film is Meyer’s directorial debut. The film follows Frankie (Stewart) and Molly (Shawkat), two codependent best friends who are living paycheck to paycheck and bong rip to bong rip, when a case of mistaken identity throws their lives into chaos.
Stewart told IndieWire while promoting “Love Me” that she is “doing backflips” about having “The Wrong Girls” go into production.
“Dylan wrote that script, ‘The Wrong Girls,’ years ago and we are producing it now,” Stewart said. “We start shooting in two weeks and I’m like doing backflips about it. I’m so excited we get to shoot in L.A. and that in and of itself seems like a fantasy. Alia Shawkat is my other ‘Wrong Girl’ and we’re putting it together, like in quite a literal way, right now.”
Production began in early February. The feature is one of the first independent films going into production in L.A. amid the recent devastating wildfires.
Over the course of the film’s 29 day production, the film will employ approximately 100 people per day, 95 percent of which will be local L.A. residents, including Emmy-nominated cinematographer Todd Banhazl (“Winning Time”, “Hustlers”), singer-songwriter and composer Ty Segall, and Emmy-nominated costumer Heidi Bivens (“Euphoria”). Philadelphia punk band Mannequin Pussy will also bring their explosive energy to the film with a live performance at a long-shuttered Los Angeles DIY space.
“The Wrong Girls” is NEON and Stewart’s third collaboration together following Pablo Larraín’s acclaimed Academy Award-nominated 2021 film “Spencer” and David Cronenberg’s 2022 Cannes Official Selection “Crimes of the Future.”
“The Wrong Girls” will be produced by Maggie McLean, Stewart, and Meyer for Nevermind Pictures; Alex McAtee, James Weaver, Seth Rogen, and Evan Goldberg for Point Grey; and Allison Carter and Jon Read for Savage Rose Productions under their production and development partnership with NEON. Overseeing for NEON will be Jason Wald, EVP Acquisitions & Production, Claire Timmons, VP Talent Relations, and Kate Gondwe, Manager ADP. The deal was negotiated with WME Independent and UTA Independent Film Group.
Stewart will make her own feature directorial debut with “The Chronology of Water,” which she adapted from novelist Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir. Imogen Poots leads the indie film that is produced by Ridley Scott. The feature has been in the works since 2018.
“I feel like I’m sitting on something that I’m so proud of,” Stewart said of “The Chronology of Water,” adding, “It’s just been such a long trajectory. It’s taken me so many years to pull it over the line and I think I might just float off into the sky once we actually get accepted to a festival. We will be like, ‘Wow, this is something that isn’t going to be the only thing you think of anymore.’”
In addition to both features, Stewart teased that she has a “fucking ton” of other projects in the works, but none that she is “ready to pull the lid on.”
Stewart previously told Interview magazine that she had been “scared of anything big lately” amidst helming “The Chronology of Water.” “I just want to make a Cassavetes movie. I want my first movie to be a student film, even if it takes three years,” she said at the time. “I’m also not going to make a movie for more than $5 million, because it makes me uncomfortable and they usually suck. But getting people to agree to do that is so hard.”
