If you loved Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, then Scarlett Johansson's new movie Tangerine needs to be on your radar. Deadline announced the production rights for Tangerine , the first novel from Christine Mangan, have been scooped up by Imperative Entertainment before the book's release. With George Clooney set to produce and Johansson set to star, Tangerine appears to be prepared to reinvent the booming women-centric psychological thriller genre.
Tangerine is set in 1950s Morocco, where Alice (Johansson) finds her fiancé dies under mysterious circumstances. After his death, Alice decides to leave everything behind including her roommate, Lucy. But when Lucy comes back into Alice's life years later, Alice's husband goes missing sparking a mystery that leads Alice to wonder if Lucy is the common link in both cases.
While the books and films that have followed Gone Girl have done a decent job of establishing the psychological women's thriller in Hollywood, the genre needs to continue moving forward if it wants to be more than a passing phase. Tangerine is a major step forward. Not only does it have a period setting and cast women in leading roles, it also grounds the story in the history between two women — Alice and Lucy have an established relationship that may or may not have led to murder. Seeing two women explore their dynamic while dancing around major trust issues sounds thrilling and unlike anything Hollywood has attempted in recent years.
Tangerine will be centered on the lives and relationships of two fascinating female characters. Having Johansson on board already gives the movie a major boost — she is a versatile actress who can move easily between big budget blockbusters like The Avengers and indie films like Her. It has been too long since Hollywood last cast Johansson in a movie where she can showcase her full range of talent.
In Tangerine , Johansson will get to play off another actress in a psychological game of cat and mouse. For fans of thrillers and those who want to see women in Hollywood given meatier roles, Tangerine sounds like a gift. The premise is open-ended enough to allow for the exploration of themes like female friendship, jealousy, sanity, and identity, while still being an intense, nail-biting viewing experience.
Granted, the movie is still a long ways off — the book hasn't even been released yet — so expectations should be tempered at least until production is underway. There is no harm in getting psyched for a movie about two brilliant, flawed women who may be guarding secrets though.
Tangerine could change the women's psychological film genre for the better, and I cannot wait to see what this story looks like on the big screen.
