FAIRPLAY - INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR CHLOE DUMONT

All is not fair in love and business….

The new film, Fair Play ( now streaming on Netflix) is steeped in toxic male ego and jealousy. But if you think the movie makes women look like the victors, think again.

Fair Play - written and directed by Chloe Dumont, centers around Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich), a pair of financial analysts who are engaged in a relationship forbidden by their shared employer. But when one of them gets an unexpected promotion, their relationship gets pushed to the brink, threatening to unravel far more than their recent engagement.

It’s a departure for both Ehrenreich and Dynevor, best known for playing a young Han Solo in Solo: A Star Wars Story and Regency debutante Daphne Bridgerton in Bridgerton, respectively. But for Domont, that was part of their appeal. “When I met with Alden and Phoebe for the roles, it was pretty instant that they were perfect for these characters,” Domont said. “They’re incredibly strong versatile actors that can do anything. And also what excited me about it was that they had never done anything like this before. I love to cast against type.”

For Chloe Domont, Fair Play was a sort of exorcism. “It was a story that was burning inside of me and a story I couldn’t not tell,” the director told Netflix in an interview conducted earlier this year. “I wanted to reckon with some unresolved feelings I had in the past, specifically dating men who I felt were threatened by either my ambition or any little bits of accomplishments.” The film is Domont’s way of sounding the alarm. “These dynamics should no longer be normalized,” she said. 

In fact, Fair Play takes those dynamics to their most extreme conclusion: a tense and emotional thrill ride that tests the very core of a young couple’s relationship.

I spoke with Chloe Dumont about what inspired her to write this film and bring it to the screen.