Paul Feig’s thriller sequel Another Simple Favor is set for release on May 1st and there’s one Oscar-nominated actor who didn’t make the film’s final cut.
In an Instagram post on Thursday, Sharon Stone said she was cast but then “unexpectedly” removed from a role in the sequel.
“I LOVED being cast and removed from my role unexpectedly for no reason at all LOVED it 👏👏👏,” Stone posted under an ENews Instagram reel about the film.
Stone’s casting hadn’t previously been reported, so it’s unknown what role she would’ve had in the film. Though, of course, late-stage cuts are common in feature filmmaking. One of the most high-profile cuts in contemporary Hollywood history involved the newly-minted two-time Oscar winner Adrien Brody. Brody was almost entirely cut from Terrence Malick’s war epic The Thin Red Line after originally being cast as the film’s lead.
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Brody featured in about five minutes of the film and only realized his character had been cut into a minor role when watching the three-hour movie at its premiere screening.
“There was public embarrassment and potential career disaster affiliated with all of that – I didn’t know that the role had been eviscerated,” Brody told GQ earlier this year. “Then I looked back and I thought, ‘How lucky I am that I averted acclaim and praise at that age.’”
Another Simple Favor stars Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick and debuted this week at SXSW. The sequel takes audiences from the idyllic suburbs of Connecticut to the glamorous backdrop of the Italian Riviera, where an extravagant wedding unravels into a murdery mystery. In the film, we’re reintroduced to Stephanie (Kendrick), a widowed mommy vlogger who, in the original, became entangled in the mysterious disappearance of her glamorous best friend, Emily (Lively).
The first movie winds down with the revelation that Emily faked her disappearance as part of an elaborate scheme involving insurance fraud and her estranged twin sister’s murder. Stephanie secretly live-streams Emily’s confession, and as Emily attempts to flee, she is hit by a car — driven by her own husband, Sean (Henry Golding) — and arrested. The film closes with Stephanie thriving as a successful vlogger and part-time private eye while Emily, ever the con artist, adjusts to life in prison.
The trailer for Another Simple Favor opens at a reading of The Faceless Blonde — Stephanie’s new true-crime book focused on Emily — where her subject makes a surprise appearance.