While the COVID-19 pandemic has uprooted nearly every facet of the entertainment industry, some positives have come out of it, including the renaissance of Drew Barrymore. On top of her buzzworthy syndicated talk show The Drew Barrymore Show, the actress will be returning to the movie world this winter with The Stand-In — and now we have our first look at what that will entail. This week, Saban Films released the first official trailer for the film, which sees Barrymore playing the dual roles of a washed-up actress and her on-set stand-in, who agrees to take over her identity with hilarious results.
The Stand-In is the story of Candy, a disaffected comedy actress, and Paula, her ambitious stand-in, trading places after Candy is sentenced to time in rehab. As the film goes on, Paula realizes that there’s more of Candy’s celebrity lifestyle that she can take on.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The film is directed by But I’m a Cheerleader‘s Jamie Babbit, with a script from Peep Show‘s Sam Bain. The ensemble cast also includes Michael Zegen, Charlie Barnett, Ellie Kemper, Holland Taylor, TJ Miller, Andrew Rannells, Lena Dunham, Adrian Martinez, and Michelle Buteau.
“As a director who’s been working for the last 30 years, I’ve seen both sides of the coin, so I was intrigued by both of these characters,” Babbit tells Entertainment Weekly of working on the film. “Drew was really excited because she has a lot of feelings about the business over time, and felt she could understand the excitement and enthusiasm of the stand-in, but she can also understand feeling really over it and just wanting to have a normal life. So, it was a really fun playground.”
“The great thing about Drew is she really is a spontaneous, magical creature,” Babbit added. “She got to go to a darker place [to] show her range. It was fun to see the two Drews battle each other out.”
What do you think of the first trailer for The Stand-In? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
The Stand-In is set to be released digitally on December 11th.
