There are associations of ideas that exponentially increase the appeal of an audiovisual production. For example, Anya Taylor-Joy on paper is one of the most interesting young actresses in Hollywood thanks to collaborations with prestigious directors in Last Night in Soho by Edgar Wright, The Northman by Robert Eggers, Amsterdam by David O’Russell, Furiosa by George Miller, or the upcoming third part of Dune by Denis Villeneuve.
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Her artistic profile always adds value but is not necessarily associated with the commercial success of the project. However, considering that she came to the forefront of Hollywood with a miniseries like The Queen’s Gambit, where she captured all the critics’ attention (and won the Golden Globe and the actors’ guild award), her participation six years later in a new miniseries like Lucky, which Apple TV premieres this Wednesday, does create this exponential effect.
In this story, Taylor-Joy is Lucky, a woman used to scams, frauds, and thefts. John (Timothy Olyphant), her father, raised her for all kinds of situations, from stealing at weddings, baptisms, and communions, creating false identities, and how to plan an escape. But for the first time in her life, she finds herself against the ropes.
She managed to get hold of a multimillion-dollar loot that could retire her from the criminal business for life when Cary (Drew Starkey), her partner, leaves her stranded in Las Vegas without a dollar in her pocket after celebrating what was supposed to be their last heist. Thus, Lucky finds herself in a race to recover the money and above all to survive with the thugs of her mobster mother-in-law (Annette Bening) and an FBI agent (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) on her heels.
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Lucky is an adaptation of the novel by Marissa Stapley, which Reese Witherspoon recommended in her book club in December 2021. “It’s so much fun! I had a great time reading it. It’s the perfect book to read during the holidays,” she explained to her club followers, now numbering over four million.
Witherspoon’s business model is smart. She used her charisma and fame to become a literary influencer like Oprah Winfrey, with her supposed fondness for reading as an excuse, but with a subsequent business model. She chooses easy-to-consume books usually with female protagonists, uses her followers to conduct market research and check commercial potential, and then tries to develop adaptations of some of them. This strategy has helped her produce Little Fires Everywhere, The Last Thing He Told Me, Tiny Beautiful Things, From Scratch, Everybody Wants Daisy Jones, or the film Wild Girl.
In the case of this light thriller, Witherspoon counts on two regular Apple TV collaborators such as screenwriter Jonathan Tropper (Hidden Vices) and director Jonathan van Tulleken (Drug Thieves) to handle the adaptation.
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