content warning: this post contains descriptions of sexual assault.
Mila Kunis is the “luckiest girl in the world” in Netflix’s latest book-to-film adaptation (or is it?). The film, based on the 2015 novel of the same name by New York Times bestselling author Jessica Knoll, stars Kunis as Ani FaNelli, “a sharp-tongued New Yorker” who lives in her own perfect world, until a documentary arrives. about crimes that revisits his dark high school. the past threatens to unravel everything.
Although “The Luckiest Girl in the World” is a fictional story, Knoll previously told the “Today” show that her novel, which sold more than 450,000 copies, was shaped by her own experiences. In the book, Ani herself survives a gang rape, a similar experience the author had when she was 15 years old and she was assaulted by three boys at a party. “I knew it the morning I opened my eyes. I felt horrible and violated and I knew it was wrong,” Knoll said in her March 2016 interview. “It was terribly hard to go to school every day. I look back on that year.” And I remember feeling completely raw. She added: “I felt like an exposed nerve. If you just touched me, I cringed in pain. That’s all I can remember about that year of my life.”
“Today” reported that Knoll wrote about the incident in detail in a since-deleted essay for an online newsletter called Lenny. She also dedicated her book to other sexual assault survivors and wrote in it, “To all the TifAni FaNellis in the world, I know.”
Netflix’s adaptation of “The Luckiest Girl in the World,” written by Knoll and directed by Mike Barker, is produced by Kunis, Bruna Papandrea, Jeanne Snow, Erik Feig and Lucy Kitada. The film hits theaters in September ahead of its streaming debut this fall.
Read below for everything we know about “The Luckiest Girl in the World” so far, including the cast and release date.
Plot of “The Luckiest Girl Alive”
The thriller’s synopsis says the film follows Ani (Kunis), “a sharp-tongued New Yorker who seems to have it all: a coveted position in a glossy magazine, an incredible wardrobe, and a dream Nantucket wedding on the horizon. But when Invited by the director of a crime documentary to tell her side of the shocking incident that took place as a teenager at the prestigious Brentley School, Ani is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously engineered life.”
Cast of “The Luckiest Girl in the World”
In addition to Kunis, the film stars Finn Wittrock, Chiara Aurelia, Scoot McNairy, Thomas Barbusca, Justine Lupe, Dalmar Abuzeid, Alex Barone, Carson MacCormac, Jennifer Beals, and Connie Britton.
Release date of “The Luckiest Girl in the World”
The film hits select theaters on September 30 and premieres on Netflix worldwide on October 7.
