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The Princess Writers Reveal Surprising Inspiration For New Thriller Movie
The Princess is delivering a sharp new take on its titular genre and those behind the film are offering their inspirations on the action-thriller. The film revolves around Joey King's eponymous character as she is pressured into marrying a sociopathic royal in the hopes of keeping her kingdom strong following her parents' inability to give birth to a male heir. After refusing the wedding, The Princess is locked in a remote tower of her father's castle by the power-hungry royal and turns to fighting her captors to save both her family and her kingdom.
Alongside King, the cast for The Princess includes Preacher star Dominic Cooper, Black Widow's Olga Kurylenko, The Old Guard's Veronica Ngo, Martin Taskov and Ivo Arakov. Development on the film was first announced in late 2020 when 20th Century Studios acquired the rights to Lustig and Thornton's script for Hulu and Neal H. Moritz attached to co-produce with John Wick creator Derek Kolstad. With The Princess right around the corner from making its debut, those behind the film are offering insight into its unique development.
While speaking exclusively with Screen Rant ahead of the film's release, writers Jake Thornton and Ben Lustig broke down how they came up with The Princess. The duo revealed the surprising inspirations for the action-thriller, citing the Rapunzel fairy tale and Gareth Evans' The Raid as the major influences for the film. See what Thornton and Lustig shared below:
Lustig and Thornton's note of The Princess being inspired by The Raid is sure to come as an exciting tease for action genre fans given how well-regarded Gareth Evans' Indonesian action-thriller has become in the decade since its release. Not only did the film spawn its own sequel from Evans and an American remake in the works at Netflix with The Hitman's Bodyguard's Patrick Hughes directing, but it has also largely influenced the action genre in recent years. The genre has since seen a number of films with similar premises and focus on hand-to-hand action since The Raid's release, the most notable being Kolstad's John Wick franchise.
With Kolstad helping produce the thriller and Lustig and Thornton citing The Raid as their biggest influence for the film, audiences should look forward to the same level of grounded action in The Princess as seen in these prior works. Trailers for the Joey King-led thriller have offered promising looks at the star/executive producer's efforts primarily conducting her own fight sequences, keeping anticipation high for the film to capture the same level of excitement and acclaim as its inspirations and fellow female-fronted action thrillers Atomic Blonde, The Old Guard and Gunpowder Milkshake. Only time will tell when The Princess hits Hulu on Friday.
