Netflix's 'Ladies First' Cast Is British A-Listers First
Rosamund Pike as Marie Curie in 'Radioactive'
Amazon Studios
Despite cratering in the early 2010s, romantic comedies have been making a comeback, especially on streaming services, where they provide comfort viewing for those who need to believe in romance again because they've had their heart broken or just need a night on the couch eating chocolates and watching a pair of idiots deny they're in love. A few rom-coms have gotten theatrical releases and landed big box office numbers. However, like the upcoming Bridget Jones sequel, most find it safer and more dependable to focus on the audiences at home, including Netflix's latest, Ladies First.
The plot of Ladies First sounds like something that would have been a major box office draw in 2002, a jerkface womanizer who falls in love with a lady who would make Samantha Jones' man-eating ways look tame, the sort of thing Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Lopez would make bank on, once upon a time. However, Netflix aims higher, taking what sounds like a bog-standard plot and juicing it up by casting some of the biggest names in British acting, the sort of cast that elevates a script like this just by looking at it.
In this case, the couple in question are played by actors who don't sound like they'd work at first glance: Sacha Baron Cohen (Disclaimer) and Rosamund Pike (The Wheel of Time). However, as two people who start as self-centered purveyors of one-night stands, each is pretty bang on. It's just a matter of whether or not the two can make the chemistry happen once they get together.
Here's the film's (extremely simple) logline:
Based on Eléonore Pourriat’s Je Ne Suis Pas Un Homme Facile, a womanizer gets a real wake-up call when he finds himself in a world dominated by women – a fiery female counterpart makes things far more complicated.
Netflix has pulled up a heck of a roster to join Baron-Cohen and Pike in this venture, with co-stars Charles Dance (And Then There Were None), Fiona Shaw (Killing Eve), Emily Mortimer (The Pursuit of Love), Richard E. Grant (Persuasion), Tom Davis (Paddington) and Weruche Opia (I May Destroy You).
Director Thea Sharrock (Wicked Little Letters) helms the film from a screenplay adapted by Katie Silberman (Booksmart), Cinco Paul (Schmigadoon!), and Natalie Krinsky (The Broken Hearts Gallery) from Eléonore Pourriat’s 2018 film Je Ne Suis Pas Un Homme Facile (I Am Not An Easy Man), which we should note, streamed on Netflix at the time. Executive producers include Liza Chasin for 3dot Productions, Eleonore Dailly, and Edouard de Lachomette.
Ladies First is expected to start filming in 2025 and will probably arrive on Netflix in 2026.
