Did you watch last year’s John Wick spin-off Ballerina and find yourself thinking, “Man, this is great and all, but it sure would be even better with about four more ballerinas and an unhinged Uma Thurman playing the big boss baddie?” Well if you did, then The Witcher: Blood Origin director Vicky Jewson may just have the film for you. Pretty Lethal, heading to Prime Video on 25 March, follows five young danseuses — played by Maddie Ziegler, Lana Condor, Iris Apatow, Avantika, and Millicent Simmonds — whose bus breaks down on the way to a major competition. And as the newly released trailer for the movie shows, the girls’ subsequent detour to oddball Devora Kasimer’s (Thurman) eerie roadside inn soon has them giving The Nutcracker Suite a whole new meaning. Check it out below;
Ruska Roma, eat your heart out — the action here looks on point(e)! As this decidedly no-nonsense first teaser for Pretty Lethal shows, Jewson — working with Atomic Blonde and Bullet Train producer Kelly McCormick — isn’t kidding with that title. No sooner have our warring dance pals stumbled upon Devora’s ostentatious, borderline-Continentalesque gaff than they’ve found themselves locked in with the deadliest prima ballerina imaginable and her goons, fighting tooth, claw, scissor, and bladed pointe show for survival. Cue an epic ‘Rhythm Is A Dancer’ remix over shots of our bloody-tutu’d gang engaging in some beautifully, brutally choreographed carnage as Devora sets her lackeys upon the “five naughty girls” who have somehow fallen afoul of her. What more could you want?
The official synopsis for the movie reads: “An action-packed thriller where five ballerinas, on their way to a prestigious dance competition, are barely on speaking terms when their bus breaks down in a remote forest. With no other options, they reluctantly seek shelter at an unsettling roadside inn run by Devora Kasimer (Uma Thurman), a reclusive former ballet prodigy. From the moment they arrive, something feels wrong—and their worst instincts prove right. As the situation turns deadly, the fractured team must set aside rivalries and weaponize years of brutal training, turning grace, discipline, and even pointe shoes into tools for survival.”
With Uma Thurman coming off the back of a big villainous turn in last year’s The Old Guard 2 and looking ready to go even bigger and badder here, Jewson coming armed with a killer high concept for an action-thriller, and a buzzy cast of kick-ass young actors leading the line-up, Pretty Lethal has everything it needs to really raise the barre for ballet-based action cinema. Get ready to press plié when it hits Prime Video on 25 March!
