‘Eileen’: Read The Screenplay For Twisty Thriller Starring Anne Hathaway & Thomasin McKenzie That Has Hitchcock In Mind

SPOILER ALERT: The script reveals a key plot detail of Eileen, which opened December 1 in limited release and continues to expand.

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the year’s most talked-about scripts continues with Eileen, the William Oldroyd-directed thriller that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Neon scooped it up in March and has been growing it since its December 1 release.

More from Deadline

• Anne Hathaway Found The ‘Eileen’ Script “Really Challenging, Really Dark” & “Unusually Smart” – Sundance Studio

• ‘Eileen’ Sundance Film Review: This Is What Happens When Female Loneliness And Rage Collide

• 'Memory': Read The Screenplay For Michel Franco's Thoughtful Drama Starring Jessica Chastain & Peter Sarsgaard

Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway star along with Shea Whigham, Marin Ireland and Owen Teague, with Oldroyd, Hathaway and Ireland recently scoring Spirit Awards nominations.

The screenplay was adapted by the husband-wife team of Luke Goebel and Ottessa Moshfegh based on Mosfegh’s 2015 debut novel. Set during a bitter 1964 Massachusetts winter, McKenzie plays the titular young secretary who becomes enchanted by the glamorous new counselor Rebecca (Hathaway) at the prison where she works. Their friendship takes a twisted turn when Rebecca reveals a dark secret, throwing Eileen onto a sinister path.

Goebel has said that he and Moshfegh had Alfred Hitchcock’s sense of suspense in mind when penning the script, while keeping their heroine “modern, charming and strange.” Moshfegh called the result of their collaboration — they previously adapted the Jennifer Lawrence-starring Causeway together — a “twisted Christmastime psychological-thriller and murder-mystery drama.”

In Sundance, Hathaway said she was interested in the project after appreciating Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth, and “found the [Eileen] script really challenging the first time I read it. I found it really dark and really funny but it’s a tricky one. It’s so smart. it’s actually unusually smart, so it took me a few reads to feel like I had the beginnings of a handle on it.”

Click below to read the script.

Best of Deadline

• 2023 Premiere Dates For New & Returning Series On Broadcast, Cable & Streaming

• 2023-24 Awards Season Calendar - Dates For Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, Tonys, Guilds & More

• Movie Release Date Calendar For 2023

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.