CULTURE

Untogether Trailer: Jamie Dornan and Jemima Kirke’s One-Night Stand Gets Messy

The film also stars Lola Kirke and Billy Crystal.

Jan. 11, 2019

YouTube/Freestyle Digital Media

There’s perhaps no rom-com storyline more beloved by Hollywood than that of a friends-with-benefits relationship that comes crashing down when one or both participants develop feelings for the other. It was done in 1989, with When Harry Met Sally, and twice in 2011, with Friends With Benefits and No Strings Attached; and now, Jamie Dornan and Jemima Kirke are stepping into the doomed setup in Untogether.

The first trailer for the indie film was released on Friday—about a month before its simultaneous theatrical and VOD February 8 release—and depicts, in under two minutes, the initial one-night stand, the subsequent no-strings-attached arrangement, and the eventual confession of actual feelings that are to be expected from the genre. In this particular case, Kirke’s character Andrea appears to be the first to catch feelings, much to the chagrin of Dornan’s Nick, who was wary from the beginning: “You’re not going to get obsessed with me, are you?” he asks after suggesting they continue their fling.

According to the official synopsis, Andrea is “a writing prodigy fully consumed with destructive vices, navigating Los Angeles without a driver’s license or credit card,” while Nick is a doctor and author, famous due to his “heroics in the Middle East.” Rounding out the cast are Kirke’s younger sister Lola, who plays her sister Tara in the film, as well as Ben Mendelsohn, Billy Crystal, Jennifer Grey, and Alice Eve. Tara, a massage therapist, is dating Mendelsohn’s Martin, a washed-up rock star, but soon becomes enchanted by Crystal’s character, a “charismatic rabbi” who invites her to “reconnect with her roots” at his synagogue.

The synopsis adds, rather ominously, “This is who they’ve all been so far but do they have the courage to find out who they really are?” Good question!

Ahead of Untogether‘s Tribeca Film Festival debut last April, the Kirkes spoke to W about working together onscreen. Jemima described how writer-director Emma Forrest came up with the idea to cast the real-life sisters in her feature film debut after hearing Jemima talk about Lola. “That’s when her eyes lit up. She was like, ‘I’m not going to tell you now, because I’m going to think about this, but I think I have a really good idea,'” she said. Lola added, “I was really excited by the prospect of it, because I think it’s rare that you see people play sisters who actually are sisters.”