It’s Rebecca Blunt’s birthday today… but who is Rebecca Blunt?
Logan Lucky, directed by Steven Soderbergh, premiered in 2017. It follows Channing Tatum and Adam Driver as they play two brothers who attempt to rob a racetrack in North Carolina. The movie, which also stars Riley Keough and Daniel Craig, received critical acclaim for its screenplay, which was credited as written by “Rebecca Blunt.”
Supposedly, Rebecca is a first-time screenwriter who lives in New York City after moving from Logan, West Virginia (hmm, Logan as in Logan Lucky?), according to Soderbergh. She even has her own Twitter account. Some members of the cast discussed having conversations with her over email and believe she is based in the United Kingdom.
Although Adam Driver and Soderbergh have both openly declared that Rebecca Blunt exists, many suspect that the skill she demonstrated in writing Logan Lucky as well as her mysterious persona suggests “Rebecca” is a pseudonym.
The speculation surrounding Rebecca Blunt’s identity led to three suspects: (1) Soderbergh himself, (2) screenwriter/tv personality John Henson, or (3) Soderbergh’s wife — Jules Asner.
Then, an anonymous source came forward claiming the script was written by Jules Asner. The story goes something like this: Jules Asner is the sole screenwriter, but she hid her true name because she did not want the audience to know that Soderbergh was directing a script written by his wife.
Later, the Twitter account belonging to “Rebecca Blunt” posted photos of Soderbergh and Asner working together on set.
Jules Asner was first discovered as a teenager by a modeling agency, and became a television personality at E! News. She received several awards for her show, Revealed with Jules Asner, and hosted two others as well. In 2008, she wrote her first book, Whacked, which was a bestseller on Amazon.
In Georgiana E. Presecky’s article on Logan Lucky sparking pseudonym speculation, she writes:
“Whether Blunt is a pseudonym or not, she is credited as a female screenwriter in an industry that seems to finally be catching up to gender equality – I’m not sure we should question that, nor should we speculate about whether a female pseudonym is ‘most likely’ a cover-up for a male scribe. Gender clearly plays a role in the supposed ‘controversy’ surrounding the Logan Lucky script. Twitter user @filmvsbook questioned August 8 whether she could include the feature in her #52FilmsByWomen pledge, ‘If I’m not entirely sure if the female writer is actually a woman?’ Blunt responded…well, bluntly: ‘I’M A WOMAN,’ to which @filmvsbook replied, ‘Good enough for me.’ Good enough for us, too.”
Jules Asner is an accomplished woman in media who has worked with her Oscar-winning husband on his past films (specifically with rewriting scripts). According to Soderbergh, she also has a strong influence on crafting his women characters. Good enough for us!
Happy Birthday, Jules 🙂
© Anna Nappi (2/14/22) Special for FF2 Media.
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Featured photo: {{Information |Description=66ème Festival du Cinéma de Venise (Mostra), 6ème jour (07/09/2009) Tapis rouge avec Matt Damon (et sa femme) avec Steven Soderbergh pour le film : The Informant |Source=[http://www.flickr.com/photos/22785954@N08/389983618
