# Carrie Coon & Lily James Humanized Cult Member And Leader In Guy Nattiv’s ‘The Liberation’ – Contenders L.A.

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/carrie-coon-lily-james-humanized-cult-member-and-leader-in-guy-nattivs-the-liberation-contenders-l-a/
- Published: 2026-11-15T01:33:31+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-15T12:08:08+00:00
- Original publisher: Deadline
- Original article: https://deadline.com/2026/11/carrie-coon-lily-james-liberation-interview-1237224238/
- Topics: Entertainment, Film

## Key points

- Coon and James sought to humanise both women.
- The story draws on director Guy Nattiv’s grandmother.
- The film opens on 8 January.

## Summary

Carrie Coon and Lily James said they aimed to portray the women in Guy Nattiv’s cult thriller *The Liberation* with empathy and complexity, rather than making its leader a simple villain. The film matters personally to Nattiv: it draws on his grandmother’s experience of finding renewed happiness in a group, before money disappeared and she was urged to leave her husband.

Coon plays Rita, an unhappy woman drawn to Ricki King, played by James, who mentors her and eventually persuades her to give up money and divorce her husband. Nattiv said he later questioned the cult leader, who expelled him; Coon also studied her grandmother’s Holocaust survivor testimonies to portray Rita’s past with care. The film is due an Oscar-qualifying theatrical run this year and opens on 8 January.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.