Mackenzie Davis ‘in talks’ to play Kristen Stewart’s partner in Happiest Season
Lesbian rom-com Happiest Season will reportedly feature Mackenzie Davis alongside Kristen Stewart (Sonia Recchia/Getty and Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Mackenzie Davis is reportedly in talks to play Kristen Stewart’s girlfriend in lesbian romantic comedy Happiest Season.
Davis, who has starred in award-winning Black Mirror episode “San Junipero” and Oscar-nominated film The Martian, has been asked to join the cast of the Christmas film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Happiest Season will follow the story of a young woman who plans to propose to her partner at her family’s annual Christmas party—only to discover that her would-be fiancée hasn’t come out to her conservative parents.
The festive rom-com will be directed by out lesbian Clea Duvall, who has starred in films like But I’m a Cheerleader and She’s All That.
Mackenzie Davis has starred in Tully and The Martian (Theo Wargo/Getty)
Stewart has been in an on-screen lesbian relationship before, having starred as Chloë Sevigny’s housemaid and lover in Lizzie, which tells the story of 1890s axe murderer Lizzie Borden.
Happiest Season is likely to come out after Stewart’s next starring role in the rebooted Charlie’s Angels, which will see her take on the Angels mantle alongside Power Rangers‘ Naomi Scott and rising British star Ella Balinska.
What is Kristen Stewart’s sexuality?
Stewart said on Saturday Night Live in 2017 that she was “like, so gay.”
The 28-year-old has not defined her sexuality, but said last year that she would “definitely” still date men.
Last year, the US actress turned queer heads with her loving stares at Cate Blanchett.
The actresses were both sitting on the Cannes Film Festival jury, along with other stars like Léa Seydoux and director Ava DuVernay, when Stewart was repeatedly snapped gazing—or “gayzing,” according to fans—at the double-Oscar-winning actress.
Queer films like Happiest Season are getting more common
Films featuring bisexual and lesbian women are becoming more frequent, like The Favourite, which shows Emma Stone’s Baroness Masham and Rachel Weisz’s Duchess of Marlborough fighting for the affections of Olivia Colman’s Queen Anne.
The film was nominated for 10 Oscars earlier this week.
“As we were shooting it and we did a few takes, I said: ‘Can I please just be [naked]?'”
— Emma Stone
Stone revealed last year that it was her idea to be naked for the first time in her career in the film.
“I had the sheet up around me,” she explained. “And as we were shooting it and we did a few takes, I said: ‘Can I please just be [naked]?’
“‘I think it’s going to give Sarah something to look at when she sees that I’m not just under the sheet covered up.’”
Happiest Season isn’t even the first queer Christmas film to be announced in recent times, after Life-Size 2 was released last month, featuring Francia Raisa as the bisexual main character, Grace.
Among the numerous other critically acclaimed films starring women who love women is Colette, a biographical drama starring Keira Knightley.
The film details the life of French novelist Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, who had several lesbian affairs while married.
Knightley explained in November that the lesbian sex scenes in Colette were toned down so that they weren’t “seen through the male gaze.”
Last year, barrier-breaking Kenyan film Rafiki won three awards at two US film festivals, despite being banned in Kenya for its lesbian love story.
The film shattered box office records in just a week.
