Watch Katie Holmes Play a Killer Schoolteacher in the New Trailer for ‘Miss Meadows’
A Pulp Fiction Mary Poppins? That’s the high-concept hook behind Katie Holmes’s newest star vehicle, Miss Meadows, in which she plays a primly-dressed, practically perfect small-town schoolteacher who says sugary things like “toodle-loo” without a trace of irony. But beneath all that sweetness lies a curdled view of the world, one that compels her to lay down her vengeance upon miscreants and malcontents with the petite pistol she keeps hidden in her purse.
Looks like Miss Meadows might benefit from having Harvey Keitel’s Wolf in her life to help her clean up her messes, though. The town’s sheriff (James Badge Dale) has little trouble connecting her to the wave of shootings happening on his watch. But he also doesn’t seem all that eager to lock this pretty, popular teacher in the slammer — particularly when there’s a new killer (Callan Mulvey) skulking around town.
An earlier, darker teaser for Miss Meadows hit the web back in August, but this second trailer indicates a strong streak of wicked humor along with the Pulp-y violence. It also emphasizes that the movie is a major departure for Holmes, still best remembered as the Dawson’s Creek good girl. “She’s a revelation in the movie,” Miss Meadows director Karen Leigh Hopkins remarked on the red carpet of the film’s Tribeca Film Festival premiere last April. “She…took the America’s sweetheart role that she also plays and brought an intellect and a fierceness…. She’s the excruciatingly correct [side of] Miss Meadows and also the real surprise, sexy [side].”
At a post-screening Q&A, Holmes herself said that she had a blast playing the character. “I liked the juxtaposition of her manners and her actions. And I liked her spirit, because she was delightful and believed in what she was doing and had integrity in her mind. I’m a fan of strong women and seeing them onscreen.” For the sequel, we’re rooting for a Miss Meadows/Jackie Brown team-up. In the meantime Miss Meadows hits theaters and VOD on Nov. 14.
