HOLLYWOOD'S honey

AFTER A YEAR OF CRITICAL ACCLAIM, THE STARLET CONTINUES HER HOT STREAK WITH A NEW ROLE

- • By Olivia Harrowell

In an industry that's always looking for its next big thing, a new queen bee is emerging. Margaret Qualley had a breakout year in 2024, catapulted into A-lister status thanks to her role in The Substance. Now, her latest must-see performance in Honey Don't! (in cinemas August 28) is cementing her status as a bankable leading lady.

Playing the self-assured, effortlessly suave, sapphic private investigator Honey O'Donahue, Qualley is magnetic on screen as she unravels a string of mysterious deaths in a sleepy small town. Starring opposite her is Chris Evans as a narcissistic reverend, the manipulative figure seemingly at the centre of the community's dark web of lies.

"My character is very confident and talkative. She's not a woman of few words," Qualley told Cosmopolitan on August 4. "I think that sometimes I've made myself comfortable by knocking myself down. She's the opposite of that. She's in her power and smart and sexy."