Ask For Jane
Director
Production
Cast
Rachel Carey
levelFilm
Cody Horn, Alison Wright, Sarah Steele, Chloe Levine
About the Project
Imagine a world where abortion is punishable by prison, and getting birth control is nearly impossible. As a result, women die every day from taking matters into their own hands. When a pregnant student at the University of Chicago attempts to take her own life, Rose (Cait Cortelyou) and Janice (Cody Horn) find a doctor willing to perform the procedure in secret to save the woman's life. Sparked by this experience, Rose and Janice form the Jane Collective: a secret organization to help other women obtain safe and illegal abortions. Operating like a spy network, complete with blindfolds and code names, the Janes help thousands of women - but they can't hide from the police forever.
The female-led US indie thriller based on a true story is fronted by a majority women all-star ensemble cast, written by, directed by, produced by, shot by and crewed up by women to be the first to tell this women’s rights story pre Roe v Wade in America on screen. Ask For Jane is an eye-opening, compelling, and prescient narrative indie film that brings us face to face with realities of life for women when ending a pregnancy was criminalised. The film spotlights a renegade group of young women who began their undercover activities as undergraduate students at the University of Chicago in 1969. Together they launched the Jane Collective.
Produced by Cait Cortelyou, Josh Folan, Caroline Hirsch; written and directed by Rachel Carey; production design by Maryam Khosravi; cinematography by Caitlin Machak; original music by Two Twenty Two (Tom Nettleship & Daisy Coole); starring Megan Channell (Hunters, Bull), Cait Cortelyou (The Knick, The Marvellous Mrs Maisel), Lilly Englert (Quanitco, Little Women), Cody Horn (Magic Mike), Chloe Levine (The OA, Mr. Robot), Michael Rabe (Homeland), Sarah Ramos (Babylon Parenthood), Ben Rappaport (Mr. Robot), Sarah Steele (The Good Fight, You Hurt My Feelings), Sophie Von Haselberg (American Crime Story, Give Me Pity!), Alison Wright (The Americans, Snowpiercer).
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A levelFILM release. Available for rental and purchase on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Dish/Dish Digital, DirecTV, Google Play/YouTube Movies, Vudu, and InDEMAND (aggregator)—Cox, Optimum, RCN, Spectrum, Xfinity.
Soundtrack
Ask For Jane (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) was released on 17 May 2019
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About the Score
For Ask For Jane, director Rachel Carey was looking for a classic spy-thriller score, which occasionally veered towards the rhythm and blues “British invasion” sound to ease the audience into both the era and the tense narrative of an underground movement having to overcome the hardships of the patriarchy
The score is laden with 1960s-influenced strings, vibrato surf guitar lines you’d normally hear played by Vic Flick, Wurlitzer, double bass and a liberal sprinkling of subtle retro-style percussion complete with the occasional cowbell on the groove-based action cues. Most of the live instrument recording is performed by Daisy and Tom, with the only exception being double bass, which was recorded by Michael Searl. Ask For Jane’s score covers a lot of ground weaving between darker, jazzier, covert-operations, to folk guitar underscore and protest songs.
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Personnel
Original Music by Daisy Coole & Tom Nettleship as Two Twenty Two
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Score Mixer: Olga Fitzroy
Mastering Engineer: Cicely Balston
Double Bass: Michael Searl
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