David Yates is the director of the 2023 American criminal drama film Pain Hustlers, which is based on a script by Wells Tower. It is based on Evan Hughes’ novel of the same name from 2022. [2] Starring in the movie with Emily Blunt are Brian d’Arcy James, Chris Evans, Andy García, Catherine O’Hara, Jay Duplass, and Chloe Coleman. The storey revolves on a Central Florida pharmaceutical firm where a recent high school graduate finds herself employed, and before long, she becomes embroiled in a criminal conspiracy.
Pain Hustlers debuted globally at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2023. It then went on to be shown in a few US cinemas on October 20, 2023, and on October 27, 2023, Netflix began streaming the film.
In May 2022, it was revealed that Netflix had paid a staggering $50 million to buy the movie Pain Hustlers, making it one of the biggest transactions ever made at the Cannes Film Festival. This agreement appears to further solidify Netflix’s strategy of working tirelessly to expand its library of original films. Netflix is the only company that produces, co-produces, or distributes its unique material; other TV networks do not receive the same funding.

Pain Hustlers: Release Date
The movie Pain Hustlers is scheduled to open in a few cinemas on October 20, 2023, then on Netflix one week later on October 27, 2023. Among the several high-profile Netflix movies scheduled for autumn 2023 are Pain Hustlers, which will be joined by David Fincher’s The Killer and Bradley Cooper’s Maestro. Prior to its release in cinemas and on Netflix, the Chris Evans and Emily Blunt film will also have its international debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it is expected to generate further buzz.
Pain Hustlers Story
The New York Times article written by Evan Hughes and his later book “The Hard Sell” served as the basis for the Pain Hustlers narrative. Hughes investigated and uncovered the business practises of the pharmaceutical corporation Insys in his report. Hughes claims that Insys profited from the opioid epidemic by persuading medical professionals to recommend the fentanyl-based painkiller Subsys to patients. Hughes disclosed that the business paid large “speaking fees” to young, appealing, and inexperienced marketers in order to get doctors to prescribe the medications. As a result, the salesmen received large compensation, but many of the patients developed drug addictions and even passed away.
There are many parallels between the actual storey of Pain Hustlers and the recently released Netflix drama Painkillers, which won an Emmy. Similar strategies employed by the Sackler family and their business Purdue Pharma were examined in both programmes. According to reports, Pain Hustlers and The Wolf of Wall Street and The Big Short have a similar tone, with a lot of dark humour examining the unethical and illegal behaviour of these companies.
According to early sources, Pain Hustlers is set in the ruthless and sometimes immoral world of medicines. The film is similar to Adam McKay’s The Big Short, which exposed Wall Street’s “brilliant” financial brains for their wrongdoings. The movie centres on Liza Drake, a former high school student who, filled with hope for a brighter future for herself and her young daughter, accepts a position at a Central Florida pharmaceutical start-up that is failing. Liza’s abilities and disposition propel her to success, and the business gains authority, stability, and renown. However, nothing is as it appears, and Liza quickly discovers herself at the core of a criminal plot that has the potential to destroy both her career and the lives of others.
The 2018 New York Times Magazine nonfiction book of the same name by Evan Hughes served as the basis for the film Pain Hustlers. The pharmaceutical business Insys was the subject of the storey. It benefited financially from the opioid crisis by offering doctors large “speaking fees” in exchange for recommending the fentanyl-based painkiller Subsys to their patients. Insys targeted doctors who required money for personal or professional reasons in addition to hiring beautiful salesmen with little to no expertise, mostly women in their 20s and 30s, in an attempt to increase their sales. Despite the fact that many salesmen were able to earn six-figure incomes, Insys filed for bankruptcy in 2019 as a result of patient addiction.
Who Is Producing “Hustlers of Pain”?
David Yates is the director of Pain Hustlers. Yates initially gained notoriety with his short film Rank, which narrated the tale of a Scottish gang that crosses the town line to face recently arrived Somali refugees. The short addressed xenophobia, racism, and criminality. The movie went on to win the Best Short Film BAFTA Award, and the director went on to have more success with television directing. His six-part drama State of Play, which followed a newspaper’s probe into a political researcher’s death, garnered him the most praise for television in 2003. Yates landed the biggest picture of his career, Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, after working for a few years in television.
Wells Tower is the author of Pain Hustlers. Tower is by no means a rookie screenwriter, even if this is his debut script. The New Yorker, The Paris Review, McSweeney’s, Vice, Harper’s Magazine, A Public Space, and several more publications have published Tower’s short stories. Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, his debut collection of short tales, was well-received by critics when it was released in 2009. The novel was a nominee for The Story Prize and was named one of the top ten books of 2009 by Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times.
With whom does “Pain Hustlers” star?
The main actress, Emily Blunt, plays Liza Drake. Blunt initially gained notoriety in the US as Meryl Streep’s and Anne Hathaway’s high-strung, fashion-obsessed secretary Emily in The Devil Wears Prada. For her role as a young Queen Victoria in The Young Victoria, she was nominated for her first Golden Globe and her first Lead Actress award. She started making more appearances in action films like Looper and Edge of Tomorrow in the early 2010s. For her part as an FBI special agent sent on a mission to bust a drug cartel in Sicario, she earned some of the highest praise of her career.
She has contributed to both lighthearted and serious projects, including horror movies like A Quiet Place I & II and musicals like Into the Woods and Mary Poppins Returns. Blunt has recently received some of the finest accolades of her career for her performances in the Prime Video miniseries The English as Cornelia Locke and as Kitty Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan’s biographical epic Oppenheimer.

Alongside Blunt, Chris Evans plays pharmaceutical sales representative Pete Brenner, who entices Liza into his dubious world of drug trafficking. Evans has earned a career as a star in a number of different comic book movies. In Fantastic Four, he made his heroic debut as the Human Torch. Later, he went on to become a global celebrity by playing Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Additionally, Evans has acted in comic book movies like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Snowpiercer that deviate significantly from the Marvel formula. For his leading part in the Apple TV+ drama Defending Jacob and his supporting role in Knives Out, he won praise. Evans most recently acted in the action-comedy Ghosted, starring alongside Ana de Armas.
In the movie, Andy García plays Dr. Jack Neel, Liza and Pete’s supervisor. García gained recognition for his work in criminal movies such as The Godfather Part III and The Untouchables, for which he was nominated for one Oscar. In the TV movie For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story as well as the motion pictures Ocean’s Eleven and Kill the Messenger, he went on to get praise from critics. García has acted in a number of romantic comedies, such as Father of the Bride, Book Club, and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. García played in two sequels this past year: Expend4bles and Book Club: The Next Chapter, in which he played the same part as in the original movie.
Review
46 critics have left reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregation website, with an average rating of 4.8/10, 26 percent of which are favourable. “Pain Hustlers has some outstanding performers and a fascinating subject, but mediocre execution dooms this dramatic look at the opiate crisis,” is the general view on the website. [11] Based on 20 reviewers, Metacritic, which employs a weighted average, gave the movie a score of 44 out of 100, denoting “mixed or mediocre” reviews.
Pain Hustlers: Trailer
Although the trailer for Pain Hustlers has not yet been released, it won’t be long to wait as the Netflix film starring Emily Blunt and Chris Evans is almost ready for release. Meanwhile, Netflix’s preview of its 2023 release included the film’s first glance. Even if it’s only a little glimpse, seeing Emily Blunt and Chris Evans together on film is enough to get many people enthusiastic about Pain Hustlers.