The Stand In

Candy Black Drew Barrymore once starred as a blockbuster comedic force, but years of drug abuse and anger issues have left her difficult to work with. On the set of a film, she refuses to shoot until her stand-in Paula Drew Barrymore reveals the director may replace her with Melissa McCarthy. During the scene, her co-star Jenna Jones Ellie Kemper hurls a solid marble statue instead of a breakaway prop. In a flare of rage, Candy shatters an ashtray and a shard strikes Jones’ eye. The shocking video goes viral and wrecks Candy’s career, turning her life upside down.

Candy retreats to a Long Island mansion for five years, wrestling with legal troubles tied to her addictions and tax evasion. Her only bright spot is a romantic pen-pal relationship with Steve Grady Michael Zegen, a man with a shared passion for Shaker carpentry. Yet Candy hides another layer of deception: she writes under the name Cathy Tyler, her real legal name. In May 2019, she is sentenced to months in rehab, jeopardizing the fragile plan she and Steve have to finally meet in person. She turns to her former manager Louis T.J. Miller to locate her former stand-in, Paula, who now drifts through life as a struggling actress living in her car. Candy invites Paula to the mansion and asks her to attend rehab for her sake, agreeing to resume acting only if Paula can serve as her stand-in.

In rehab, Paula crosses paths with Ingrid Michelle Buteau, the director’s assistant who offers her a cameo in a reboot of their old collaboration Saddle Up. When Paula is released, she reports back to Cathy, but Cathy declines because filming conflicts with her first date with Steve. Desperate to keep the dream alive, Paula—still in disguise—sends messages as Steve to Cathy, claiming to be married and severing contact. Then, as Cathy, Paula attends her first date with Steve, initially planning to end things, but she soon finds herself drawn to him and begins dating him.

Paula pushes Cathy to appear in a string of six-figure talk-show apologies, pulling Cathy deeper into a manufactured public image. This move puts Paula in touch with Louis (who doesn’t know Paula is behind the plan) and their new publicist Simon Charlie Barnett. Simon asks Paula out, and she accepts, but their smooth operation is unsettled when Paula and Steve unexpectedly spot each other—Steve realizes Cathy and Paula are the same people who have inserted Candy Black back into the spotlight after watching a televised interview.

Paula and Steve retreat to his apartment and share a night together. A few days later, Saddle Up—Candy Black’s reboot—gets a green light. Paula drugs Cathy to secure another date with Steve at the mansion, only to dump Cathy in the backyard. On that date, Steve confesses he is really Larry Cooper from Ann Arbor, Michigan—famous for a drunken misstep at the Holocaust Memorial in New Orleans. Cathy's high tolerance for drugs allows her to quickly recover, and she heads to the mansion bathroom to vomit, narrowly missing Steve as he departs. A heated fight erupts between Cathy and Paula, culminating in Paula dragging Cathy outside, then getting the police to remove the “crazed stalker.”

Cathy seeks help from Louis, but he discovers Paula’s true role in Candy Black’s comeback and chooses Paula over Cathy. Cathy then applies for a carpenter’s job and breaks into the mansion to recover certification papers. Steve spots Cathy and recognizes her voice from the phone, with Paula following him into the room. The three are in the same space for the first time, and a tangle of identities leads Cathy to realize that Paula sabotaged her relationship with Steve for her own advancement. Cathy storms out, and Steve ends things with Paula to reunite with Cathy.

The pair—Steve and Cathy—begin building a real relationship, while Paula films for the Saddle Up reboot as Candy Black. Paula’s discomfort with the physical gags pushes her to ask Cathy to resume Candy’s role, but Cathy refuses, complimenting Paula’s Method acting while delivering a sharp rebuke for trying to derail her life. As Cathy heads inside, a group of teenagers snaps selfies next to a bruised Paula.

One year later, Paula is thriving again as Candy Black and dating her publicist Simon. Cathy and Steve, no longer living in the shadows, enjoy a quiet, successful life as woodworkers in a Shaker community, running their own business together.