Plot
Amber is a dissatisfied manager at Tuscan Grove, an Italian chain restaurant in Bakersfield, California. After being recommended by her boss, Amber receives an all-expenses-paid trip to Italy to participate in Tuscan Grove's management program, and meet the CEO, Nick Martucci. Her friend Emily predicts that Amber will find love. Once in Italy, program supervisor Craig takes all the participant's passports. Despite the rustic images shown online, they stay in a company-owned motel, and are told they cannot leave the property without permission. The group begins classes with head chef Liz Bence, which are interrupted by the arrival of Nick and his assistant Kat. Nick reacts strangely upon meeting Amber, saying she resembles his late sister.
Kat pulls Amber out of the lesson and invites her to a bar in Lucca, but the plan is overheard by Deb, who tells the other managers, turning the outing into an evening at the "bar" on the Tuscan Grove campus. The following morning, Kat wakes Amber up early and drives her to a yacht, where Nick is waiting. The two have an intimate conversation and kiss. Nick then invites Amber to a party, but tells her not to tell the rest of the group. The next day, Kat takes Amber to the party in Rigoli, where she shares a dance with the host Ricky's son and as a result is accosted by his lover. Kat takes her from away from the party and to a club and diner. The two kiss, but Amber stops them; Kat tells Amber that Nick is selfish, and that Amber is not the only woman that he has done this with. Amber awakens the next morning alone in the van. Later that day, she sees Kat driving off with Susie.
Susie is not at the class the following day, and Jen soon leaves, leading Amber to share her suspicions that something is not right with fellow manager Dana. Dana suggests that Nick is the mastermind, but Amber refuses to believe it, blaming Kat. Dana sneaks into the program office and finds pictures of former members, almost all of whom are women. He speculates that he and Fran were chosen because their names caused them to be mistaken for women. Amber sees Nick leaving with Jen and follows them, confronting Nick at his yacht. Nick accuses Amber of trying to push him away, and reveals that he fired Kat, calling her unstable. Amber and Dana demand their passports back from Craig, who encourages them not to "rock the boat". After Nick arrives during a group game of Mafia, Dana confronts him about his impropriety. Nick breaks down, saying that he envisioned Tuscan Grove as a high-end restaurant, only for it to turn into a fast casual chain. In the evening, Dana sneaks out to a party at Nick's on-site villa, where he sees men with automatic weapons. He returns with Amber, and they see Liz Bence, who has not been seen in days, bound and gagged inside. Dana leaves to rescue her, but is heard screaming. When Amber arrives, she finds Deb kneeling over his unconscious body. She returns to the motel and gets Fran; the two of them discover what appears to be Jen's dead body in her bed.
Amber and Fran return to the villa and find a barely conscious Dana, who reveals that he was attacked by a pack of wild boars. They go into the villa to hide, but discover an orgy happening inside, attended by Nick, members of his family, Liz Bence, and attendees of Ricky's party, all filmed by Craig. The party is interrupted as the pack of boars stampede into the house, sending the guests scattering and allowing Amber to call the police. It is revealed that Jen was merely sleeping, not dead, and that Susie took a spontaneous trip to Genoa, explaining her disappearance. The members of the group return home, with Craig reminding them that they have all signed a non-disclosure agreements. Back in Bakersfield, Nick shows up unexpectedly at Tuscan Grove to ask for Amber's forgiveness, and for them to continue as a couple. She rebuffs him, and smiles as she returns to her work.
Production
Writing and development
Jeff Baena first had the idea for Spin Me Round after filming The Little Hours , when he read about an Italian restaurant chain hosting a managerial retreat in Italy that was well below expectations. He began writing it in 2016, producing a 15-page outline, and initially involved Alison Brie for her input on "less-than-ideal suitors". [3] The pair went on to co-write the 2020 film Horse Girl, [4] which had been noted for subverting form to inform the story; [5] Spin Me Round plays with genre, and Baena and Brie decided to riff on the theme of subverting expectations in its story. [6] [7] [8] Baena said that "the film is rooted in the expectation versus reality trope", which forms the basis for the main plot as well as other elements. [7] The location itself is used to subvert expectations, the film operating to "dismantle the fantasy facade of the romanticized nation [of Italy]" at a time when media like House of Gucci and the second season of The White Lotus were being made there. [3]
One of the atypical sub-plots – in which Amber (Brie) unexpectedly "had more sparks with Kat" (Aubrey Plaza) than Nick (Alessandro Nivola) – was included in the story when Baena and Brie noticed that Plaza's chemistry with the female main character in another film ( Happiest Season , also co-starring Brie) was unexpectedly more popular than that of the character's love interest, and felt that Plaza could bring the same to Spin Me Round. As well as contributing to the theme of subverting expectations, Baena wanted to write a complicated character for Plaza to play as neither simply villain or victim, and to write "something authentic and confusing" to highlight the moral gray zone of her involvement in the story. [7] The film is intentially set in 2017, to allude to the growth of the #MeToo movement; Brie said that this and the "corporate coercion conspiracy" were direct references to personal situations in her own history. [3]
Spin Me Round was supposed to be filmed in Italy in the summer of 2020, but this was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. [6] [9] [10] As was typical of Baena's process, the film was only written as an outline at this point; he and Brie used the delay to expand the film outline into a more detailed script. Plaza, also Baena's partner, gave notes on the screenplay, [6] [7] and all three were involved with the television show Cinema Toast that Baena produced as "a way to still create" without being able to enter normal production. [11] Spin Me Round was then announced in May 2021, when it entered production. [4]
Casting
As well as Brie once again in the main role and as Baena's co-writer, Plaza returned to act in the film – having not had a role in Horse Girl – with Nivola, Molly Shannon, and Lil Rel Howery also announced to be starring in May 2021. [4] It marked the fourth time Baena had directed Brie, Plaza, and Shannon for the big screen. [7] [6]
Filming
Filming began in Italy in June 2021. [12]
