Marla Grayson is the protagonist villain of the 2020 acclaimed film I Care a Lot. She is a professional legal guardian who has elderly people put into care homes and appoints herself as their legal guardian to attain control of all of their assets.
She was portrayed by Rosamund Pike, who also played Miranda Frost in Die Another Day, Amy Elliot-Dunne in Gone Girl and Brigette Kuhlmann in 7 Days In Entebbe.
Plot[]
Marla Grayson makes her first appearance arguing a case against Mr. Feldstrom, who is unhappy with Marla as she had placed his mother into a care home. Marla successfully argues that Feldstrom's mother suffers from dementia and needs to be taken special care of to Judge Lomax. As she meets with her business and romantic partner Fran, Feldstrom angrily confronts her after the trial, threatens her and spits into her face. Blocking Fran from attacking him, Marla snaps back at him and returns to her office, where it's revealed she pulled the scam with tens of elders, faking their mental decline and seizing their assets.
Back at her office, she learns from her associate, care home owner Sam Rice, that Alan Levitt, one of her other wards, had died. She and Fran pay a visit to Dr Karen Amos and in exchange for selling her a portion of their stock, she gives them an elderly woman named Jennifer Peterson as their next mark. Karen fakes Jennifer's mental decline and Judge Lomax appoints Marla as Jennifer's legal guardian. One short visit to Jennifer later and she is moved into a care home. Digging into Jennifer's belongings, Marla discovers diamonds in her safety deposit box and plans to pawn them.
Soon after, Marla is paid a visit by a mysterious Dean Ericson. Dean claims to be a representative of Jennifer Peterson and requests for her freedom. After complimenting her on her scam, he subtly threatens her and offers her twenty-five thousand dollars if she let Jennifer go. Marla attempts to negotiate the price to ten million dollars, but Dean turns it down. Dean later argues in court for Jennifer's freedom, but fails due to providing no evidence of her hiring him. Marla confronts Jennifer about Dean, but Jennifer refuses to answer her questions. Angered, Marla orders Sam to restrict her diet and outside time.
Fran discovers that "Jennifer Peterson" is an alias from an old newspaper. A trio of men then attempt to break Jennifer out of the care home, but Marla and Fran arrive in time to stop them. One of the men is identified as Alexei Ignatyev, who worked for Russian Mob boss Roman Lunyov. Soon after, Karen is killed. Marla attempts to grill some information out of Jennifer, but Jennifer attacks her. Marla survives and has Judge Lomax institutionalize Jennifer.
Soon after, she is kidnapped and meets Roman. Marla deduces that "Jennifer" is Roman's mother and demands that he pay her $10 million to free Jennifer and returns the diamonds. Roman orders her execution instead. Two assassins dump her into a car and set it to drive into a lake, but Marla frees herself. She returns home to find Fran bleeding on the floor, but saves her in time. In revenge, the two kidnap Roman, strip him nude, and dump him in the wilderness, where he is found by a jogger.
When Roman comes to, he is greeted by Marla, who tells him that she was appointed as his legal guardian. She reiterates her demand for ten million dollars in exchange for his freedom, his mother's freedom, and the diamonds. Humiliated but impressed by her boldness and cunning, Roman strikes a deal with her.
Years later, with the help of Roman's criminal connections, Marla is now a multi-billionaire CEO, world-famous and happily married to Fran. However, after returning home after an interview, she is confronted by Mr. Feldstorm, who reveals that his mother died alone and fatally shoots her before he is subdued by security guards. As Fran cradles her and sobs, Marla succumbs to her wound in the arms of and looking at the only person she ever truly loved, paying for her nefarious actions and potentially saving other elders from being taken under her "care" once and for all.
