One of this year’s buzziest American indies on the film festival circuit—and with good reason—is filmmaker Alex Russell’s compelling feature debut, Lurker, which made its world premiere at Sundance. An Emmy-winner for the hit comedy series The Bear, the writer-director was inspired by his observations of the hierarchies that form in the music business and the hangers on that orbit emerging artists, keenly aware of the similar social structures that form elsewhere in Hollywood, and beyond.
Set in Los Angeles, Théodore Pellerin stars as a twenty-something retail clerk, Matthew, who has a chance encounter with a rising British pop star, Oliver, played by Archie Madekwe, and takes the opportunity to edge his way into the in-crowd. As the line between friend and fan blurs beyond recognition, access and proximity become a matter of life and death.
With Lurker now playing in theaters in New York and LA from MUBI, with a national rollout to follow beginning Friday, August 29th, filmmaker Alex Russell and stars Théodore Pellerin and Archie Madekwe speak exclusively with The Queer Review’s editor James Kleinmann. The actors share their approach to unlocking their characters, while Russell reflects on the sexual tension between Oliver and Matthew in two pivotal scenes.
James Kleinmann, The Queer Review: Alex, what was the key for you of making this world of a rising music star feel so authentic?
Alex Russell: “The key was pulling in so many favors from all of my friends and forcing them to do stuff! Like we threw a real show, where we filled a room full of people for Archie to perform in as Oliver. That’s why it doesn’t feel like it’s filled with extras, because it’s really people who came out for that. Also, I think it was actually key, given our budget, that he wasn’t the biggest pop star in the world and that he was kind of on the precipice. I don’t think that I was thinking about that as a production constraint when I was writing it, but it really helped us.”
Théodore Pellerin: “Also with the story, then Matthew can actually bring something to him and elevate him.”
Alex: “Yeah, I always understood that on a story level, it was more when it came to making it that I was like, ‘Oh, this is helpful now that we don’t have to get a $30 million house for this guy to live in.”
Alex, at Sundance you were comparing the film to Mean Girls. Was that on your mind as you were writing this script or something that occurred to you after you’d made it?
Alex: “I think it’s always on my mind. The Mean Girls script was educational to me in my early days of figuring out how to write screenplays. It’s very well structured. The way I went about learning how to write was that I would take movies—not necessarily my favorite movies of all time—but comfort movies that you’ve watched 30 times and they’re always fun rewatch. Mean Girls was one of them, although I would also say it’s one of my favorites too. If I read the script for any of those movies, I know them so well that I see it in my mind when I’m reading it. Then you can be like, ‘Oh, that’s why this happens at this point in the screenplay’, or ‘that’s how this sequence that I love plays out in script form’.”
Archie and Théodore, what is one of the movies that you can watch over and over again?
Théodore: “I have some…”
Archie: “Bridesmaids. I can watch Bridesmaids forever. It’s just hilarious. It doesn’t stop being funny. It’s amazing.”
How about for you Theodore?
Théodore: “Nothing comes to mind.”
Alex: “You can’t think of one movie that you like to watch?!”
Théodore: “Bridesmaids.”
Archie: “He likes that one too.”
When it came to Lurker, what were some of the things that resonated with each of you and made you want to be involved?
Théodore: “It’s rare to read a great script. Honestly, it’s really rare to see such great writing. You don’t read 10 great scripts a year. I’m so slow to read a script, it usually takes me weeks. So when I finish a script in one sitting and I’m so excited about it—as I was with Lurker—it’s clear that it’s great and that I want to be a part of it. I thought Lurker was so funny and scary and surprising. I loved it. Then I met Alex on Zoom and I was like, ‘This is great’.”
Alex: “This guy’s chill.”
Théodore: “Yeah, this guy’s chill!”
Archie, how about for you?
“Definitely the same. It’s very rare to read a good script and this is one that I feel was on everyone’s radar. Everybody wanted to be a part of it. Everyone was talking about it. I wanted it really bad and then I didn’t get it. I auditioned for Matthew and that role went to some fucking Canadian actor! [Everyone laughs] Then years later it came back around, but I was asked to meet Alex for the role of Oliver. It wasn’t a part that I saw myself playing and so it felt exciting to push myself out of my comfort zone. To do something that felt a little bit scary, to do something that felt challenging, and to inhabit the script through a lens that I didn’t originally see it through.”
There’s a really compelling dynamic between these two characters throughout the film. Alex, I wondered what Matthew’s sexual attraction towards Oliver throws into the mix when it comes to that dynamic?
Alex: “What did you think about that?”
I thought it was another really fascinating layer, particularly as a queer viewer, but I’d love to know what your thoughts are.
Alex: “Well, I think what continues to fascinate me about it is the ambiguity and the reasoning behind the moments that are happening. The timing of them is very specific. There are two mirroring moments in the film where, in one case, Matthew’s character offers himself physically to Oliver, and then at another point, Oliver offers himself to Matthew. To interpret those scenes, is to interpret what it is that they want at that moment and why.”
“In both cases, they’re almost presented as questions and the question is, ‘Is this what you want?’ It’s not necessarily, ‘I’m showing you what I want’, It’s, ‘I’m offering myself to find out if that’s what you want’. So that’s what I want people to think about when visiting those scenes.”
It’s so rich and layered. Going back to Théodore and Archie, can you give me an insight into your approach to playing these characters and if there was anything specific that helped you to unlock them?
Archie: “There were a couple of different things. The writing was number one, but then number two was immersing myself in that world. It was very alien to me, so I was hanging out with musicians and asking them questions and then also making the music for the film. Weirdly, dyeing my hair pink helped me to unlock the character a lot. A friend of mine dyed her hair blonde for a role and she had to be very confident in this part she was playing. She told me, ‘It’s interesting, I almost feel like it attracts the light differently, so people look at you differently. It’s like a beacon’. I kind of felt like that about my hair too. People definitely look at you in a different way when you have pink hair, or it says something about who you are. It’s harder to hide behind a person that has made such a conscious choice. So that helped me understand things about him and it definitely unlocked something that maybe I’m unable to articulate.”
Théodore: “For me, the language was a big part of it. Getting to feel comfortable, or maybe a little bit uncomfortable, with a character who is also playing and putting on a costume in a way and trying to fit in. That language, that humor and the punctuation, really mark this LA culture. So that was a big entry point that really helped me to understand who he was and the character that he was going to play to fit in.”
By James Kleinmann
Lurker is now playing in theaters in New York and Los Angeles, with a rollout to follow beginning Friday, August 29th. For local listings head to Mubi.com.
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