A Conversation with Alex Russell, Zack Fox, Archie Madekwe & Théodore Pellerin (LURKER)
Lurker explores the dangerous territory where fandom becomes obsession. The film follows Matthew (Théodore Pellerin), a twenty-something retail clerk who encounters rising pop star Oliver (Archie Madekwe) and desperately tries to infiltrate his inner circle. As the line between friend and fan blurs beyond recognition, access and proximity become matters of life and death.
Alex Russell, known for his Emmy-winning work as Co-Executive Producer on Beef and his acclaimed episode “Forks” on The Bear, makes his directorial debut with this exhilarating and distinctly modern thriller. The film features star-making performances from Pellerin (Franklin, Becoming Karl Lagerfeld), Madekwe (Saltburn, Gran Turismo), and comedian-musician Zack Fox (Abbott Elementary). With a brilliant score by Kenny Beats and sharp social commentary about male hierarchies and parasocial relationships, Lurker captures the dark magnetism of celebrity culture and those desperate to be part of it.
Hammer to Nail: Alex mentions in the director’s statement that actors sometimes illuminated their characters in ways you hadn’t considered. Could you give us a specific example of that happening with this group?
Alex Russell: It’s hard to remember specific things that they said, but anything they did say just sounded smarter than how I would have said it. These guys knew what they were going to do with these characters. That was especially true for Archie and Théodore. Théodore had so much to say about what he thought of these people. I think it was good to have an outsider perspective like how Théodore saw them, whereas Zack and I already knew who this guy was. Finding your way into it made it all understandable and universal.
HTN: The pants down sequence is such a great way to introduce the characters and the dynamics. Alex, at what point in the writing process did that moment come to you? And for the rest of you, what was important in shooting that scene?
Zack Fox: Lotion. Boy, I am ashy. Let me tell you something. You might want to turn off the camera for this. I am asshhyyy. I’m talking about If I hit my Dougie, I could set this whole place on fire. Shout out to everybody who made sure that my knees were oiled up and lubricated yours too (pointing at Théodore). Canadians can get ashy too, but you can’t really see it on white people. But you can feel it. You can hear it.
AR: It came very early on in the writing. It’s just a great way to show the dynamics. Actually, I think there was a version where Oliver’s character was doing the directing, doing the pantsing. But then as I got to know the characters better, it was more interesting for him to be observing and for Zach’s character to be doing it in front of him. For Oliver to just be watching the situation play out and seeing how Matthew’s reacting in real time.
HTN: I love this moment at the 55-minute mark where Matthew gets too close in Oliver’s face and Oliver calls him a “fanboy” and pushes him away. Swett quips that, “he got in trouble” and then Oliver throws the food, which hits him square in the face. Swett responds like it’s funny and they start a food fight, but something tells me if someone else in the crew, like Matthew, hit him in the face, the reaction might be different. Can you talk about what was important to you at this moment?
Archie Madekwe: I love that scene because it’s such a clear look at the dynamics at play. Oliver’s so in his comfort zone, he’s conducting in that moment, and you’re so right, Matthew would have been so out of line at that moment if he tried to start the food fight. I also when Swett says, “Ooh, he got in trouble,” which kind of makes you feel like they’ve all been told off at some point. They all know the pecking order. It really makes you feel like Oliver’s the teacher for a second and you don’t see that really with anybody else, him going at people, but just in that moment in the reservedness, in the silence when he’s going at Matthew, the way that they don’t leap to his defense or anything, you understand the dynamics at play that Oliver at least is perceiving himself to be alpha. It was so fun, we let that whole scene run every single time, and the food fight was a lot bigger than we thought it was gonna be. We had to use so many sandwiches, but it was so playful and yet so manipulative in the same way.
A still from LURKER
AR: I love that you mentioned that Zach line of “he got in trouble” because it was improvised. It wasn’t in the script. It was just this thing that he said, but it’s like only his character would voice that. You could tell he’s trying to say something to reduce the tension, really. But when you hear it, it’s not gonna go away. It’s kind of this beautiful little moment of improv that says two things. It says this is a character that would voice something and on another day, maybe that would have worked and the tension would die down. That’s kind of his job.
HTN: At around the hour and 10-minute mark, we have the start of this cancellation hostage situation. You guys are all hanging by the pool. I love this exchange that Matthew and Oliver have about him being one of the best artists in the world. Zach’s uncomfortable facial expressions had me dying laughing. This is followed by this hilarious moment with the birria. What was your thinking in these amazing but short moments?
AR: Well, I love that you’re referring to mostly food-based moments. What I remember about that day is that a few days before, I had spent all this money to do something nice for the crew, which was that I ordered a birria truck for everyone. Then Crafty also made a mental note that it was the birria scene day, so they made birria as well. So we had crafty birria tacos, and then also a whole independent other birria truck. It was so embarrassing but also so fun to shoot. I think we ran out of tacos. Also, I don’t think either of them (pointing to Archie and Théodore) knew what birria was until we did it, which was a fun LA thing. I like the bit where Zack is like, “You’re supposed to dip it in the…” It’s very LA if you know. It’s regional humor.
AM: Teo also went mad with power in that pool scene.
ZF: The most important thing I ever saw on set was this freakazoid body position that Teo can do that should be illegal. He can put both feet up in the air while the top of his body is out of the water.
AM: He has like two legs wrapped around his ears like he’s combing his hair.
ZF: So his legs are up where my arms would be, but the rest of his body is under the water.
AM: While he’s swimming towards you. And he did the scene that way.
ZF: He’s being very modest right now because he doesn’t want the CIA to abduct him and study him.
Théodore Pellerin: I was drunk with power and putting my feet up in the air.
AR: He also started acting like he was a shark.
TP: Yeah why didn’t that make the cut?
AR: I think that’s when we stepped aside and had a conversation about dialing the craziness back a little bit.
HTN: These final moments outside and in the van are so well done. All three of your performances are so good here. I particularly love the fake password moment and when Oliver turns and there’s this aggressive cue of music. I don’t believe you guys shot chronologically. However, this is in a way the moment that all the tension had been building to. At what point in the process was this moment shot?
AR: Last day. Last scene. So we didn’t shoot entirely chronologically, but there was some structure that attempted to get some chronological adherence. We shot them meeting in the store on the first day, and then it was all the house stuff. I believe ADing is an art form. They did a great job of making sure that the very key moments were done at very key times in our production process. So the very last shot actually of the movie is of a boot stomping the camcorder into pieces. And that was our very last shot and then we all went home.
– Jack Schenker (@YUNGOCUPOTIS)
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