{"id":164191,"date":"2025-08-21T16:19:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T16:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/164191\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T16:19:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T16:19:19","slug":"director-alex-russells-debut-film-lurker-takes-on-obsessive-fandom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/164191\/","title":{"rendered":"Director Alex Russell’s debut film ‘Lurker’ takes on obsessive fandom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We are sitting between the \u201cMiscellaneous Horror\u201d and \u201cJuvenile Delinquents\u201d sections at CineFile Video<\/a>, a compact, densely stocked curated video store on the westside of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Surrounded by physical media, I wonder how \u201cLurker,\u201d the first feature by writer-director Alex Russell, will eventually be classified here. The shelf across from him holds the DVDs and Blu-rays labeled \u201cGay.\u201d The realization prompts him to chuckle. \u201cThat\u2019s me,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Arms crossed, Russell, 34, at first seems guarded and resistant to conversation. He admits doing press about his work is still a novel experience for him. Later, as he digs into the making and meaning of his movie, he\u2019ll relax and the words will spontaneously flow.<\/p>\n

Out this Friday, \u201cLurker\u201d examines the insidious entanglement between rising British music star Oliver (Archie Madekwe) and the seemingly docile Matthew (Th\u00e9odore Pellerin), a clothing store employee turned self-styled tour videographer. As Matthew joins Oliver\u2019s inner circle, their parasocial bond evolves into a real friendship, until Matthew\u2019s desire to belong becomes dangerous. And while at first Oliver rules over a pack of sycophants, the power shifts.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has been in a situation where they want a group of people to like them,\u201d Russell says. \u201cAnd then sometimes you\u2019re on the other side of it, where you\u2019re already in and you see someone else wanting to be liked by you.\u201d<\/p>\n

As someone who went to several different schools growing up, Russell became observant of male relationships and the implicit rules by which they operate. \u201cI could see how groups of boys, whether it\u2019s in high school, a fraternity or a basketball team, start to assemble themselves and create sort of unspoken hierarchies,\u201d Russell says. The music world presented an ideal setting as well.<\/p>\n

\"Two <\/p>\n

Archie Madekwe, left, and Th\u00e9odore Pellerin in the movie \u201cLurker.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Mubi)<\/p>\n

\u201cLurker\u2019s\u201d mean-boys drama mostly takes place in Los Angeles, where individuals seeking a career in entertainment by any means necessary abound. Russell lived here for the larger part of the last decade, writing the screenplay at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt gross about being in L.A. but also hopeful,\u201d Russell says candidly on the realization that he was one of countless others here trying to make it. \u201cWhat I like about this place \u2014 and I think this is represented in the movie \u2014 is that it\u2019s full of people who are trying to put themselves out there in some type of way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russell knows firsthand what it means to feel exposed in pursuit of a dream. His career writing for TV for award-winning shows like \u201cBeef\u201d<\/a> and \u201cThe Bear\u201d<\/a> only took off after he became vocal and open about his goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was something liberating about being like, \u2018I want to be a working screenwriter,\u2019 which, of course, there\u2019s no greater clich\u00e9 in L.A.,\u201d he says. \u201cThat felt like the more courageous thing. I was used to this self-doubting, cynical philosophy of: I should keep it to myself if I have dreams that could embarrass me if I don\u2019t make them a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born in Chicago to an immigrant mother and an American father, Russell initially studied engineering, but quietly taught himself screenwriting. He would dissect the scripts of comfort movies like \u201cLegally Blonde\u201d and \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada\u201d in order to learn structure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you teach yourself something, in a way it\u2019s more organic because you\u2019re just like: OK, what are the movies I actually know? I\u2019ll reverse engineer those,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

But as someone with no direct connection to Hollywood, his dream required tryout stints in New York and Atlanta, as well as a lot of crashing with patient friends. \u201cThere are so many couches I have to thank for getting to do the work I do now,\u201d Russell says, laughing but sincere.<\/p>\n

During those rougher early years, Russell created a pilot for the now defunct Viceland cable network and a short series for Comedy Central\u2019s YouTube channel. \u201cAt the time I was looking for anything to grasp onto,\u201d he remembers.<\/p>\n

It was in L.A. that he landed his first writers\u2019 room job on the FX comedy \u201cDave,\u201d a meta series centered around rapper Lil Dicky<\/a>. Russell believes his proximity to the music industry set him apart when the opportunity emerged, outweighing his inexperience.<\/p>\n

Most of his close friends work in music, including Kenny Beats, who composed Oliver\u2019s songs for \u201cLurker,\u201d and Zack Fox, who plays a hanger-on in the film and is a DJ in real life. The scenes that show Oliver performing were shot with real crowds during parties at which Fox DJed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just a huge stroke of luck,\u201d he says. \u201cI had a bunch of half-hour spec scripts that were set in the music world. It was just good timing that they were looking for someone like that, because on a craft level, I really hadn\u2019t found it yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLurker\u201d would be an experiment \u2014 to discover his own storytelling voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe skill of being in a TV room is: How well can you service the voice of someone else? How can you find the most overlap between yourself and whoever\u2019s running the show?\u201d Russell explains. \u201cThat can start to feel like: I would like to know if I have my own tone, if I have my own way of doing things.\u201d<\/p>\n

To find his way into the story, particularly its darker edges of obsession, Russell looked to Damien Chazelle\u2019s \u201cWhiplash\u201d<\/a> and Dan Gilroy\u2019s \u201cNightcrawler\u201d<\/a> as references. Additionally, \u201cAlmost Famous,\u201d<\/a> Cameron Crowe\u2019s mostly autobiographical film about a teenager interviewing a rock band, seemed the closest to his sensibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis kid gets to do this big Rolling Stone article on one of his favorite bands and there are these moments where it feels like he\u2019s in the band and that\u2019s really his dream,\u201d Russell says. \u201cAt the end of the movie it\u2019s like: Was that all just for the story he was writing? Or will they talk to him again? And then they do. It\u2019s a wholesome version of the movie that mine isn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

In \u201cLurker,\u201d conversely, the worst label someone in Oliver\u2019s orbit can receive is that of being a \u201cfanboy.\u201d The term carries an intensely pejorative connotation in the group and speaks to the imbalance of power between the singer and his fawning entourage.<\/p>\n

\u201cA fan is fundamentally an outsider,\u201d Russell says. \u201cWhat does it mean to admit that you\u2019re a fan? It\u2019s to acknowledge that there\u2019s them and us. You are the watcher of whatever you\u2019re a fan of and they have your attention. Matthew is trying to bridge that gap. He wants to appear as a peer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fact that \u201cother directors weren\u2019t exactly dying to direct\u201d his screenplay, Russell says, coupled with his producers\u2019 encouragement, convinced him to get behind the camera.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really know what that entailed,\u201d he admits. \u201cI really didn\u2019t think I had certain leadership qualities to rally a bunch of people. I didn\u2019t see myself that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

But knowing the motivations of his characters armed him. Russell could determine which potential collaborators interpreted his writing as he envisioned it. For example, he agreed with cinematographer Patrick Scola that shooting on 16mm film would add realism to a story taking place in a realm of artificiality.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Th\u00e9odore Pellerin in the movie \u201cLurker.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Mubi)<\/p>\n

In casting Pellerin, a Quebecois actor seen in \u201cNever Rarely Sometimes Always,\u201d<\/a> the filmmaker found a performer with the ability to exhibit ambiguous intentions, not a one-note villain. Though he\u2019s always plotting to stay in Oliver\u2019s good graces, Matthew has a deep need for validation. When he gets a taste of the status being around Oliver grants him, he refuses to let it go.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could see him living and dying on each of these social interactions,\u201d Russell says. \u201cYou could tell he wants to say and do the right thing. There\u2019s a sweetness to him. We didn\u2019t want this to be so icy that you automatically disliked this guy and you\u2019re shaking your head the whole time. You want to feel like there\u2019s someone in there who just wants to belong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russell finds the proliferation of a social media mindset unsettling, especially the darker side of attention-seeking trolls. \u201cPart of why this movie exists is to instill a little bit of shame,\u201d he says with a dark laugh. \u201cThat\u2019s not something we should be bragging about.\u201d<\/p>\n

On top of those digital-age preoccupations, Russell sought to indict the petty jealousies that exist among men \u2014 a subject, he thinks, that remains taboo. \u201cThere are a lot of movies about women being jealous of each other, but there aren\u2019t a lot about men,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Near the end of \u201cLurker,\u201d a surprising encounter between Oliver and Matthew illustrates the complexity of their misconnection, a delicate balance that showcases Russell\u2019s talent for mining originality from situations that could have played out more conventionally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that moment, the tension is built up so that either it\u2019s going to turn sexual finally or turn violent finally,\u201d the filmmaker says. \u201cThat\u2019s what the audience is thinking, but then it\u2019s this mystery third thing. And I just love it because it genuinely surprises people.\u201d<\/p>\n

But regardless of where a viewer is coming from, \u201cLurker\u201d taps into something utterly relatable.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many people look to movies because they feel like outsiders,\u201d Russell says. \u201cEveryone has some relationship to being an outsider and being an insider. It\u2019s not black and white. That\u2019s what this movie wants to get into. Those things can shift, the gravitational pull is not anchored.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much less of an outsider now (he\u2019s even won an Emmy for \u201cBeef\u201d), Russell has found his peers. He and James Sweeney, another queer director, have become close. Sweeney\u2019s film \u201cTwinless,\u201d out Sept. 5, follows the brotherly friendship between two young men that\u2019s threatened by a secret. Both \u201cLurker\u201d and \u201cTwinless\u201d premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Russell is amused at the similarities between their films.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a city like this, everyone is thirsty for community or feeling like a part of some group,\u201d Russell says. \u201cAnd the truth of L.A. is that people make up groups. And if you make up your own group, then you get to choose the members.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We are sitting between the \u201cMiscellaneous Horror\u201d and \u201cJuvenile Delinquents\u201d sections at CineFile Video, a compact, densely stocked…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":164192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,94708,2600,1020,5169,2961,94710,224,2444,5337,94706,3196,94707,94709,3546,6566,21589,645,14164],"class_list":{"0":"post-164191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-docile-matthew","11":"tag-dream","12":"tag-film","13":"tag-group","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-large-part","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-los-angeles-times","18":"tag-losangeles","19":"tag-lurker","20":"tag-movie","21":"tag-oliver","22":"tag-outsider","23":"tag-people","24":"tag-place","25":"tag-russell","26":"tag-story","27":"tag-way"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115067667463225017","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}