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  • 4 days ago
Star and producer Charli XCX, director/writer Aidan Zamiri and cast members Trew Mullen, Mel Ottenberg, Tish Weinstock and Michael Workéyè stopped by the THR Studio at Park City to talk all about how their mockumentary film 'The Moment' came to be and how it blends fiction with reality. The cast also opened up about auditioning for the movie and the unique and "freeing" experience of filming it.

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Transcript
00:00This isn't sort of my, like, petty revenge on people who have grown up to me.
00:05Although it'd be great if I went that far and made a whole movie just for that reason.
00:08But, no, I would say, you know, the characters and the events that happen in the film
00:15are not based on actual things that happened.
00:19Also, legally, that is the case.
00:24Actually, what was the very first thing that this movie started with?
00:28Was it an IRL conversation?
00:30Was it a text, like, between you guys?
00:32What was, like...
00:33It was a text, I think.
00:35Yes, I think so, yeah.
00:36We'd shot this music video for a song of mine called 360.
00:41And in that, Aidan wrote his first...
00:44Yeah, my first ever script.
00:45Ever script, yeah.
00:47It was two pages long.
00:48And it was amazing.
00:49It was incredible.
00:51And it was, when he did that, I was like, oh, he's got a movie in him.
00:54And that was the beginning of everything, basically.
00:59You should...
00:59You know how you can, like, release scripts of films?
01:02You should release the script of 360.
01:03I think I posted it on my Instagram.
01:05Make it a little book.
01:06Yeah.
01:06Yeah, yeah.
01:07A two-page book.
01:08Yeah.
01:10Pamphlet, I suppose, would be the term.
01:11How do you...
01:12Okay, so then, did you use the same system?
01:14Because I think for 360, did you just, like, texted your friends being like,
01:18I think you'd be good in this.
01:18Do you want to be in the video?
01:20Is that sort of, like...
01:21Yes, but essentially, that was sort of kind of how it came about.
01:27Yeah, but it was a different process with this.
01:30Yes, well, how did it, I imagine, evolve?
01:32Yes.
01:33We actually got a profession...
01:34Wait, Jennifer Venditti, right?
01:36Oscar nominee to Jennifer Venditti.
01:38Yeah.
01:38Woo!
01:39Yeah, Jennifer.
01:40Yes.
01:41Did you have to convince her?
01:42Did she say yes right away?
01:43Jen was down from the jump.
01:44Jen was actually one of the first people, one of our first collaborators on the project
01:49before we were actually officially greenlit, I believe, Jen was on board,
01:52because, you know, the casting process takes, you know, a bit of extra time.
01:55So I think before the script, genuinely before the script was even finished,
01:58Jen was on board, which was really cool.
01:59And her process and the way that she casts, it was just so perfect for the way
02:07that we wanted to shoot this film, you know, blending fiction with reality.
02:13And, you know, she really likes to work with people who already, in part, at least,
02:18inhabit the character that they're playing.
02:21And so she kind of pretty much brought everybody here into the world of the moment.
02:27And, yeah, she's just so brilliant.
02:28And I know a lot of the cast are already pretty, like, friendly with her.
02:33I mean, you guys are very close.
02:34Yeah.
02:35You and her.
02:35Yeah.
02:36And she was like, Mel's going to be perfect for this.
02:38Did you guys get a choice between whether you were playing a version of yourself
02:43or a fictional, a fully fictional character?
02:46No, I think there were some people written in as themselves, of course.
02:50We've got Rachel Sennett, we've got Kylie Jenner.
02:53And then all the other roles really, you know, went to people,
02:57would look for people that could inhabit those roles perfectly.
03:01You know, say, for example, we've got Mel Lautenberg over here
03:04who plays a character called Mel.
03:06I was like, my character's name Mel.
03:08Because I've lived this script.
03:09When I read it, I was like, this script's so great.
03:11And I've lived every line of this with a top-of-their-game pop star.
03:17I've lived this moment.
03:19So, Mel.
03:20Exactly.
03:21And it really was, you know, I think what's so fantastic about that process with casting
03:26is that we're able to work with people that have this understanding of the world
03:30so every choice they make feels informed, you know?
03:33Particularly in the case of Mel.
03:34When we shot scenes that, you know, it was a stylist and a pop star working together,
03:39you knew the background, you know?
03:42There was no, yeah, it was like the research, it was a lifetime of research, eh?
03:46It was a cathartic experience.
03:48And I told them some horror stories on set that, like, I never tell anyone.
03:52Was it triggering?
03:53No, it was fun.
03:54It was actually really fun.
03:55They were so fun to work with, it was so fun.
03:57And I told them shit I never tell anyone.
03:59About, like, stories, like, behind.
04:01Don't, you bring that up and then I'm going to ask you a question.
04:04A lot of NDAs.
04:05A lot of NDAs.
04:06Mel brings an NDA with them every week.
04:08Okay, fair.
04:10For the other actors, what, like, did anything, what felt the most familiar to you guys of what you've experienced,
04:18like, in business, in the industry?
04:20Was there anything, whether your character or something else?
04:22Well, in a weird twist of fate, actually.
04:24So, they sent us the scene for my character.
04:27The audition scene was to play Charlie's manager.
04:29But, obviously, that went to Jamie, and he's so brilliant, and it's wonderful to watch him work.
04:34But, you know, when we got to the read-through, I had no idea that the part I was playing as part of the Labour Boys would be amongst Rish and Ben,
04:42who are my actual friends in real life.
04:44So, the fabric of our, sort of, mockumentary role was our very friendship.
04:50So, that was a surprise, rocking up and seeing your mates that you'd be playing your...
04:53We didn't even know that you guys knew each other.
04:54It was really fated.
04:56It was so cool.
04:57And it meant that you had this amazing dynamic as a group.
04:59Yeah.
05:00And I remember, yeah, I remember the audition you sent and fell in love with you immediately.
05:03It was...
05:03Mm-hmm.
05:04I just remember the language of the audition was, like, so lived in.
05:07So, it was really fun to play.
05:09Yeah.
05:09Play something so grounded that it just felt of today.
05:14Yeah.
05:14So, it was really easy to drop into that.
05:16Yeah.
05:17Cool.
05:17I think the set, as well, we shot our scene in a studio that I've been in for fashion shoes.
05:24I'm not an actress.
05:26Yes, you are.
05:26You are.
05:27You are now.
05:28I am a doctor.
05:29I know.
05:30I'm a star.
05:32So, that was kind of trippy coming in and working for Vogue, which is something I've done.
05:37So, that felt natural.
05:39I'm not a producer.
05:40That's not.
05:41I'm not a type A person.
05:42But I am very neurotic, so that lent itself.
05:45I've been playing this character my entire life, which is a hammed up version of myself.
05:50So, that came very naturally to me.
05:53But there was the improv that I slightly, when we had a sort of weird fight of your muggler,
06:00muggler bag.
06:00Yeah.
06:01I was like, I would never call it muggler.
06:03Obviously.
06:03But I thought Josette would.
06:04Yeah, I thought it was an amazing choice that you called it muggler.
06:07I mean, oh, brilliant.
06:09I should have.
06:10And I was like, oh, Tess would know how to pronounce it.
06:13Of course, a genius.
06:14Oh, she's a genius.
06:15Exactly.
06:16Exactly.
06:16Coming from the world of publications, what about the production of a movie, like, most stood
06:20out to you?
06:21Like, what was the...
06:23What's the film definitely?
06:24Yeah, yeah.
06:25Like, what do you wish we had in magazines that they have in filmmaking?
06:30Ooh.
06:30Craft services, maybe?
06:31More budget.
06:32Yeah, budget.
06:33Money.
06:34Yeah.
06:34What is...
06:36I guess the thing to me, coming from publications, I'm the editor of a magazine, you get to sit
06:42around and really finesse it and take a bunch of takes to do it.
06:47Like, when you're making a magazine, you talk about it a lot, but then you go on set and
06:49you just do it fast and I felt that here it was fun, that it was really planned, but
06:55it was still so fun and...
06:58We were improvising and it was really scripted and it was just...
07:02They just did such a good job.
07:04Like, it was...
07:05It just really had it together.
07:07Yeah, the framework was such that all of our microphones were exposed.
07:10So on the very first day, we didn't even see a camera.
07:12Like, Sean Price Williams was on a building across the street.
07:15Oh, yeah.
07:15And we're like, well, where's the film being made?
07:17Hayden's like, don't worry, it's being recorded.
07:19It's all good.
07:20Just do your thing.
07:21It's like, this is a crazy way to make a film.
07:24Yeah.
07:24I forgot I was mic'd, which was actually very dangerous.
07:27Yeah, the hot mic.
07:28Mel and I were sort of having a little chat before our scene and then afterwards, we realised
07:35that everybody could hear it potentially, which is back to those 90s.
07:39It's troubling.
07:41It almost felt like doing a play just because we were handheld the whole time so you just
07:46had the freedom to sort of move around and do what you wanted.
07:49I remember, like, the first scene that we shot, I was kind of, like, walking outside of the
07:54parking lot a bit and I asked him, I was like, am I going too far for camera?
07:57And he's like, you can go wherever you want, I'll follow you.
07:59I was like, this is so nice.
08:01Every time, Sean would be like, do whatever you want.
08:03Yeah.
08:03I'll find you, I'll find you.
08:05It was very, like, freeing and we felt quite free to do whatever.
08:09Totally.
08:10Which is not what you have at a magazine.
08:11That felt like a really large part of, like, the success of the film was to sort of make
08:15it, you know, the challenge being that we have something completely scripted that we
08:19wanted to feel, you know, not staged, to feel spontaneous and accidental.
08:24So it was like, that was, you know, that was the testament to these guys' amazing
08:28performances and also to the way that we tried to shoot it, which was, you know, keep that
08:33aliveness, keep that energy and that sort of feeling of spontaneity as much as we could,
08:38you know?
08:40Okay, Charlie, I know obviously there's a lot of satire based on, like, real stuff that
08:43happens in the business.
08:44Maybe you'll have an answer to this more after it, like, releases wide, but do you think
08:49people who do some of the stuff that wound up in the movie recognize themselves?
08:52Like, are you going to have people being like, ooh, I totally did that to you?
08:55Or like, oh, that happened at a photo shoot?
08:56Or people do things better now after seeing it?
08:59We have all met, I think, all of us here, versions of certain types of characters that
09:05live within this film.
09:06For example, Alexander Skarsgård's character, he is, I've never worked with somebody like
09:12the character that he plays.
09:14He plays this concert film director who, his main goal is to kind of make me as sort of
09:22commercially viable as possible to sort of strip away anything that might be deemed too
09:27daring or edgy and really sell the product.
09:30And the product being me.
09:32I've not worked with someone like that.
09:33But I definitely have been around people who are so confident that they get it when actually,
09:42they really fucking don't.
09:43Do you know what I mean?
09:44And I think those characters live probably within all of our worlds within fashion, music,
09:49within film.
09:50It's like we're always coming across those kind of archetypes of people.
09:53So I think there's a lot of that living within the film.
09:57That makes sense.
09:57OK, before we wrap, I've been throwing out a few recurring questions to groups and I'm
10:02going to give you guys this one because I feel like you'll have better answers than
10:05other people have, which is like, what are what are some of your ins and outs for 2026?
10:11Like, what are we getting rid of?
10:12What are we bringing in?
10:13We need we need inspiration.
10:14We can all go.
10:15All of it.
10:16It's all out.
10:17Everything's out.
10:18Everything's out.
10:19So you're in a whole new society.
10:20Not to be that person, but ins and outs lists are out.
10:25I'm just like, everyone just do your thing.
10:28Like, you know, whatever.
10:31Do you know what I mean?
10:32Sorry, but you go ahead and say, oh, I mean, please, yeah, I don't know.
10:39I just see them every year and, you know, every sort of in December, I'm like, oh, should
10:45I think about doing one of them?
10:47And then I don't.
10:48And then I'm always happy that I don't.
10:49So for me, they're out personally.
10:52I don't know.
10:53What do you think?
10:53Well, now I agree, obviously.
10:55I think metal might be in.
10:57Just like generally, lots of metal.
10:59Also, I'm trying not to be an asshole.
11:01And also, I don't I'm not into ins and outs lists.
11:05I don't like them.
11:05Right, right.
11:06So out ins and outs lists and metal.
11:09Yay.
11:12We can work with that.
11:12That one's great.
11:13OK, thank you guys so much for chatting.
11:16I appreciate it.
11:20Thank you very much.
11:22We'll.
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