Lurker’s cast on the perils of standom

Directed by Beef and The Bear writer Alex Russell, Lurker is a true-to-life examination of fame and the hierarchies it instills in friendship groups. Archie Madekwe (Midsommar, Saltburn) plays Oliver, a Dominic Fike-like alt/R&B musician based in Los Angeles who surrounds himself with stylists, videographers, and managers whose main job it seems is to massage his ego. One day at a clothing store he's served by Matthew (an excellently slippery Théodore Pellerin) whose flattery earns him an invitation to hang out. What ensues is a twisty depiction of a ruthless outsider doing everything in their power to climb the ladder of this inner circle and fend off those he sees as threats to his position.

The movie is cutting in its execution, speaking to the perils of standom and the parasocial bonds forged between artist and fan without coming down too heavily on either side. Oliver is manipulative and slippery, leading Matthew on at times and pushing him away when it suits him. Matthew, blurring the line between obsessive fan and toxic saboteur, becomes increasingly merciless in his efforts to remain part of the crew. Lots of movies have grasped at capturing fame in the modern era but few embody the fake-it-till-you-make-it nature of fame by proximity, as well as the insecurities that come with it, as viscerally as Lurker.

Russell, a former FADER contributor, leaned on his personal experience working alongside Brockhampton (he co-wrote the short film Billy Star with Kevin Abstract) while penning Lurker. The realism of the film was also aided by cast member Zack Fox, who turned his real-life shows into a setting for Oliver’s concerts. Producer Kenny Beats was called on to score the action while original songs for Oliver were written by artists including Dijon and Madeweke’s former school friend Rex Orange County.

Ahead of the movie’s arrival in theaters (August 22), Alex Russell, Archie Madekwe, and Théodore Pellerin spoke to The FADER about the neediness of famous people, celebrity as religion, and what it takes to accurately portray a musician on screen.

The FADER: Alex, what have you observed in your life that made you think that the world of hangers-on and entourages are a rich territory for a movie?

Alex Russell: I have seen it play out so many times in Hollywood but I have been seeing these dynamics back in high school or college. Whenever there is a group of boys, fraternities or things like that, an alpha tends to emerge. I think this was just sort of a very accessible scenario for people to understand who is at the top and who is on the outside looking in. With music, even if you're just paying attention online, you can see the battles for proximity. It's kind of funny to watch as the gravitational pull shifts. You might see one artist’s hangers on start to move on to someone else.

Oliver and Matthew are both quite lonely people. To what extent do they view fame, and the attention that brings, as a way of filling that void in their life?

Russell: Matthew, through his proximity to Oliver, becomes his own niche celebrity, where people now are recognising him for his proximity to someone else. It’s the same way that it’s somewhat normalised to see someone online brag about how, like, Taylor Swift or whoever saw their IG story. It just shows how much people are obsessed.

To me, they feel like they're at different ends of the same spectrum of loneliness that leads them to manipulation and trying to implement things and make things work for them. It's just that one has the power and one is kind of running after it. And then the power shifts.

Archie, what steps did you take to prepare for your role as a musician?

Archie Madekwe: I tried to speak to as many musicians as possible. I wanted to try to work out what it was like backstage, downtime, headspace, lonely moments, etc. I tried to anchor myself with as many British musicians as possible. So Loyle Carner and Rex Orange County, who were friends of mine from school. Rex was the template for me as a British expat in L.A.

I think that the only way that I was able to avoid making him a caricature was to not really think about the musician element of it. I was really just thinking about this strange alpha dynamic and being that kind of person who was calling the shots and feeling like he had the power. He's around a lot of "yes" people and maybe not real friends and oftentimes that draws a quite negative part of his personality out. But in quiet moments, the moment where you see Matthew and Oliver bonding and talking, I think that's an earnest version of him and a version that maybe a friend, if those real friends existed, might see. It's not a state that he gets to inhabit much.

Matthew can come off as quite unsympathetic in a lot of ways. I wondered if you could talk to me about the ways in which you see him as being more vulnerable than his actions in the movie.

TP: I actually don't think that I always need to find a character as sympathetic. I kind of love characters that are sticky. It's more the context of him that I found moving. The need to belong to something and share a sense of intimacy with someone. To me he doesn’t just have an obsessive idea about becoming famous or becoming successful. It’s more of a desire to live a life that is worth living. That can take you down a strange path sometimes.

He lives with his grandma, he's biking around L.A. and now he's in contact with that world where money isn't an issue. And there's a great sense of freedom in many aspects. He becomes a character that is an exaggerated or maybe even satirical version of someone who's latching onto something and desperately trying to survive.