Charli xcx Says The Moment Film Isn t Seeking Petty Revenge” on Anyone | THR Studio at Park City

This isn't sort of my, like, petty revenge on people who harassed me. Although it'd be great if I went that far and made a whole movie just for that reason. But I would say, you know, the characters and the events that happen in the film are not based on actual things that happened. Also, legally, that is the case. Actually, what was the very first thing that this movie started with? Was it an IRL conversation? Was it a text, like, between you guys? What was, like... It was a text, I think. Yes, I think so, yeah. We'd shot this music video for a song of mine called 360. And in that, Aidan wrote his first... My first ever script. Ever script, yeah. It was two pages long. And it was amazing. It was incredible. And it was when he did that, I was like, oh, he's got a movie in him. And that was the beginning of everything, basically. You should... You know how you can, like, release scripts of films? You should release the script of 360. I think I posted it on my Instagram. Make it a little book. Yeah, a two-page book. Yeah, yeah. Pamphlet, I suppose would be the term. How do you... Okay, so then, did you use the same system? Because I think for 360, did you just, like, texted your friends being like, I think you'd be good in this. Do you want to be in the video? Is that sort of like... It was a case-by-case, actually, wasn't it? Yes, but essentially, that was sort of kind of how it came about, yeah. But it was a different process with this. Yes, well, how did it, I imagine, evolve? We actually got a professional... Wait, Jennifer Menditti, right? Yeah, Oscar nominee to Jennifer Menditti. Yeah. Yes. Did you have to convince her? Did she say yes right away? Jen was down from the jump. Jen was actually one of the first people, one of our first collaborators on the project before we were actually officially greenlit, I believe. Jen was on board because, you know, the casting process takes, you know, a bit of extra time. Genuinely, before the script was even finished, Jen was on board. Yeah, and her process and the way that she casts, it was just so perfect for the way that we wanted to shoot this film, you know, blending fiction with reality. And, you know, she really likes to work with people who already, in part at least, inhabit the character that they're playing. And so she kind of pretty much brought everybody here into... the world of the moment. And yeah, she's just so brilliant. And I know a lot of the cast are already pretty friendly with her. I mean, you guys are very close. Yeah. And she was like, Mel's going to be perfect. Did you guys get a choice between whether you were playing a version of yourself or a fully fictional character? I think there were some people written in as themselves. Of course, we've got Rachel Sennett, we've got Kylie Jenner, and then all the other roles really, you know, went to people, wouldn't look for people that could inhabit the roles perfectly. You know, say, for example, we've got Mel Lautenberg over here, who plays a character called Mel. I was like, my character's named Mel, because I lived this script. When I read it, I was like, this script's so great. And I've lived every line of this with a top of their game pop star. I've lived this moment. So, Mel. Exactly. And it really was, you know, I think what's so fantastic about that process with casting is that we're able to work with people that have this understanding of the world. So every choice they make feels informed, you know. Particularly in the case of Mel, when we shot scenes that, you know, it was a stylist and a pop star working together, you knew the background. You know, there was no, yeah, it was like the research. It was a lifetime of research. It was a cathartic experience. And I told them some horror stories on set that I never tell anyone. Was it triggering? No, it was fun. It was actually really fun. And they were so fun to work with. It was so fun. And I told them ---- I never tell anyone about, like, stories, like, behind. Don't, you bring that up, and then I'm going to ask you a lot of NDAs. A lot of NDAs. Mel brings an NDA with him every week. Okay, fair. For the other actors, what, like, did anything, what felt the most familiar to you guys of what you've experienced? Like, in business, in the industry, was there anything, whether your character or something else? Well, in a weird twist of fate, actually, so they sent us the scene for my character. The audition scene was to play Charlie's manager. But, obviously, that went to Jamie, and he's so brilliant, and it's wonderful to watch him work. But, you know, when we got to the read-through, I had no idea that the part I was playing as part of the label boys would be amongst Rish and Ben, who are my actual friends in real life. So, the fabric of our sort of mockumentary role was our very friendship. So, that was a surprise, rocking up and seeing your mates that you'd be playing your... We didn't even know that you guys knew each other. It was really fated. It was so cool. And then you had this amazing dynamic. It was great. Yeah. And I remember, yeah, I remember the audition scene. I fell in love with you immediately. I just remember the language of the audition was, like, so lived in. So, it was really fun to play something so grounded that it just felt of today. Yeah, so it was really easy to draw from that. I think the set as well. We shot our scene in a studio that I've been in for fashion shoots. I'm not an actress. Yes, you are. You are now. I know. I'm a star. So, that was kind of trippy coming in and working for Vogue, which is something I've done. So, that felt natural. I'm not a producer. That's not... I'm not a type A person. But I am very neurotic. So, that lent itself. I've been playing this character my entire life, which is a hammed up version of myself. So, Josette came very naturally to me. But there was the improv that I say when we had a sort of weird fight of your muggler bag. I was like, I would never call it muggler. But I thought Josette would. Yeah, I thought it was an amazing choice that you called it muggler. I mean, brilliant. I should have been. Tesh would know how to pronounce that. Gosh, genius. She's acting. Coming from the world of publications, what about the production of a movie most stood out to you? Like, what was the... Yeah. Like, what do you wish we had in magazines that they have in filmmaking? Craft services, maybe? Or budget. Yeah, budget. Money. What is... I guess the thing to me, coming from publications, I'm the editor of a magazine, you get to sit around and really finesse it and take a bunch of takes to do it. Like, when you're making a magazine, you talk about it a lot, but then you go on set and you just do it fast. And I thought that here it was fun, that it was really planned, but it was still so fun. We were improvising and it was really scripted and it was just... They just did such a good job. We just really had it together. Yeah, the framework was such that all of our microphones were exposed. So, on the very first day, we didn't even see a camera. Like, Sean Price Williams was on a building across the street. Oh, yeah. We're like, where's the film being made? And he's like, don't worry, it's being recorded, it's all good, just do your thing. So, this is a crazy way to make a film. Yeah. I forgot I was mic'd, which was actually very dangerous. Yeah, the heart mic. Mel and I were sort of having a little chat before our scene and then afterwards, we realised that everybody could hear it, potentially, which is, back to the 80s, troubling. It almost felt like doing a play, just because we were handheld the whole time. So, you just had the freedom to sort of move around and do what you wanted. I remember the first scene that we shot, I was kind of walking outside of the parking lot of it and I asked, I was like, am I going too far for Cameron? He's like, you can go wherever you want, I'll follow you. I was like, this is so weird. It was very freeing and we felt quite free to do whatever. But it's not what you have in a mic scene. That felt like a really large part of the success of the film was to sort of make it, you know, the challenge being that we have something completely scripted that we want it to feel, you know, not staged, to feel spontaneous and accidental. So, it's like, that was, you know, that was the testament to these performances and also to the way that we tried to shoot it, which was, you know, keep that aliveness, keep that energy and that sort of feeling of spontaneity as much as we could, you know. Okay, Charlie, I know obviously there's a lot of satire based on like real stuff that happens in the business. Maybe you'll have an answer to this more after it like releases wide, but do you think people who do some of the stuff that wound up in the movie recognize themselves? Like, are you going to have people being like, oh, I totally did that to you or like, oh, that happened at a photo shoot or people do things better now after seeing it? We have all met, I think, all of us here, versions of certain types of characters that live within this film. For example, Alexander Skarsgård's character, he is, I've never worked with somebody like the character that he plays. He plays this concert film director who, his main goal is to kind of make me as sort of commercially viable as possible, sort of strip away anything that might be deemed too daring or edgy and really sell the product of the product being me. I've not worked with someone like that, but I definitely have been around people who are so confident that they get it when actually they really ******* don't. Do you know what I mean? And I think those characters live probably within all of our worlds, within fashion, music, within film. It's like, we're always coming across those kinds of archetypes of people. So I think there's a lot of that living within the film. That makes sense. Okay, before we wrap, I've been throwing out a few recurring questions to groups and I'm going to give you guys this one because I feel like you'll have better answers than other people have, which is, like, what are some of your ins and outs for 2026? Like, what are we getting rid of? What are we bringing in? We need inspiration. I can all go. All of it, everything's out. Everything's out. So you're in a whole new society? Not to be that person, but ins and outs-less are out. I'm just like, everyone just do their thing, like, you know, whatever. Do you know what I mean? I'm sorry. No, I think that was... You better have something to say right now. I mean, please. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. I just see them every year and, you know, every, sort of, in December, I'm like, oh, should I think about doing one of them? And then I don't. And then I'm always happy that I don't. So for me, they're out. What do you think? Well, now I agree, obviously. I think metal might be in. Also, I'm trying not to be an asshole. And also, I'm not into ins and outs-less. So out, ins and outs-less, and metal. We can work with that. That one's great. Okay, thank you guys so much for chatting. I appreciate it.