‘Lurker’ Director Alex Russell on Debut Film, Exposing LA Music Scene

When Alex Russell arrived for the first day of shooting his feature directorial debut, “Lurker,” he realized he probably had the least on-set experience of anyone involved.

“I had no idea what I was doing,” admits the 34-year-old writer-director, who got his start in the writers’ room of FX’s “Dave” and then moved up to both penning and producing duties on “The Bear” and “Beef.” But once he started filming the first scene — where the tense drama’s two main characters, played by Théodore Pellerin and Archie Madekwe, meet — Russell breathed a sigh of relief. “That was the only day that I teared up,” he says. “I was like ‘OK, we have a movie.’”

And it turned out to be an acclaimed one, having world-premiered at the Sundance Film Festival — Russell’s first-ever time attending a fest — in January to industry buzz and rave reviews. “It was like the fantasy that you hope for, because people actually liked the movie,” he says. “You can go into that theater and gain or lose anyone — that’s why I was like, shaking up until the last moment.”

“Lurker,” which Russell also wrote, follows a retail employee, Matthew (Pellerin), who becomes part of the inner circle of Oliver (Madekwe), a pop singer on the verge of superstardom. But as he gets closer to the singer, their relationship takes a chilling turn. Russell drew on his own experience being enmeshed in the L.A. music scene for inspiration, and called on some of his friends — like rapper and actor Zack Fox and producer Kenny Beats — to help put together the film, which was in development for around four years.

After selling to “The Substance” distributor Mubi out of Sundance in a competitive situation for a mid-seven-figure price, Russell takes “Lurker” to Berlin Film Festival on Friday for its international debut. Below, the rising director discusses the origins of the film, casting Madekwe and Pellerin and what his next project might be.

What was the origin of “Lurker”?

It was the first week of COVID in 2020 and I had just gotten my first TV writing job and everything had stopped. I was like “OK, here’s my chance to try and write something longer.” And somehow I just did. I think the world stopping allowed me to focus, so I was able to write this draft within a couple months. It was one of those things that just comes out of you — it felt like I was purging something about my surroundings.

Was it always the plan for you to direct the film?

No. It wasn’t even the plan for it to get made. The plan was to get to the end of an 100-page script. And then when there was some interest in the script, I don’t think there were a lot of people who were dying to direct it. The tone of it is pretty specific, so it kinda became an obvious choice for me to do it, even though I had no idea what I was doing. There were people who said I could, and I think it worked out.

The film explores the contentious behavior that goes on in the clout-chasing world of L.A.’s music scene. How did your own experience in that world inspire it?

That’s the large joke of the movie, like, what is the point of this sort of inter-competitive nature in this hierarchy of boys? Obviously this is dramatized, and I don’t think I’ve actually seen any of the stuff in this movie [happen], but it’s within the realm of possibility. I’ve heard people say, “This is the realest thing ever,” and I’ve also heard, “This is so unbelievable.” And I’m like, then you don’t know this world. But I feel that you don’t have to have a specific understanding of this world to understand the dynamics at play. This movie could have taken place at a frat house or in a grad school — anywhere there’s a group of young men who can arbitrarily assemble themselves in an order.

What was your inspiration for Oliver? A few people came to mind: Brockhampton’s Kevin Abstract, Dijon, Rex Orange County, Dominic Fike…

Well, Dijon and Rex Orange County actually wrote one of the songs. It’s definitely a sub-genre, and it’s such an amalgamation of all the people that you’re thinking. There wasn’t a single model for it or a single inspiration. But anyone you’re thinking of is probably in the playlist of Oliver inspirations.

The character was written American. Then when we cast Archie, we were going to do the dialect coach and everything, but then we were just like, “What if he’s British? Does that hurt us?” And we were like, “No, it helps us.” I think Archie being British added this sort of subtle difference between him and everyone else in the group. It showed the power of him in a subtle way, and it also gets us further away from some American artists that people think this is. Even in this sub-genre of DIY pop that Oliver’s making, that is such an amalgam of genres and I think that’s kind of what I was getting at with this character. Like, who is this guy? He’s so modern and of this time, or of 2018, which is the period. I’m sure Archie had his secret, “I’m trying to be like this guy,” or “I’m trying to be the British version of this guy,” and the British part can throw you off the scent of it.

Tell me more about casting “Saltburn” breakout Archie Madekwe as your pop star, Oliver.

For Oliver, it was just so important that you felt both charisma and vulnerability. The movie would have been a little more flat if you just believe he’s an up-and-coming pop star and he’s aloof and whatever, but then we never get past that. But then when you get into the second half and you kind of expose some of his emotions, you really need an actor who can go there. And I kind of just felt that he could. You don’t get to spend that much time deciding, you just have to go off a gut feeling. And I think in real life, he had the charisma. I was in the meeting like, “Wait, does he like me?” So it was like, I’m already leaning in. And that’s such an important aspect of Oliver — the people around him want to be liked by him.

And how about the titular lurker, Théodore Pellerin?

His was actually the first tape I ever saw, coincidentally. And I was amazed by the humanity — maybe that sounds corny — but he’s so expressive and you can see so much in his face and what he’s thinking, and yet it’s a mystery. Like you can see him calculating, but you’re not really sure what he’s going to do next and that is such a big part of the intrigue of this movie. We’ve seen movies like this before, we’ve seen sort of an obsessive individual before, but so much of his performance is unpredictable. Is there a sweetness to him? Do I feel bad for him? Am I rooting for him? Am I feeling betrayed by his actions? Am I relating to him in anyway? And that’s kind of the fun of this movie, really.

There’s also a really fun supporting ensemble, including Zack Fox and Sunny Suljic. How did they get involved?

Zack and I are close personal friends of over a decade, and I always knew I wanted to put him somewhere in this movie. I just knew he would add so much authenticity and humor. He’s like an improv genius — especially if you give him the right starting point, he can make it feel so lived-in and off the cuff. And it was funny because it took a few years to get this movie made and it was like, “OK, now we’re in our 30s, we may just have to acknowledge that he’s the old one in the group.” There’s even a small moment where Matthew’s like, “How old are you?” And I don’t think that would have been in there if we made this movie three or four years ago.

Sunny was such a sort of random but perfect get in that he’s in this L.A. scene, entrenched in it. So he totally understands everything that’s going on in the movie. I think I was a little weary of him being a child star; I was like, I should feel this out. But actually Archie was the one who brought him up as an idea for the role. He was in a music video with Sunny a couple months before, I think for Zach Bryan. So we met up at an iHop in Hollywood and he had chains on and he’s wearing all his own clothes and I was like, “This kid is a superstar — he may not be humble enough to play this Jamie character.” But then the more I talked to him I was like, this kid is super humble and nice and very well adjusted for how Hollywood his life is. He just turned out to be the sweetest boy ever and everyone loved him. You might have an expectation of how he’s going to be, and then he’s just so sweet and it’s kind of disarming. As an actor, I feel like this is his first role as an adult, you know? And he really stepped up to it.

Kenny Beats did both the original music and score for the film. What was the process like working with him?

I’ve known Kenny forever. We always wanted to work together on something like this, and it was so perfectly timed. He was so ready to score a movie. I was so lucky that I just had this friend who I knew could make the perfect version of this sub-genre of songs and we could give him the opportunity to make a score that felt unique and new. Kenny can just create any song in any genre at any time, so it was laughably shorthand when I was like, “Can you make a few songs for Archie?” And two days later, the songs that were in the movie were done and I didn’t really have to explain anything. I was like, you know what kind of music he makes.

He brought in all of these other great musicians and writers and instrumentalists. There’s real strings in this movie. But it was all super like, “Pull up to the studio,” in the same way that he would build rap songs. Like, “Alright, let’s get three violinists to the studio, tell them pull up right now. Tell the oboe to pull up,” which is very funny. But if something didn’t feel right, he would be so quick to come up with something else that did. He was very gracious in serving the feeling of the movie, rather than trying to do the coolest thing.

“Lurker” ended up in a competitive bidding situation out of Sundance. What made you go with Mubi?

I just had great creative conversations with them and I think they understood to position this movie as something that’s more interesting and more complex than you would expect. I think that’s a lot of people’s feeling walking out of it, and a lot of reviews indicate that too. I also think Mubi, as a distributor, is at a really interesting point. They can really push a new voice and support a filmmaker, especially in a post-“Substance” era. And they really believe in the movie, and I think you want to work with the people whose interpretation of the material is in the realm of what your intention was. So that will shine through in the marketing, down to the trailer. I could see a distributor wanting to pretend this is a horror movie and trick the audience in a way. It’s a unique tone — it is very tense and suspenseful, but it maybe is not going to the places of violence that you might expect.

What’s next for you?

I’m going to write all this year and then see what comes out of it. I didn’t have to learn too many lessons the hard way on this first one, so I feel like on the next one everything could go wrong. But I’ll be more prepared for it. Now that I understand what directing is, the next one can be kind of fucked. I mean, hopefully they’ll let me do another one. I just found my tone with this, so I think the next one would be probably an evolution of a similar sensibility. I don’t want to run away from that.

This interview has been edited and condensed.