Jeremy O. Harris wants his upcoming feature “Erupcja” to inspire rising filmmakers — and perhaps inspire change among distributors.
The Tony winner told Variety that he hopes his secret film “Erupcja” (Polish for “eruption”) with director Pete Ohs could help resurrect the arthouse “micro-budget” films of decades past.
“I’m hoping that what comes from this is a lot more young filmmakers feeling less pressure to have their first, second, third, fourth, fifth feature be the $10 million, $20 million, $30 juggernaut they want with every person that’s like, the most famous person online,” Harris said. “And maybe, you know, something that’s like, truly honest, fun, and unique to them, that’s smaller, that maybe takes a really brave, exciting distributor to jump onto.”
Of course, this one has a pretty famous person online: Charli XCX co-stars with Harris. The two also co-produce.
Harris added, “There’s so much pressure on everyone, especially post-pandemic, to make sure everything is the most financially-viable thing ever. And I fear that if that is the mode by which we’re all making movies, we won’t get another ‘Daughters of the Dust.’ We won’t get another ‘Paris, Texas.’ We won’t get ‘Stranger Than Paradise.’ And I’m hoping that young people, and our peers as well, can see more of the exciting things that are happening in the micro-budget landscape, and say, ‘I can do this.’”
“Erupcja” centers on a “combustible relationship” between two women, traveler Bethany (Charli XCX) and a local Polish resident (Lena Góra). Will Madden also stars. He’s no Jude Law, and that can be a problem in this business.
“On a producer level, for my company, I could invest $30,000 in developing a new script for someone that never gets sold, that never gets made, that sits in development hell for years because we can’t attach Jude Law or Judi Dench to be the lead of it,” Harris said of investing in the indie. “Or I could say, ‘Here’s $30K, let’s literally make something that is an object that we can experiment with.’ It felt like a very important thing for our company to stand behind.”
Singer/songwriter Charli XCX is set to also appear in fellow indie, Gregg Araki’s “I Want Your Sex,” led by Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman. The “Brat” icon additionally will star in Daniel Goldhaber’s remake of 1978 film “Faces of Death” alongside Barbie Ferreira, and Julia Jackman’s graphic novel adaptation “100 Nights of Hero” with Emma Corrin and Maika Monroe. She will be a guest star on Bentio Skinner’s Amazon comedy series “Overcompensating,” and produce original music for the show.
“Charli is an excellent actress,” “Erupcja” director Ohs said. “She is a performer. She understands what it’s like to have a camera pointed at her. She understands how to convey things through all the different ways in which we communicate, whether it’s with body language or your voice or your facial expressions. She had a scene where she cried, without being asked — she could deliver all the goods. She’s a legit actress. I am proud of us for making a movie this way during ‘Brat’ summer.”
