“I Saw the TV Glow” director Jane Schoenbrun finally celebrated their second feature at the film‘s New York City premiere on Wednesday, April 24, in partnership with Rooftop Films. But “I Saw the TV Glow” first premiered back in January at Sundance, under the banner of A24, and with Emma Stone and Dave McCary’s production company Fruit Tree.
“I sent it to [Fruit Tree] and a couple other people, and they were like, ‘Hey, we wanna work with you,’” Schoenbrun told IndieWire. “Then I got a call from Emma Stone who was like, ‘Thank you so much for your business,’ and I was like, ‘You’re welcome!’”
The visually striking film follows two teens who are obsessed with a disturbing young adult TV show that, once canceled, starts to bleed into reality for the characters. David Ehrlich wrote in IndieWire’s review that the film “marries the queer radicality of a Gregg Araki film with the lush intoxication of a Gregory Crewdson photo.”
“I feel like ‘Mysterious Skin’ was all over my lookbook for this movie,” Schoenbrun said of being inspired by Araki. “His films are just like the queer fucked-up teenage dreams that I wish I had in my youth. I didn’t discover his films until a little bit later. They’re very, very important to me.”
“I think I draw a lot of influences from across film history,” Schoenbrun said. “I’m like a true nerd. I spent the first couple decades of my life just staring at screens, which is kind of what the movie is about. I think this particular movie is sort of my attempt at the teen angst, weird video store genre of my youth, so like the ‘Donnie Darko’ of the world or what I was trying to conjure here. It’s also a movie that’s deeply inspired by my love of WB soap opera TV shows from the late 90s.”
Stars Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine had nothing but praise for Schoenbrun, even for a film that deals with such eerie and traumatic subject matter. “Jane has a beautiful way of making films that get under your skin, creating a vibe that even when you don’t understand it logically, you can feel it viscerally,” Smith told IndieWire. “I’m always in awe of Jane’s ability to make art that shakes you, that’s a really admirable quality.”
“I’ve learned so much from Jane,” Lundy-Paine told IndieWire. “Jane is a genius who exists in multiple universes and dimensions all at once. I think one of the best things I’ve learned from Jane is Cat Power’s album ‘Moon Pix.’ That’s my favorite album.”
We’re long awaiting the day when we can deep dive into Jane Schoenbrun’s Spotify listening history. With Clairo and Ethel Cain blaring through the premiere’s speakers ahead of the screening, their taste on the soundtrack is eclectic and wide-ranging, including the likes of Alex G, Caroline Polachek, Phoebe Bridgers, and Snail Mail. Better yet, the latter two even appear onscreen.
“I got a casting email saying, ‘You look like the character that we pictured for this,’” Lindsey Jordan, better known by her stage name Snail Mail, told IndieWire. Jordan, who makes her onscreen debut, said she would “love to be an actress.”
“I know for a fact that this crew and everyone involved is a special situation,” Jordan said. “Everyone was particularly cool and nice and interesting where I think, like, from what I heard, that was like a nontraditional experience and everyone just couldn’t have been nicer and couldn’t have been cooler.”
Not only does she play a pivotal part in the film, Jordan also contributed to the soundtrack, which she said stemmed from a certain tattoo. “I have this Smashing Pumpkins tattoo,” Jordan said. “I’m a film fan, I’m an indie rock fan, and on the tour that we were on when I got cast, we were already doing this Smashing Pumpkins cover, and it just lined up perfectly. A lot of the imagery in the movie is based off [the album] ‘Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.’ Everything was very serendipitous. I feel like part of the reason I got the role was because I had this tat.”
Snail Mail isn’t the only musician who contributed to the soundtrack and appeared in the film: Enter Phoebe Bridgers. “Phoebe’s lovely,” Schoenbrun told IndieWire. “It was such an honor to have her on set because I love her music and love her. I think her music obsessions are my music obsessions. Having her in this teen angst movie just felt so right. She was wonderful to have, I think she’s a great performer.”
“I’m working on my next album,” Snail Mail tells us. “I could put out a record in like three months with a gun to my head, but I think, realistically, it will be a while. I feel really good about everything. I think it’s banger after banger after banger.”
As for what’s next for Justice Smith, he was most recently cast in “Now You See Me 3.” “I read a script, and I met with Ruben [Fleischer], the director, and he told me his vision for it, and now I’m excited to learn some magic,” Smith, who will star alongside Dominic Sessa, said. “We’re supposed to go to a show in Vegas. We have texted but [I] haven’t talked to him in person.”
“I Saw the TV Glow” premieres May 3 in theaters from A24. Check out the trailer here.
