Surprise! Charli XCX’s Brat Summer Also Included Secretly Filming Her Dramatic Debut in a Movie Called ‘Erupcja’
Charli XCX told us that in order to properly embrace “Brat Summer” you need to be a little chaotic and “trashy.” But between dropping her Brat album in June, then cueing up the all-star deluxe edition, Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat version (due out on Oct. 11), co-executive producing the soundtrack for the movie Mother Mary and launching her Sweat Tour with Troy Sivan on Sept. 14, the 32-year old singer/songwriter has been anything but messy so far this year.
In fact, she’s been super productive and totally focused. Case in point: did you know that Charli filmed her debut movie role in director Pete Oh’s upcoming drama ERUPCJA? According to Variety, Charlie popped over to Poland for a few weeks in August to film her co-starring role in the drama that also features playwright/actor Jeremy O. Harris (Slave Play) and Lena Góra (Imago). The film reportedly explores the volatile relationship between two women — the title is the Polish word for “eruption” — Góra and XCX (whose character is named Bethany) on the latter’s visit to Warsaw.
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How is it possible to film a whole movie that co-stars the singer whose whole aesthetic was copped by Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign? It kind of isn’t, according to director Ohs. “[Charli] definitely got recognized a bunch of times,” Ohs said. “She was always really sweet. She took selfies with many a Polish fan.”
Co-star Harris said those photos are how their “secret project” got leaked. “I had a gut feeling that our plan to keep it low key was going to be difficult,” he said. “And that was affirmed the first night I went out in Poland. We were staying at the Nobu Hotel, and that’s close to the queer section, so I walked over to a gay bar, and there was a sign advertising a ‘Brat’ party.”
Harris said when the production moved to a nightclub to film a scene it was “almost impossible” to get it done because of the buzz about the “365” singer. “Every single person in the club was like, ‘Oh my god, Charli XCX is here to do a secret performance.’ And it was like, ‘She is, but not the one you think,'” he said. “We were shooting the same week Obama put her on his playlist as well, which is hilarious.”
Ohs also explained how he roped the pop star into one of his signature seat-of-your-pants productions, which are shot in order and written as they go along, with dialogue often conjured the day before, or morning of, filming. Before Charli dropped Brat in May, she bumped into Ohs and Harris — who had previously worked together on the HBO doc Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play – at a bar in New York’s Lower East Side at 3 a.m., where Harris introduced her to Ohs.
After Harris described Ohs’ unique filmmaking process to Charli, the director said she responded, “‘I want to do one,'” to which he replied, “‘What are you doing in August? Want to come to Warsaw?”
Charli then reportedly DM’d Ohs the next day and said she was in. “The way he talked about making his films felt akin to making an album and the chance meeting also felt equivalent to the conversational and spontaneous nature of his film making,” Charli emailed Variety about working with Ohs. “Our processes felt linked in some kind of way and it felt right and exciting to pursue some kind of collaboration.”
Those pre-production chats also reportedly included Charli’s suggestion that she play against her brash, unapologetic persona. “She was like, ‘I think it should be completely not me. I feel like I could play super shy,’” Ohs said. “So we’re talking like, Charli XCX is completely unrecognizable as Bethany.”
Ohs added that, “Charli is an excellent actress. 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.”
According to Variety, the film is the first in an upcoming string of big screen roles for Charli, which will also include Greg Araki’s erotic thriller “I Want Your Sex” with Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman, a remake of 1978’s documentary-style horror film Faces of Death, as well as Julia Jackman’s graphic novel adaptation 100 Nights of Hero. She is also producing original music for the Amazon comedy series Overcompensating.
The Brat remix album due out on Friday will have reimagined tracks featuring Robyn and Yung Lean, Ariana Grande, the 1975, Troye Sivan, Addison Rae, Lorde, Tinashe, Bon Iver and Billie Eilish, among others.
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