From TikTok to the Big Screen With Jonas Gindin

How did you get involved with Lurker?

I remember reading the sides and this sounds cringe because I don’t even have a name in it. But I remember reading it, and I was like, “This feels like one of my videos.”  This feels like me just going up and glazing the main character. You know what I mean? [Laughs.] I knew I could do a good job at this self-tape because it felt very similar to the tone of my videos.

I got an email from my manager at the time and it said something like, “They want to make sure you’re available.”  I didn’t book it yet, but it was something like that. Then my friend that knows Alex, the director, was like, “Yeah, my friend Alex said he’s casting you in his movie.” I didn’t believe it until my manager sent me an offer. But once I got it, I was stoked because this have been my dream since I was 16, even if it’s a small role, and it was awesome. 

How did it feel once it was official? 

I was excited mainly because it’s Alex. He’s worked on Beef and The Bear. So I knew it was going to be good. This isn’t just going to be some movie people forget about. Glenn Powell said something one time like, “It's better to be a bench player on a championship team than the star on something no one's gonna watch.” It's such a great movie that I’m just happy I got to be a part of it even in a small way.

I wanted to talk about your role. Your title is “curious fan,” and it's at this very strange moment in the movie. We've seen Matt interact with Oliver and all his friends for a couple of days. Oliver follows him on Instagram, and then his Instagram notifications just start going crazy. People are recognizing him out in the street, but your character doesn't even know, really, what he does. 

Yeah. I mean, I live in L.A., so I feel like you meet a lot of people like that that are in the mix and they have followers and stuff, but you don't really understand what they do. And you ask them and they’re like, “Yeah, I’m a creative director.” What does that even mean? People like that usually come from money, but Matthew’s, like, broke. 

How did you feel like the movie really captured sort of what it's like being a young creative in L.A.?

I don't even see myself as someone that’s crazy accomplished. But you'll meet somebody that sees that I have followers or whatever, and you can feel it when they're trying to gain something or treating you a different way than they would if you didn’t, and it's such a weird and bad feeling. 

Good people don't do that. I try to surround myself with people that are not like that. And there's a lot of people in L.A. who are not like that. L.A. gets a bad rap, but I think people that move here for the right reasons—because they love art or film or comedy, and that's why they're here—they don't care about clout, or they're not doing it for ego reasons, are the people to be around.

Agreed. And, again, this movie tackles parasocial relationships. Or more so when that parasocial relationship comes to life and it’s actually reality now. Why do you think this movie is so relevant right now?

I think you can see it mostly in music, that’s where parasocial relationship seems to be the strongest. In music, people go to such a different level of fandom. I guess it would have to be because of the internet. The parasocial relationships now are so much stronger than they were back in the day. So I guess maybe that's why it's more relevant.

Did it make you rethink sort of the relationship that you have with your fans at all?

I just think there's something about comedians. If you're comedian, it’s like, I think you're funny, but I'm not going to obsess over you. I feel like musicians experience that way more.

I was talking about this with the two comedians I tour with, and it’s like, you’re like a clown at the end of the day. With a musician, there's mystery, and music is just so cool. But in comedy, I hope no one would obsess over me like that. [Laughs.]

What part of the movie surprised you the most? Was the ending satisfying or a shock at all?

When Oliver realizes Matthew’s good for his career and you see his face and it reads like, This is more important to me. Even if I got this crazy dude on my team, he’s going to make my career better, I loved that twist. 

I think it’s real. People care more about staying relevant, success, and not losing it.  Oliver’s like, “Don’t take this away from me.” That's the most important thing to some people. They're willing to sacrifice relationships or be in bad relationships just to have that fame or whatever.

When people do see this movie, what do you hope that they are thinking about in terms of fandom and our relationship to fame afterwards?

Sometimes we look up to famous people like they're perfect, and a lot of the times, it's not the case. A lot of the times people that are doing it for the wrong reasons, like fame, is a direct result of insecurity. They’re just trying to feed their ego over and over and climb. Nothing is ever enough. So stop looking up to these famous people.

Look up to the people in your life that are normal. It's just as impressive someone being an amazing father or be an amazing teacher. That's just as impressive as someone being a good actor or a good musician. We got to stop putting celebs on pedestals