Having been premiered at Venice Film Festival in 2020, the new comedy from director Gia Coppola delves deep into the seedier side of social media and viral celebrities.
- April 16, 2021
AceShowbiz - Andrew Garfield and Maya Hawke have landed lead roles in Gia Coppola's new comedy, which skewers YouTube culture.
The director daughter of revered filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola has dropped a new trailer for "Mainstream", and it's pretty clear social influencers the Paul brothers, Logan Paul and Jake Paul, inspired Garfield's role - his character, Link, looks and sounds just like the cocky blonds.
The siblings rose to fame on the video streaming platform and are now punching their way to new careers as boxers.
Andrew's character in "Mainstream" also becomes famous fast when he creates a social media collective, No One Special, with "Stranger Things" star Maya's Frankie and Nat Wolff's Jake.
The real Jake Paul also makes a cameo appearance, as do fellow social media personalities Juanpa Zurita and Patrick Starrr.
"Mainstream", which delves deep into the seedier side of social media and viral celebrities, had its premiere at last year's (2020) Venice Film Festival in Italy and will hit U.S. cinemas and video on demand platforms on May 7.
Speaking about the movie, Coppola told Deadline in August 2020 that it was partly inspired by her love for Elia Kazan's 1957 film "A Face in the Crowd". She explained, "I connected with it from a female point of view like losing your instincts and morals and getting overshadowed because you want to be loved and to love... Then you put that with someone and the dangers that can come along with that."
Producer Fred Berger, in the meantime, described the movie as a "cautionary tale that will spark debate. It points a mirror at the audience in terms of how we engage with other people and how we engage with social media and react to incentives that are subliminally sent to us all day long."
