By Miranda Murray
BERLIN (Reuters) – Rising British star Archie Madekwe said in Berlin on Friday that the male power dynamics reflected in “Lurker”, a thriller about a conniving music fan, chimed with his preparation for the role.
“I was continuously surprised in my research in speaking to a lot of these male musicians, how male dominant their worlds often were,” Madekwe told journalist at the Berlin Film Festival, where “Lurker” is playing in the non-competitive Special selection.
The musicians created “this weird toxic masculinity world, it was interesting, those power dynamics,” said Madekwe, who starred in “Gran Turismo” and also has had roles in “Saltburn” and “Midsommar”.
That was not his experience in the world of acting and television, said Madekwe, who was also a producer on “Lurker”.
In the film, a Sundance Film Festival standout, Madekwe is pop star Oliver, whose encounter with retail worker and secret fan Matthew, played by Canadian actor Theodore Pellerin, slowly develops into a struggle for power and influence.
The dynamic between the main characters was drawn from first-time director Alex Russell’s experiences working in Los Angeles, though not to the extremes that play out in the film, he said on Friday.
However, “nothing that happens in the film is out of the realm of possibility,” he added.
Russell, a writer and producer on Emmy-winning shows “The Bear” and “Beef”, said that shooting in LA was really important to him for the authenticity of the film.
Russell said the main house in “Lurker” had since completely gone following the devastating fires in LA last month.
His breakout film was critically praised after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival last month, with The Guardian giving it four out of five stars and The Hollywood Reporter summarizing the movie as “a wicked spin on the fame game”.
(Reporting by Miranda Murray; editing by Giles Elgood)
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