Theodore Pellerin in Lurker. The psychological thriller will be released Aug. 29, preceding its streaming debut on Mubi.MUBI/Supplied
By Quebecois standards, Théodore Pellerin has been a movie star for years now. Thanks to his work with such homegrown directors as Philippe Lesage (Genesis, The Demons) and Sophie Dupuis (Family First, Underground, Solo), Pellerin has emerged from Quebec’s cinema scene as one of its most accomplished and lauded players, all before he turned 28 earlier this summer. But while he’s a familiar face in Hollywood (the 2020 indie hit Sometimes Rarely Never Always, the Apple TV+ miniseries Franklin), Pellerin hasn’t quite landed that in-your-face U.S. hit. Until, perhaps, now.
In the buzzy new psychological thriller Lurker, Pellerin plays a lowly L.A. retail clerk named Matthew who, by chance, befriends the rising pop star Oliver (played by Saltburn’s Archie Madekwe in full Weeknd mode). As Matthew slowly worms his way into Oliver’s social circle – which is replete with hangers-on of dubious intentions – the young man’s life begins to blur into a mix of friendship, fandom, and dangerous obsession. It might not quite be Pellerin’s Single White Female moment, but it’s awfully close – especially once Matthew’s true goals are laid bare, and the actor is allowed to bite into the juicy melodrama with his typical sense of wiry vulnerability.
Ahead of Lurker’s theatrical release Aug. 29, which precedes its streaming debut on Mubi, Pellerin spoke with The Globe and Mail to discuss the growing pains of fame, inside and outside Canada.
The film seems both of the moment and slightly ahead of it, in a way similar to 2017’s Ingrid Goes West, which focused on a similar kind of digital-enabled fandom. How much research did you do into these kinds of obsessive circles?
None, really. The director Alex Russell was sending me lots of videos of rappers, musicians, behind-the-scenes stuff with the artists hanging out with their friends-slash-employees, so there were those dynamics, which we tried to set the mood for on-set. Just us hanging out, joking like friends. But I also thought about the feelings I had sometimes when I was in elementary school, wanting to be friends with a group of people, and then one day, you’re rejected. There’s a dangerousness to friendship, there are toxic dynamics at play.
Theodore Pellerin in LurkerMUBI/Supplied
Developing your career in Quebec, did you find that there’s a similar atmosphere to the one in Los Angeles? Did people try to worm their way into your social circle as you got progressively more well-known?
It’s completely different, it’s incomparable. Even just spending some time in L.A., it’s a completely different culture, and maybe even a more pronounced difference between Quebec and the U.S. than Canada and the U.S. There’s the language, sure, but so much of it feels quite foreign. I’ve also been working in France for the past three years, and that’s a different kind of rapport, too.
The script in Lurker is strong, but I feel it comes alive via the way that Russell shoots it, with an almost improv-like sensibility. Anything can happen.
We had some small improv moments, little humiliation rituals that play out between members of the group. But it’s little moments. A lot of it was written, even things that seem like throwaway moments.
When we spoke back in 2019, you said one of your goals as an actor was not to ‘belong to one industry,’ to any one geographical space. Is that where you still see your path?
Yeah, but I don’t really see a path. I think that’s what I was trying to say. I don’t even really want to be an actor. I love acting, it’s the thing that I love most in life. But I don’t feel a great need to be an actor. I love great writing. I love other actors. So it’s just about that. I will go wherever there is a great script that makes me feel excited.
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So are you looking more for work behind the camera, too? In writing a movie yourself?
No, because I have nothing to say. [Laughs.] I feel like I’m able to just accompany good writing. I don’t project too much of myself into acting, it’s just falling in love with the script, and then onto the shoot. I want to feel really in love with it. That’s what fills my life with a sense of value.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
