Many paint the act of engaging in fandom as teenage girl behaviour – just think how much more common “fangirl” is than “fanboy.” But in MUBI’s upcoming psychological thriller Lurker (in theatres August 22), chasing proximity is very much a young man’s game. The film marks the directorial debut of The Bear and Beef writer-producer Alex Russell, and could almost be read as a period piece, set in 2018. It follows Matthew (Théodore Pellerin), a retail worker who worms his way into the life of rising musician Oliver (Archie Madekwe). What unfolds is a harrowing pursuit akin to The Substance – but for clout-hungry men – a (sometimes homoerotic) descent into parasocial obsession, where access becomes a last shot at upward mobility and staying close is everything.

In the film, Canadian actor Théodore Pellerin inhabits the mind of a so-called “lurker” with remarkable care. So much so that, while watching, you are actively rooting for him to come out on top, even when you know the chase for fame tips into life-or-death territory. After all, Matthew is a product of the social and professional hierarchies of the attention economy, where clout itself is a form of currency. Lurker is less about one “crazy fan” and more about what we’re all willing to do to be seen and accepted. For Matthew, it’s a lot – once he realises how empty the other side is, he knows he can secure his spot if he continues to play his cards right. Viewed through the lens of male friendship, these calculated moves are cloaked under a layer of complete nonchalance. 

There’s a scene in Lurker when Matthew is filming Oliver with a camcorder. Through the lens, Oliver tells Matthew: “You’re like my best friend”. It’s these moments, like gifts of real intimacy, that Pellerin says make Matthew even more addicted. “It's like when you're dating someone and then they don't answer for like two hours, and you're like, what’s going on?” says Pellerin. “Do you love me or do you not love me? What is it? And that makes you go crazy.” It’s anxiety-inducing to watch, perhaps because we have all, at any point and especially on the internet, been lurkers to some degree. 

Ahead of Lurker’s release, we spoke to Pellerin about fanboying as a means of intimacy, toxic dynamics in male friendships, celebrity culture as religion, and the innate longing to be loved.

What attracted you to this role in particular? 

Théodore Pellerin: It’s rare to read something that you love. It’s really as simple as that. It feels like someone is opening a door for you to a world which, in this case, is very anxiety-inducing and scary, but also very funny. I loved [director] Alex Russell. He’s a very surprising guy. It was very clear, reading it, that the person who wrote it knew what he was talking about. 

How did playing Matthew feel different to you than your other roles? 

Théodore Pellerin: Every project feels like something new, every time. For Lurker, first of all, we went through moments when we thought it was going to happen, but it didn’t. After three years, it got made. Great indie scripts never actually get made, so it was exciting. It’s also a very particular world that I’m foreign to: a very LA, music, fashion-y kind of world that is alien to me. 

The main reason why so many people get so attached to someone like an artist, especially when they are younger, is probably because it fills a little hole of loneliness somewhere

I know you started acting young. Is it something you’ve always done?

Théodore Pellerin: Yeah, I was 16 when I started to shoot, but I’d been doing improv since elementary school. Acting for me also comes a little bit from the love of being a good student. You have someone who is above you, like a director, telling you that you did a good job. That little pat on the back is what gets me going. Of course, it’s changing and evolving, but that is still part of it today. I became very obsessed with actors. When I saw someone who I felt was living on the screen, I was so amazed by it. I’m still so amazed by it. 

It’s interesting you mention being obsessed, or being a fan, because that’s obviously very relevant to this film, which explores fandom and star power. What do you think is the line between wanting to be associated with someone and wanting to be someone?

Théodore Pellerin: I think the main reason why so many people get so attached to someone like an artist, especially when they are younger, is probably because it fills a little hole of loneliness somewhere. It brings a sense of intimacy or recognition – a feeling that this person would see you and accept you. I feel like many people feel like they really connect to someone because they feel that there would be a sense of recognition, or a particular intimate link with that person. 

Is that what you think was sparked between Matthew and Oliver?

Théodore Pellerin: It’s not an unhealthy thing to admire someone, and in this case, it becomes so sick because of the hierarchy that is around Oliver. Matthew is not the most healthy guy, but he responds to what’s around him and learns that if he wants to be there, there’s a way to go about it. I do think if he had a nice welcome, an actual healthy interaction would have happened. I’m not sure that he would have become so crazy about the whole thing. Because there is a real danger, and the dynamics that are there are so violent, that’s the book he learns the rules of. 

We first meet Matthew as a lonely retail worker. In the context of the male loneliness epidemic, how does clout become his way of climbing not just the social ladder, but the career ladder too?

Théodore Pellerin: He wanted to become someone who means something. To have some kind of value in people’s eyes and his own eyes. It’s so much a question of identity. Once you’re let into that world, you don’t want to lose that one insane opportunity of having that person welcoming you in, because it’s never going to happen again. It’s about taking the one opportunity that is presented to you because you feel that’s your only chance of having a life worth living. That is the life these godlike figures, celebrities, live. It’s your religion, and you want to be part of it. 

It seemed like Matthew would stop at no end to stay within the inner circle. How did you flesh out his main drive? 

Théodore Pellerin: I think there was nothing higher for him than that. Nothing above being at that point with a music celebrity in LA, being cool and up-and-coming, and just getting bigger and bigger. When you are constantly exposed to social media, there can be, for a lot of people, a sense that the life that is worth living is the one where you have an audience. I remember getting Facebook when I was 12 or 13, and being [exposed to] other schools, people and dynamics. I was learning the codes of that, wanting to be ‘out there’ and belong to that social world, but it’s really not good. 

I was going to ask if there’s anything that you pulled from yourself. Is there an inner lurker within you that you tapped into?

Théodore Pellerin: What I tried to look at were more behind-the-scenes videos of young male musicians. You can see the dynamics with their friends and also their employees, who are the content creators, but also sometimes the ones they bully a bit, but it’s ‘just a joke’. These dynamics that already exist were super interesting. Once you have a way in, you still have to adapt to the master’s whims. 

When you are constantly exposed to social media, there can be, for a lot of people, a sense that the life that is worth living is the one where you have an audience

There’s also a level of performed indifference in male friendships, when, in this case, you know everything is entirely calculated. 

Théodore Pellerin: You’re right. That’s something I actually like in male friendships because it’s so not like that in most of my friendships, but I do like friends where there can be this kind of distance where you know you love each other. We’re not going to say we love each other, but it’s cool. 

Did the film make you reflect on your own friendships?

Théodore Pellerin: My friendships don’t relate to the dynamics I play in the movie. It was a great shoot. I loved everyone; everybody was so talented, dedicated, charming, funny and nice, but I was miserable after the shoot for like a month. I was so happy it was done. I was just anxious all the time. It felt like I was back in elementary school when my friends would one day love me and the next not love me. I do think there’s this thing where people start to mix a little bit, the actor and the character. I also think it was me projecting, but I was constantly in those feelings of being pushed in and away. I love the movie, but my favourite part of it was when it was done.

What did you need or do in those moments, during or after shooting?

Théodore Pellerin: I’d be like, ‘Can you love me?’ ‘Do you want to be my friend?’ And everyone was very loving. I wasn’t really thinking about anything else; I was trying to be loved.

Lurker is out on MUBI US on August 22