‘Lurker’ Star Théodore Pellerin Was Haunted by His Creepy Role During Filming: ‘I Had Nightmares All the Time’
“Lurker” is a quiet thriller that lives in discomfort. Théodore Pellerin plays Matthew, a quiet young man who cannily navigates himself into the inner circle of a rising pop star, Oliver (Archie Madekwe). Through a mixture of internet sleuthing, preternatural good taste and a willingness to do whatever is necessary, Matthew quickly elevates his way to becoming a creative and emotional sounding board for Oliver — even as the singer’s entourage increasingly looks at him as a phony.
For a role that revels in masking true emotions, Pellerin went to dark places onscreen. The work followed him home while filming the project.
“It’s not that I’m staying as the character when I go home after the shoot,” he says. “It’s more that I’m still noticing and aware of things that are in the movie. It was a difficult shoot for me because it’s only very difficult relationships all the time. It’s always just trying to survive relationships or get your way around them or above them. I felt awful for a month after we shot. I had nightmares all the time. I really hated it. But it was great! Everybody was great, so fun and loving and cool. It was just not healthy for me.”
Although the 28-year-old actor has appeared in many provocative movies, including 2020’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” and 2023’s “Beau Is Afraid,” “Lurker” is likely to be Pellerin’s widest showcase, following an acquisition by and theatrical rollout from Mubi that starts on Friday.
When “Lurker” writer-director Alex Russell spoke to Variety earlier this year prior to the film’s bow at the Berlin Film Festival, he raved about the “humanity” in Pellerin’s performance.
“He’s so expressive and you can see so much in his face and what he’s thinking, and yet it’s a mystery,” Russell said. “You can see him calculating, but you’re not really sure what he’s going to do next, and that is such a big part of the intrigue of this movie.”
Pellerin says navigating the slippery slope of social climbing onscreen was challenging as an actor as well.
“It’s just so demanding to always be in those dynamics,” he says. “It’s so scary to be in that all the time. There is no space where he’s just secure. It’s always responding to what’s in front of him, always trying to find a way to land at the end of the scene, somewhere that won’t cost him his place or would allow him to go further. He’s always playing with his life in a way.”
Despite smaller parts in American films, the Québécois native sharpened his skills on a number of complex roles, which have gained him critical acclaim in his native Canada. His partnership with director Sophie Dupuis alone yielded awards for their three movie collaborations: 2018’s crime film “Family First (Chien de garde),” for which he won best actor at the Canadian Screen Awards; 2020’s mine explosion drama “Underground,” which earned him best supporting actor honors at Québec’s Prix Iris; and 2023’s drag drama “Solo,” for which he won best actor at Prix Iris.
Pellerin cites smart writing as his central motivator for picking roles.
“It’s the only thing I really care about when I go with a film: I want to fall in love with the writing, with the script,” he says. “If the writing is great, it’s so exciting to do something where you feel like you’re in great hands. Or when you’re working on something, you read it and reread it and every time you see more of the stuff that gave you a certain feeling. You’re like, ‘Oh, that’s why … those are the mechanisms,’ and it’s all responding to the same thing.”
And Pellerin, who remembers first reading the script for “Lurker” and thinking it was “exciting and fun and funny and scary” all at once, knows audiences will be haunted by the interplay of Matthew and Oliver until the last frames, and leave the theater debating the true heroes and villains of the story.
“Matthew learns to play by the rules Oliver sets,” Pellerin says. “It’s the way he manipulates people, the way he gets people around him and finds validation. These are very violent, conditional dynamics that are around Oliver, and Matthew discovers that as he is in contact with him and then plays his book. At some point, he sees that everybody’s just working to be close to that person, and even Oliver is working in his own way to keep the system in place active and supporting him. Everybody’s playing, everybody’s being deceitful, and Matthew isn’t the worst. It’s just, as he says, he’s better than them, or willing to go further.”
Watch the “Lurker” trailer below.
For a role that revels in masking true emotions, Pellerin went to dark places onscreen. The work followed him home while filming the project.
“It’s not that I’m staying as the character when I go home after the shoot,” he says. “It’s more that I’m still noticing and aware of things that are in the movie. It was a difficult shoot for me because it’s only very difficult relationships all the time. It’s always just trying to survive relationships or get your way around them or above them. I felt awful for a month after we shot. I had nightmares all the time. I really hated it. But it was great! Everybody was great, so fun and loving and cool. It was just not healthy for me.”
Although the 28-year-old actor has appeared in many provocative movies, including 2020’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” and 2023’s “Beau Is Afraid,” “Lurker” is likely to be Pellerin’s widest showcase, following an acquisition by and theatrical rollout from Mubi that starts on Friday.
When “Lurker” writer-director Alex Russell spoke to Variety earlier this year prior to the film’s bow at the Berlin Film Festival, he raved about the “humanity” in Pellerin’s performance.
“He’s so expressive and you can see so much in his face and what he’s thinking, and yet it’s a mystery,” Russell said. “You can see him calculating, but you’re not really sure what he’s going to do next, and that is such a big part of the intrigue of this movie.”
Pellerin says navigating the slippery slope of social climbing onscreen was challenging as an actor as well.
“It’s just so demanding to always be in those dynamics,” he says. “It’s so scary to be in that all the time. There is no space where he’s just secure. It’s always responding to what’s in front of him, always trying to find a way to land at the end of the scene, somewhere that won’t cost him his place or would allow him to go further. He’s always playing with his life in a way.”
Despite smaller parts in American films, the Québécois native sharpened his skills on a number of complex roles, which have gained him critical acclaim in his native Canada. His partnership with director Sophie Dupuis alone yielded awards for their three movie collaborations: 2018’s crime film “Family First (Chien de garde),” for which he won best actor at the Canadian Screen Awards; 2020’s mine explosion drama “Underground,” which earned him best supporting actor honors at Québec’s Prix Iris; and 2023’s drag drama “Solo,” for which he won best actor at Prix Iris.
Pellerin cites smart writing as his central motivator for picking roles.
“It’s the only thing I really care about when I go with a film: I want to fall in love with the writing, with the script,” he says. “If the writing is great, it’s so exciting to do something where you feel like you’re in great hands. Or when you’re working on something, you read it and reread it and every time you see more of the stuff that gave you a certain feeling. You’re like, ‘Oh, that’s why … those are the mechanisms,’ and it’s all responding to the same thing.”
And Pellerin, who remembers first reading the script for “Lurker” and thinking it was “exciting and fun and funny and scary” all at once, knows audiences will be haunted by the interplay of Matthew and Oliver until the last frames, and leave the theater debating the true heroes and villains of the story.
“Matthew learns to play by the rules Oliver sets,” Pellerin says. “It’s the way he manipulates people, the way he gets people around him and finds validation. These are very violent, conditional dynamics that are around Oliver, and Matthew discovers that as he is in contact with him and then plays his book. At some point, he sees that everybody’s just working to be close to that person, and even Oliver is working in his own way to keep the system in place active and supporting him. Everybody’s playing, everybody’s being deceitful, and Matthew isn’t the worst. It’s just, as he says, he’s better than them, or willing to go further.”
Watch the “Lurker” trailer below.