Charli XCX has discussed her move into cinema, acknowledging that the musician-to-actor path can be perceived as “cringe”.
The ‘Brat’ artist stars in the new drama Erupcja, about a woman who reconnects with someone from her past while stranded in Warsaw with her boyfriend due to a volcanic eruption.
It’s the first traditional acting lead role for her, having played a fictionalised version of herself in mockumentary The Moment and a supporting role in the fantasy drama 100 Nights Of Hero. On Monday (June 1), she appeared at a Q&A for the film in London and discussed the reason for her taking a less commanding role on set.
“Especially in my position, being a musician who wants to act, that’s inherently cringe anyway,” she said (via The Line of Best Fit). “It’s all cringe, I’m very aware of that. Also, I am very new to this and wanted to sit back and learn and only really throw suggestion into the ring when I felt very, very passionate about it, or like it was going to be additive in some conversational way.”
Erupcja was a collaborative effort, with Charli explaining that she enjoyed the process of co-writing the script during production.
“Getting together, writing every single day, and then immediately shooting what we had written, was so immersive,” she said. “It almost felt like theatre in a way. It was very spontaneous, and very inspiring. I just hope that this film encourages other people who are actively making films already to perhaps consider working this way. People who are aspiring filmmakers to go out, grab a camera, and work with their friends in this way.”
The path from music to acting has been a fraught one for some artists. While names such as Jennifer Hudson, Will Smith, and David Bowie seamlessly transitioned from music to acting, legends such as Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, and Mick Jagger did not enjoy the same success on the screen that they did in the charts.
Erupcja is released this Friday (June 5), while Charli XCX’s next acting projects will be the comedy I Want Your Sex, co-starring Olivia Wilde, and heist thriller The Gallerist with Natalie Portman.
As for music, she recently announced her new album ‘Music, Fashion, Film’, and talked about uniting three legends from each art form for the album’s cover.