Interview with Jane Schoenbrun and Justice Smith
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00I'm curious about the story behind this Claw Machine song,
00:03incredible sequence with Phoebe Bridgers and Sloppy Jane.
00:06I was curious, where in the process
00:08did you hear it the first time?
00:11Before we shot the film, I had written it into the script
00:14with fake lyrics.
00:17And I just knew that I really wanted us to cut into this club
00:22right around the halfway point of the movie.
00:25And I had this idea of the song as a texture that
00:29brings you to this new space at this very crucial moment
00:33in the film when Maddie and Owen have reconnected.
00:35And I knew that that was where the titular line would be.
00:39I knew that the first line of that song had to be,
00:41I saw the TV glow.
00:43Yeah, and was a huge fan of Phoebe's and of Haley's.
00:48And got in touch with them and pitched them on it.
00:51And I made them a playlist called Interior Goth Club
00:54of the kinds of teen angst songs that I had imagined.
01:00And Haley just started sending me
01:02voicemails of Claw Machine.
01:04And it was really all there from the very beginning in this,
01:08even though I think it was just her on piano,
01:10it was still this incredibly orchestral.
01:14Yeah, I remember listening to demos of it with crew
01:19when we were on Location Scouts.
01:20I remember my DP Eric going, this is a hit.
01:24And I was just like, yeah, I agree.
01:27And you have so many amazing people on the album.
01:30I was curious, who did you, do you
01:32remember who you reached out first,
01:33like I need this person on this movie?
01:36Good question.
01:37Well, I was working with Alex from the very beginning
01:39on the score because he was my composer on my last film.
01:42And I just, I want to work with him anytime
01:45he wants to work with me.
01:46He's a genius.
01:48I think the first person, because I
01:50had wanted to meet an artist named Francis Quinlan, who's
01:54in a band called Hop Along, just
01:56was a huge fan of that band for a long, long time.
01:59And I knew that them and Alex were friends.
02:01And so I think early on, I just asked Alex for an intro
02:04to Francis and a few of the other artists
02:06I had crossed paths with in various iterations.
02:09I remember Drab Majesty was another early one
02:11where I was like, that's the vibe of the movie.
02:14And it was also just a collaboration with A24,
02:16really working with them and brainstorming artists
02:19that we both thought would be really exciting.
02:21And so it kind of happened organically.