After the smashing success of their previous film “I Saw the TV Glow,” it should’ve come as no surprise to anyone that Jane Schoenbrun’s follow-up film would be just as strange, unsettling, and visually stunning. But perhaps the most unexpected aspect of “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” (which premiered to rave reviews at this year’s Cannes Film Festival) isn’t its mind-bending structure or meta elements, but its humor. Unlike nearly everything Jane Schoenbrun has made so far, “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” is as much a comedy as it is a typically Schoenbrunian exploration of pop culture and identity, mixed with horror elements.
Before its theatrical release, Matt Neglia spoke with the writer-director of “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” while I chatted with the film’s two stars, Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson. The conversations ranged from Schoenbrun’s love of specific needle drops to Einbinder’s very specific movie theater concessions order, and all three creatives talked about the horror films that helped them to build the world of “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.”
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***Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.***
Matt Neglia’s Conversation With Jane Schoenbrun
Jane, thank you so much for taking time to speak with me today about “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.” And congratulations too, you’re three for three in my book and actually one of the most unique and best new voices, not just in horror but just the whole space in general that we have going right now.
Thank you Matt and thanks for…I don’t know, I feel like you’ve been paying attention for a while, so I appreciate the support.
Absolutely, it’s more than earned. One of my favorite things that you do in all of your films is you have such intentionality behind your camera placement and not just what the camera is supposed to be communicating to us via the story but also subtextually. Can you just walk me through when you’re writing these stories, are you already thinking about shot selection and how you want something framed before you actually shoot it on the day?
For sure. Yeah, I remember teaching myself how to write visually very early on, because it’s not, like, a skill that that came naturally actually and when I was teaching myself to write screenplays, yeah, you really have to be like…especially if you’re planning to make it yourself, it’s not someone else’s problem, it would be dumb of me to be not thinking about that while I’m writing the movie. Also, it really is; it’s like, when I’m writing a script, I’m trying to just play the movie in my head over and over again until I can see it, you know, maybe like, fuzzy but a little bit. And then, you know, I’ll sit down with [director of photography Eric K. Yue] and some of my other key collaborators before we even start prep, and we’ll do, like, a theoretical shot listing. And then you location scout and you find the actual places, and so then you do another round of it, and then you’re there, and it’s like, oh, we had this whole plan to do this in 10 shots, but the day is making it so that we have, you know, three at best – how do we think on the fly? And yeah, you just memorize it over and over again and keep playing the movie in your head until it’s really, really clear. And I think I do that both because it’s what I do, but also, if you’ve got it memorized like that, it’s really, really easy to refer back to the plan when you have a crazy new idea. And be like, oh look at that cool thing over in the corner, is there a place for it? Like, will it fit the architecture? You kind of memorize it so that you can break it and have it feel alive. You know, break it without breaking it, basically.
Of course, yeah, and they always say too, things that go wrong on set, you got to learn how to adapt and be able to be malleable to problems that can arise at any given moment. And one of the things that I think this also transfers over to, though, too, is your music selection choices. You’ve got some banger, killer choices! And I’m not just saying that as a ‘90s child; I just love these song selections, and I don’t want to ruin them for those who haven’t seen the movie yet because I think they’re some of the most entertaining moments of the film. But what is that like for you when you haven’t even gotten the rights to something yet, but you have an idea for the use of a song in a project?
Yeah, I think I’ve like grown a bit emboldened because I do remember even after [“We’re All Going to the World’s Fair”] and even on [“I Saw the TV Glow”], I wouldn’t treat myself to a needle drop on the page because I would be too afraid of not being able to clear it or get it. But then, you think about so many of your favorite films and for me, at least, the pleasure from a perfect needle drop – unexpected but, like, emotionally perfect. So many of my favorite filmmakers use that as one of the key tools in their cinematic arsenal. And so with this film especially, I was like, you know…and on “TV Glow,” we got a lot of amazing original songs written. On this one, I was like, I’m just gonna try to see if I can pull this off.
Yeah, there’s one, the Counting Crows needle drop in particular in this film was so baked into the creative process that we had to clear it before shooting the sequence because, probably like a good hundred hours of prep work went into plotting that out so that the song and the cinema would be, like, perfectly fused. Yeah, and I don’t know, I’m a music nerd; I’m very obsessive about music. It’s something that I want to keep doing in my movies and in new ways. Yeah, what a cool opportunity to, like, turn people on to your favorite songs too.
Exactly, I agree. And not just with songs but, I was also thinking back to when I saw this at Cannes and how I felt like this just felt like something fresh and new that was going to become people’s new obsessive movie that they would fall in love with, the same way I imagine you probably fell in love with a lot of the films that are referenced in this movie, have those iconic VHS tapes and posters. I’m just really curious, for you, when you think about those references and influences on this film, what for you was, like, that awakening, that eye-opening moment of, this is what’s not just possible with cinema but also, like, a way to view life?
There are so many, you know; there’s not like one slasher movie, or movie in general, that, like, rocked my world and took my, you know, cherry or whatever. It was really the horror section at the video store from a very young age. I was just going to town and watching every “Nightmare on Elm Street” movie in the span of, like, a week, you know, and doing nothing else. “Evil Dead II,” that was a really big one for me. I remember just that feeling of delight, of like, oh my god I didn’t know movies could be this excessive. That is a feeling that I feel like I still chase, just, like, watching something and being like, whoa, that’s crazy, that they were allowed to do that. That somebody, like, made the mistake of letting them go there.
The scene in the movie, too, where Chris has the Zoom, and she’s pitching the idea for the film and everything. Is that based on conversations you’ve had, or you know other people have had? Because that felt so, like, following the success of your first two films, a conversation that I feel like you would have had.
Yeah, you know, I try to, like, keep my antenna up, and the stuff that finds its way into the work is going to be in some way like a reflection of how I’m living. And, you know, in many ways, this is a film that’s coming from a post-transition state of, like, play and liberation, and that’s reflected in the film. It is also very much, like, following a couple years of being a trans person in Hollywood, which is a pretty fucked up experience. And so, that’s finding its way into the work, too.
I only got, like, less than a minute left, so I’m gonna end with this because we ask all of our guests this question. What is the next film or television show on your watchlist, the thing that you’re like, I gotta get to that?
Good question. What’s the next film or TV show on my watch list…God, I’ve been meaning to re-watch “Last Temptation of Christ” for a while. That’s really been on my list for too long. I also really want to watch that German film, “Hitler: A Film from Germany.” It’s, like, eight hours of experimental cinema. I’ve been trying to hype myself up to do [that]. I love, like, a weekend when I just cancel all of my plans and just bite off, like, a 14-hour art film. I did that with “Out 1,” and that’s a great way to spend a weekend.
Love that, I hope to see a 14-hour art film from you in the future, maybe?
Give me the money, I’ll give you a 14-hour film!
Hey, listen, I wouldn’t be complaining! Congratulations, once again. I cannot wait to see more art from you in the future; best of luck.
Thanks so much, Matt
Cody Dericks’s Conversation With Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson
Hi Gillian, hi Hannah, how are you doing?
GILLIAN ANDERSON: Hey.
HANNAH EINBINDER: Hey!
Alright, I’m gonna jump right in – as a horror nerd myself, I need to know: what horror, or specifically slasher films, had a personal impact on you, the way I’m sure this film will have for many.
HANNAH: Well, for me, I think as a young kid, it was “Silent Hill.” I watched it initially as a young girl, and I think it’s kind of the epitome of, like, a young girl’s nightmare, which is kind of being separated from her mom. That had an intense impact on me as a kid, and then I actually went and re-watched it recently and found it to be so, so beautiful, because I kind of saw it from the mother’s perspective a little more. And just, it’s a stunning movie. So yeah, “Silent Hill,” I think, for me.
GILLIAN: I had a bad experience with some pot when I was a teenager in somebody else’s apartment where they were watching “Texas Chain Saw Massacre.”
I knew you were going to say that.
GILLIAN: And that was the first and the last of my horror experience until recently. And even though “X Files” did have a horror element to it, because it was… when you’re acting in it, it’s very different than watching it. And so I was always able to compartmentalize and kind of, I would read the scripts during daylight hours. This is all brand new for me, and I feel like it’s been a huge education in the process.
You know, listening to “The X Files” theme song when my parents watched it when I was younger used to terrify me, so…
GILLIAN: Yeah, you get it!
A cycle.
GILLIAN: Yeah.
And there’s a great scene in this film where the two of you are eating fried chicken together, and later lying in bed on all these candy wrappers. So, in the spirit of that, I just want to know, what’s your favorite dipping sauce and your favorite movie theater candy?
HANNAH: Ah! So glad you asked. You know, it’s very much a tie for me between ranch and Buffalo. Nashville Hot, I want to give an honorable mention to. And then movie theater candy, got to go Red Vines, Junior Mints, and then Milk Duds in the popcorn, with a cherry vanilla Coke Zero with a splash of cherry Icee on top.
You’re not fucking around. You really know what you want!
HANNAH: Never one day of my life.
GILLIAN: I mean…ketchup is not a dipping sauce, but it’s…I love ketchup so much.
HANNAH: It actually is! It is.
GILLIAN: And I particularly like it when you mix it with a bit of mayonnaise.
HANNAH: Ah!
GILLIAN: Yeah.
HANNAH: Okay, now that’s a dipping sauce.
GILLIAN: Now that’s a dipping sauce. So I kind of create my own dipping sauce. And I’ve always been a Milk Duds and Drops fan in movie theaters. And it’s hard to find the two of them in the same venue anymore, and it makes me very sad.
We’ll work on that; I’ll put a good word in for you.
GILLIAN: Thank you, thank you.
Awesome. Hannah, Gillian, thanks so much. So excited for more people to see “Camp Miasma.”
HANNAH: Thank you!
“Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” opens in US theaters on August 7th
You can follow Cody and hear more of his thoughts on the Oscars and Film on X @codymonster91
