Last Friday, Searchlight Pictures released the satirical black comedy Not Okay on the Hulu streaming service, and with its debut, viewers were treated to a truly funny look at social media and how it can sometimes spiral out of control. Striking the right balance between satire and a surprisingly meaningful story, Not Okay has something to say, and it deserves to be in the conversation regarding how much social media has taken over the lives of many people chasing views and likes (read our review here).
Zoey Deutch leads the film as Danni Sanders, a woman desperate to be famous and beloved on the internet. Danni’s motivations for internet stardom are sparked by her desire to impress a boy. The boy in question is Colin (Dylan O’Brien), a social media influencer heavily influenced by the likes of Machine Gun Kelly and Justin Bieber. To gain Colin’s attention, Danni lies about attending an upcoming retreat in Paris. Over the next week, Danni photoshops pictures of herself in Paris from her Brooklyn apartment, but it’s one doctored photo of herself by the Arc de Triomphe that changes everything. Minutes after the fake photo is posted, terrorists bomb several major Parisian landmarks. Danni upholds her lies by faking her return from Paris, making her an internet sensation because she has “survived” a cataclysmic event.
Zoey Deutch effortlessly flows back and forth between biting satire and comedy to more serious nuanced moments as Danni, and that’s something we touched on in our interview. Deutch discusses if she had to find the humanity in Danni in order to effectively play her, and she also discusses how she could relate to her loneliness which leads to the start of this epic lie. We also discussed reuniting with Dylan O’Brien on this film after working with him before this project on The Outfit.
Dylan O’Brien appears to be having a great time playing against type as Colin. He’s sporting a much different look in this film with bleached blonde hair and tattoos, and he’s fully committed to embodying Colin, a persona we know all too well in pop culture. He’s someone appropriating street culture with no real connection to the streets at all. It’s the very definition of fake, but their followers eat this up, and it’s something that Dylan O’Brien was intrigued to explore when taking on the role. Why do people gravitate to guys like this? What sparks their popularity?
The interesting thing about the Dylan O’Brien interview is that I randomly met him a month before at a local bar in Hermosa Beach, California, called Tower 12. I’m from a neighboring city called Redondo Beach, and Dylan O’Brien moved to Hermosa at a relatively early age and even went to our local high school, Mira Costa. I also went to Mira Costa a few years before Dylan, but the connection was enough to spark a conversation with him at the bar. We took a quick photo, I chatted with him and some of his friends, and we took a Green Tea Shot together. Within a day or two, I was told I was doing interviews for Not Okay after this random encounter, and when we fast forward to the day of the virtual press junket a month later, I debated bringing it up, but he did those honors at the start of the interview, remembering that we did meet a month prior. It’s a crazy small world; sometimes, the universe can be hilarious.
The mastermind behind all of this is writer and director Quinn Shephard. She has genuinely crafted a tone that can be difficult to maintain. The film frequently bounces from satire to genuinely real moments without missing a beat, and Shephard shows a strong talent for making those tones walk an even line without losing its focus.
During our chat, I asked Shephard if it was a conscious decision not to make the film a complete demonization of social media. We also explored how she made the black comedy and satire work alongside the film’s more serious moments. Lastly, we also discuss if she ever considered giving Danni a bit of a redemption arc because, despite her big lie, she displays moments of likability that make the audience connect with her.
Not Okay is currently streaming on Hulu!