The first stills of Gia Coppola’s second film, Mainstream, have been released following its premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
Co-written and directed by Coppola, granddaughter of The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, Mainstream is a satirical take on the social media influencer lifestyle and industry in Los Angeles.
Starring Stranger Things’ Maya Hawke in her first leading role and Andrew Garfield, two strangers become influencers overnight as a video of Garfield’s character Link goes viral. Mainstream also stars Nat Wolff, Coppola’s cousin Jason Schwartzman, Alexa Demie and ex-Vine creator Casey Frey.
The first stills feature a vibrant looking Garfield, whose character appears to take his role as an influencer to the extreme, looking at Hawke via a stage screen.
Coppola was inspired by director Elia Kazan’s 1957 film A Face in the Crowd, which features an everyman who slowly starts to become corrupted after becoming a viral media sensation overnight.
Mainstream was produced by La La Land producer Fred Berger, who describes the film as a “cautionary tale that will spark debate… in terms of how we engage with social media and react to incentives that are subliminally sent to us all day long.” Director Coppola’s debut film, Palo Alto, starred James Franco, Emma Roberts, Jack Kilmer and Nat Wolff.
The film gained some strong opinions during its premiere in Venice, with some critics walking out of its first showings. IndieWire described Garfield’s performance as “one of the most obnoxious characters in cinema history,” and The Hollywood Reporter refers to the atmosphere in Venice as “a certain dismayed hostility to the film’s prepubescent humour and plot.”
Mainstream does not currently have a UK release date, having just started on the festival circuit. No trailer has been released either, but it is likely one will be appearing soon.
Words by Sarah Storer
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