Assassination Nation - Interview with director Sam Levinson and the stars
/
Assassination Nation – which has been dubbed “Mean Girls meets The Purge” is one wild ride. The film - which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and presented at TIFF as a Midnight Madness offering - centres around four internet-obsessed girls, whose lives revolve around texts, posts, selfies and chats.
Their small town gets turned upside down when an anonymous hacker starts to reveal personal messages and secrets of thousands of people. As anger erupts into full-blown violence, the four girls soon find themselves in a fight for their lives against an armed mob.
As the movie prepares for its opening, it is having trouble posting clips on Facebook and YouTube. And it’s not just new media. Billboards and bus shelters are also proving tough to come by.
Neon, the studio releasing the film in the U.S ( Elevation Pictures in Canada) has definitely been leaning into the film’s more controversial elements. “Assassination Nation” follows four gun-toting high school girls who take up arms against an anonymous hacker who has leaked all of their hometown’s dirty secrets online. Their revenge is bloody.
I spoke with two of the film’s stars model/actress Suki Waterhouse and Hari Nef (TV’s Transparent) and writer/director Sam Levinson and actress Abra to get their take on the film and their thoughts on social media.