THE FUSE

7 min read

This story contains spoilers for Club Kid.

For his debut feature film, Club Kid, Jordan Firstman envisioned a curly-haired boy who could live in a world of adults. The story was well established by the time casting agent Carmen Cuba met British actor Reggie Absolom, who had appeared in Silo and other series. Firstman, who wrote, directed, and starred in the film, knew he was the perfect one to play Arlo, the 10-year-old son that Firstman’s character Peter never knew he had. Firstman and Absolom grew close quickly and developed a unique friendship that hasn’t slowed down post-filming. “We text all day,” Firstman says.

The pair spoke to ELLE about Reggie getting to DJ for the film, whether he’ll have a Radiohead phase, and what the movie says about family.

Jordan, what kind of qualities were you looking for in Arlo, and how did you see them in Reggie?

Jordan Firstman: I had a very extensive list of things I wanted in the character, and my casting director was like, “You really need to manage your expectations because you’re looking for a child actor. Baseline, you have to find someone good.” I also just wanted them to be naturally cool and not feel like a child actor [but] feel like a kid. I wanted them to have curly hair. I wanted them to look enough like me that they could be my kid. In the script, the character is written as half Indian, and she was like, “Babe, you’re just not going to find all of that.”

I found Reggie, and he checked every box. He looked like the kid I had in my head when I wrote it. He also was a really natural actor and nothing felt forced. I sent him a playlist of songs I wrote the movie to, and he told me which ones he liked. I thought he had really good taste, and we just talked for a while and got ice cream. And then it wasn’t until in the process that I found out he was a quarter Indian too. He literally had every single thing that I wanted, and so it did feel like a miracle in a lot of ways.

Reggie, what was it like to be the only kid on set?

Reggie Absolom: I was a bit weird at first. But then I became such good friends with everyone anyway and it just felt like I fit in there. It didn’t matter how old I was. I was just friends with everyone, and I was just working like they were as well.

Firstman and Absolom in a scene from Club Kid.

You mentioned the playlist, Jordan. How did you use music to find each of the characters and to connect with them?

JF: I love sending people that I love music. Reggie’s music taste influenced the characters. He was into Slipknot at the time, so I wrote a little Slipknot into the script, and he also liked Massive Attack and Cocteau Twins, once I sent him my playlist. I wrote that in.

There’s this whole other component of the actual club music, on which we collaborated so closely with David Peck, who’s in the movie [and who wrote songs for the film and performed them as Heather Asylum]. He did Reggie’s whole DJ set and River Moon consulted. We had real DJs in the scene helping me and making sure we had all the right tracks. The music in the movie is everything; it’s the throughline in the story and the construction of the movie.

Reggie, I’m interested in how you have such sophisticated music taste. How do you know about Massive Attack? Is it from your family?

RA: It’s from the movie.

JF: It’s from Jordan.

RA: It’s from Jordan. Some from David.

JF: Yeah, but most from Jordan.

RA: You get most of the credit. You gave me quite a few songs, like Cocteau Twins ones and really good Massive Attack ones. I was like, okay, I’m going to go deeper into these and listen to all of their albums. Now there’s some songs that I would’ve never really listened to. When I listened to Cocteau Twins, I would’ve been like, “Okay, this is weird.” But now I’m like, “Okay, maybe I like the weird kind of songs.”

JF: I think you’re going to also have a major Radiohead era.

RA: Maybe, but I don’t know. I don’t like Radiohead.

I loved the Ethel Cain scene. How did you choose that song?

JF: We were going to do “Maybe I’m Amazed” by Paul McCartney, and he wasn’t responding to our emails about licensing it. The day before [we filmed the scene], I was trying to think of other songs, and “Thoroughfare” is my favorite song, I think ever. I feel like I would be that dad that made my kid play Ethel Cain on the piano with me. Then we played it, and it felt really cute and really sincere. We still sang Paul McCartney, but they were like, “You don’t need Paul McCartney. Don’t waste your money.” And “Thoroughfare” is the vibe.

Reggie, did being in this film influence what other things you want to do in the future?

RA: It got me into a lot of different types of music, which I’m happy about. DJing was really fun and something that I’d want to do in the future. Maybe not a full-time job, but something on the side to do, something fun.

JF: Part-time, like Paris Hilton.

RA: It didn’t really influence the roles I wanted to get, but now that I’m in a film that’s done so well, it’s opened up for me to maybe get bigger roles than I would’ve expected before filming this.

Why did you want to be in it when you read the script?

RA: The idea of being in a movie, that was the next step for me. I was filming maybe three episodes of a series. I felt like no matter the role, just being in the movie would be the next thing to do. Then the fact that this was a lead role and that I felt similar to Arlo personality-wise in some ways. I felt like I could perform really naturally with the things that Arlo says and the way that he acts.

Jordan, this idea of custody and a kid ending up with an unexpected parent comes up in a lot of movies that I love. Were there any movies you used as a reference point or inspiration?

JF: Kramer vs. Kramer is such a classic and a movie I love. I often reference An Unmarried Woman with Jill Clayburgh. I love her relationship with her daughter in that movie and how they treat each other like adults. Because Peter has no experience with kids, he doesn’t know how to treat them like anything else but how he treats everyone.

Courtesy of A24

Absolom and Firstman singing “Thoroughfare.”

Jordan, and also Reggie, did you ever consider giving the movie more of a happy ending or reuniting your characters?

JF: Once I started writing it, I started really understanding Peter and Arlo and what they needed. I actually feel like it’s a gift that they didn’t end up together for both of their lives for that time. That phone call [at the end] is so important, because the door opens again once they’re ready. I think it would’ve been too intense for Peter to [raise Arlo full-time]....He still wasn’t completely out of the party scene. He was still selling drugs. He was not ready to really do this in a real way. Arlo really needed a year of knowing true stability and a normal childhood.

But I think what Peter and his community offered Arlo was a very different version of normal. They encouraged creativity. For a traumatized kid, having an art practice is everything. In my darkest times as a kid, I turned to art. To me, it’s a very human ending, and to me it’s hopeful.

RA: Both of them needed to have that break. They’re trying to find themselves and what they should do. Now, another thing, whilst Arlo was with Peter, he was getting no education really. He tried to get him into school.

JF: For like a second.

RA: He just gave up on that. The ending also leaves it up to interpretation what happens to them in the future. Obviously, it could have been like, oh, they rejoin and they’re father and son forever. I think it’s nicer when the film has an ending that’s up to interpretation a bit, where there could be different branches on the ending.

Courtesy of A24

Firstman says the ending of Club Kid is “very human” but “hopeful.”

Jordan, do you think that in the future Peter would have a family and more children? If he did, would the experience of living with Arlo make him a better father?

JF: He really enjoyed fatherhood, so I think he will continue his relationship with Arlo and help him through his teen years and grow up.

RA: In my opinion, Peter with a baby, adopting a baby would be a bit, like Edison says, “He’s all prepared. Forget the trauma,” or something like that.

JF: I think Peter could do it.

RA: He could do it. He’d need Oscar [Peter’s partner, played by Diego Calva].

It feels like there’s a real, genuine excitement about this that doesn’t feel Hollywood-manufactured.

JF: No one involved in this project has had this happen to them. Even Cara [Delevingne] has never been a part of something like this. We just are so gagged. We can’t believe this is happening and that people are responding to it in this way. We get standing ovations everywhere we go, and it’s surreal. We don’t take for granted that this is a rare thing that happens.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.