Written and directed by NB Mager, starring Alyssa Marvin, Patrick Wilson, Margaret Cho, Sophia Torres, Elizabeth Marvel, and Molly Ringwald. With the supporting cast of Bill Camp, Yul Vazquez, Nuha Jes Izman, Pilot Bunch, Grace Reiter, Jim Kaplan, Allan Lopez, Jesus Del Orden, and Kal Wilson. Wilson served as an executive producer. Julie Christeas and Frank Hall Green produced the film, with Caitlin Zvoleff co-producing.
Run Amok is an unconventional, dark, and sincere story centering on the precocious Meg (Alyssa Marvin), a lonely teenage girl living in a small town that wants to move forward years after a tragedy occurred at the local high school she attends. Silenced by the adults around her, not taking the concerns and well-being of their students seriously, she decides to use her voice to enact change through staging an elaborate musical recounting the aftermath of the school tragedy, one that she holds a personal connection to. The film is the feature film adaptation of Mager’s 2023 short of the same name, which qualified for an Oscar, also starring Marvin.
The premiere was both exciting and insightful as the cast and crew celebrated bringing this bold feature to the screen at the last installment of the festival in Utah.
Mager spoke on why she felt it was her calling to tell this story in a time where school shootings are a constant threat and how the weight of shootings hangs heavily upon students.
“I knew that I wanted to tell a high school coming-of-age story, and I knew that I had to tell a story that meets our current moment and the challenges that young people face today. The kids in this movie are asking hard questions. They’re going there. People don’t want them to go. They’re not taking no for an answer. They’re bad ass in a way that only a bunch of weirdo, high school misfits trying to put on a musical can be.”
Seventeen-year-old Marvin talked about the importance of the film and how she felt a great responsibility to take on the role of Meg. A teen, wise beyond her years, much like Marvin herself. “Gun violence is an issue that is very personal. It’s personal to me, personal. I think to like every child in the United States. So I think that, well, obviously, like I’ve thankfully never been involved in the sort of events that Meg has had to deal with. I think that every child in America sort of carries that sort of burden or a weight associated with that topic.”
Marvin shared what attracted her to the role of Meg and how she felt the character was not too far off from herself, with Meg’s ambitious nature also inspiring her.
“So much of Meg’s journey is about how she uses art to create change and to create conversations. And so that I think was a really helpful way in for me. And it was also really inspiring as well to sort of watch her journey and to see how motivated she is and how persistent she is. And so, I saw a lot of myself in that, but at the same time, I feel like I learned a lot from her as well.”
Comedian and actress Margaret Cho plays Principal Linda, a departure from her usual fare as an authority figure that the children lean to for support. She believes it’s best to move forward instead of looking back and having an open and honest discussion about the past tragedy that still haunts the hallways.
“I think it’s kind of futility. Like she’s really trying to maintain an order that’s impossible to maintain, I can’t police these children’s pain. I can’t police their trauma. And that’s what I’m trying to do in the film. So, I think it’s important to sort of show the futility of authority in times like this, in situations like this. You know, we have a generation of kids who have grown up with gun violence since before kindergarten.”
Cho continues, “ And so I want audiences to look at this and say, you know, is it worth it? Is it worth it to raise our children in this kind of trauma? Is it worth it for now, a couple of generations in? Is this still okay? We’re the only country in the world that has to cope with this.”
Nuha Jes Izman plays Opal, a classmate of Meg who joins the musical she creates. Izman speaks on the power of musical theater and how it can be used to find catharsis in grief.
“I think there’s something about musical theater and music and theater and performance that helps us feel a little more bold. And that’s what these students needed. They needed to find their voice, and so using musical theater as a vessel to ask the questions that they want to and scream and shout their frustrations, that’s how I feel.”
Star and executive Patrick Wilson’s son, Kal Wilson, is part of the supporting cast, playing a student, Jeremy. Wilson was proud to join his father on the production to tell this subversive and harrowing tale. “Like we experienced lockdown chills, we experienced like school shooting warnings, and I mean it’s just like incredibly important to all of us, just push this out there. Art is meant to like challenges, it’s meant to like challenge norms and make questions that are difficult to answer,” Wilson stated.
Allan Lopez plays Dave, another student who comes on board Meg’s musical. He speaks on how this film asks uncomfortable but important questions that challenge preconceived notions of grief.
“We approach it from the teenager’s perspective, and it is very serious, but it is a dark comedy, and so we’re not afraid to push the boundaries. You’ll see in the movie that it makes the adults very uncomfortable, and so it affects the question ‘is there a right or wrong way to grieve, is there a right or wrong way to process the impossible, the tragedies?’”
Patrick Wilson gave a strong statement after the screening of the film. Providing his perspective and how the current people in power must listen and enact change to protect the next generation from living in fear while learning.
“I think we have to listen to kids and we have to understand their point of view, they are living it, and they, of course, will lead us to the future because God knows we are not doing enough right now.”
The film is still currently seeking distribution.
Watch our entire interview in the video above. And read our interview with Run Amok producer, Julie Christeas, here.
