'I Saw The TV Glow' Director Talks Getting Its Phoebe Bridgers Cameo, And Who She Approached First For Banger ‘Teen Angst’ Soundtrack

Interview with Jane Schoenbrun and Justice Smith

Transcript

00:00Curious about the story behind this Claw Machine song,

00:03incredible sequence with Phoebe Bridgers and Sloppy Jane.

00:06I was curious, where in the process did you hear it the first time?

00:10Before we shot the film, I had written it into the script with fake lyrics.

00:16And I just knew that I really wanted us to kind of cut into this club

00:21right around the halfway point of the movie.

00:24And I kind of had this idea of the song as a texture that brings you to this new space

00:31at this very crucial moment in the film when Maddie and Owen have reconnected.

00:35And I knew that that was where the titular line would be.

00:39I knew that the first line of that song had to be, I saw the TV glow.

00:43Yeah, and was a huge fan of Phoebe's and of Hayley's and got in touch with them

00:50and kind of pitched them on it.

00:51And I made them a playlist called Interior Goth Club of, you know,

00:56like the kinds of like teen angst songs that I had imagined.

01:00And Hayley, yeah, just started sending me voicemails of Claw Machine.

01:04And it was really like kind of all there from the very beginning in this,

01:08you know, even though I think it was just like her on piano,

01:10it was still this like incredibly orchestral.

01:14Yeah, I remember like listening to demos of it with crew,

01:19like when we were on Location Scouts.

01:20I remember my DP, Eric, going, this is a hit.

01:24And I was just like, yeah, I agree.

01:27And, you know, you have so many amazing people on the album.

01:30I was curious, like, who did you, do you remember who you reached out first?

01:33Like, I need this person on this movie.

01:36Great question.

01:37Well, I was working with Alex from the very beginning on the score

01:40because he was my composer on my last film.

01:42And I just, I want to work with him anytime he wants to work with me.

01:46He's a genius.

01:47I think the first person, because I had wanted to meet an artist named Francis Quinlan,

01:53who's in a band called Hopalong, just was a huge fan of that band for a long, long time.

01:59And I knew that them and Alex were friends.

02:01And so I think early on, I just asked Alex for an intro to Francis.

02:05And a few of the other artists I had, like, crossed paths with in various iterations.

02:09I remember Draft Majesty was another early one where I was like, that's the vibe of the movie.

02:14And it was also just a collaboration with A24, you know, really working with them

02:17and, like, brainstorming artists that we both thought would be really exciting.

02:21So it kind of happened organically.