00:00Name, we're here for Alpha Gang, you're watching Hollywood Reporter.
00:02Yeah, okay.
00:05Hi, Lily Rosebeth.
00:08I thought we were saying hi.
00:10Oh, I'm sorry.
00:11No hi, no hi.
00:13Lily Rosebeth, with the movie Alpha Gang, and you're watching The Hollywood Reporter.
00:21Not bad, you guys.
00:23Not bad.
00:38Hi, I'm Lily Rosebeth, and I play Alpha Four.
00:41I'm a part of The Alpha Gang, and, you know, I think that all of the members of The Alpha
00:47Gang are kind of like on a journey of like finding, you know, discovering kind of what
00:53it means to be human, and also realizing, you know, kind of their own individuality over
01:00the course of the movie, and I think Alpha Four is like very much on that journey, and
01:06yeah, I guess I shouldn't say too much more.
01:09That's good.
01:10Thanks.
01:12I'm Kelvin Harrison, Jr., and I play Alpha Three, and I'm similar to Lily.
01:16My Alpha is also trying to just find his way through the gang.
01:21Yeah, pretty much.
01:23I'm David Zellner, writer and co-director with Nathan Zellner.
01:28Hello, I'm Nathan Zellner, and I'm a co-director with my brother David, and Alpha Gang is just
01:35this, you know, crazy movie about a group of aliens who have come to Earth in the form
01:43of a 50s biker gang, and they're in human form for the first time and discovering what
01:50it's like to be human and what it's like to have emotions, and we sent them on this mission
01:56to conquer Earth, but it kind of starts unraveling as those human characteristics conflict with
02:05their goals.
02:07I don't know, we just love the idea of the story of the, like, alien invasion, I guess,
02:14but it's from their point of view, and so they have this, and then because they're humans
02:18for the first time, like, they have a certain sense of innocence and almost like kid logic
02:23in how they kind of approach their mission.
02:28Why the biker gang, besides the fact that the jackets just look cool?
02:31Well, I mean, the part of it is it just looks very, we just love aesthetically the way it
02:35looked, but then also there's something interesting about that kind of the 50s leather jacket,
02:40black leather, you know, biker look, and how it kind of represents, like, the rebel or the outsider,
02:47and not just from that time period, but just how it's been appropriated throughout, you know,
02:52different cultures, different countries over the decades.
02:54It always, it kind of signifies, like, the rebel or the outsider, and they seem like
02:59the consummate outsiders to this world they're in.
03:02Did you guys all keep your jackets?
03:05No.
03:06You'll get them, they'll be coming.
03:08They're still in Hungary.
03:10I wouldn't have, yeah, yeah, I wouldn't have dared to run off with it, but I should have.
03:13I mean, they fit like a glove, which I know it is.
03:17Like a glove.
03:18Like a leather glove, yeah.
03:20Okay, do you ever keep anything from set?
03:23Oh, totally.
03:24Yeah, but I don't know, it depends, like.
03:27I still have hats, I still have jackets, I still paint, I still.
03:30I still.
03:31That's kind of what I do.
03:32I still paint.
03:34No, no, but nothing really cool.
03:36I haven't, no, nothing really cool.
03:38Just jeans.
03:40I'm just a pair of a couple good jeans.
03:42I feel like, yeah, I have, like, a couple things.
03:45I've gotten a couple things, like, as a gift, as, like, a wrap gift kind of thing.
03:50But, I don't know, I'm, like, too, I'm, like, too, too, I'm not, I'm not, I don't know, I'm not,
03:56like, ballsy enough to steal too many things.
03:58I'm, like, but I've gotten a couple things.
04:01A couple, like, pieces of, you know, clothing, things like that.
04:04You guys are coming off of Telluride.
04:08What, what were your favorite memories from that, from debuting that?
04:11And also just kind of the way that you get to hobnob around with actors and stuff in a way
04:17that you normally wouldn't.
04:18What?
04:20Well, this has just been, we've always, we've wanted to do this, an ensemble cast like this, with a cast
04:26you've never seen together.
04:29It sort of reminded us of, like, these old, like, Dirty Dozen kind of films or whatever, where it's, like,
04:33this all-star international cast.
04:36And almost have this shorthand before you even see it that it's, like, something new and interesting.
04:41And it's been, yeah, I mean, it's been really fun watching it with an audience and, because it's completely absurd
04:51and ridiculous and you get the immediate gratification of people responding to that.
04:54But then there's, I don't know, we try to balance that with poignancy and sometimes, you know, both going on
05:00at the same time.
05:01And it's been, you know, it's just really gratifying watching how people respond.
05:07What did you get?
05:07You went, right?
05:08Did you go?
05:09No, I was able to meet.
05:10You were there, weren't you?
05:11Yeah.
05:11Until you're right?
05:12It was so fun.
05:12I mean, it's just awesome, like, even hearing people quote the movie on the streets afterwards.
05:18And you get to hear their excitement and you hear just certain lines that you kind of go, oh, I
05:21love that they latched onto that.
05:23So it was super satisfying and exciting to just be a part of that experience.
05:30And it's just so chill there.
05:31So I just love it.
05:31Yeah.
05:32Did any of you guys, had any of you guys met before?
05:34The ensemble cast, like, you're kind of picking people that we wouldn't necessarily expect to see on screen together.
05:40But had any of you guys ever worked together or met?
05:44No.
05:45No?
05:45I had met Leia super briefly, like, years ago.
05:50But extremely briefly.
05:52I didn't know.
05:53I didn't know anybody.
05:54I worked with Riley back in, like, in my first movie ever.
05:57I worked with Riley.
05:58And she plays, like, this woman who has a husband and a kid.
06:03And I'm, like, this part of a family.
06:05I was a younger kid.
06:06And I just remember I had a big crush on her.
06:09And I would have, like, these, like, dreams about her.
06:11Wait, in the movie?
06:12Yeah, it's, like, a horror film.
06:14What movie is this?
06:14She, like, throws up in my mouth and stuff.
06:17Oh, my God.
06:18Oh, yeah.
06:18So we were really intimate before this.
06:21Wait, what movie is that?
06:23It's called It Comes at Night, anyway.
06:25Oh, yeah.
06:25Okay, okay.
06:26Yeah.
06:27But no one else.
06:28You hadn't met anyone else.
06:29So what do you guys do, like, to what's the team bonding exercise icebreaker?
06:36Yeah, the first thing we did was we had, we brought everyone in and had them do some machine gun
06:43training in a gun range.
06:45So the first time a lot of them.
06:46That was the battle thrift.
06:47Yeah.
06:47It was like, hey, everybody, let's go fire some machine guns in the basement of this gun club.
06:52Oh, it's in a basement.
06:53Yeah.
06:53Not what I would have thought.
06:54Okay.
06:55So that was pretty fun.
06:58That was fun, yeah.
06:59That was a good, like, bonding exercise.
07:02Because I was really nervous.
07:03It's not something I'm, like, you know, that comes naturally to me.
07:07And I was, so I felt like, yeah, it was a fun bonding experience to see, you know, everybody getting
07:12up and, you know, taking their turn.
07:14Yeah, because it's not every day that you fire machine guns.
07:17And so it was nice to see everybody kind of cheer everyone on of, like, getting into the characters that
07:24way.
07:24And then we had just a great time on set, you know, like, everybody got the tone of the movie.
07:31And I think one of the more, some of the more fun days was when we had everyone dancing.
07:36There's a lot of dancing in the movie where the gang is sort of experiencing emotion and stuff through music.
07:44And it was kind of nice to see how the group would kind of interpret these songs and come up
07:53with their own dances.
07:55Was anyone particularly good or bad at the machine, well, dancing as well, I guess, but on the first day
08:02when you were learning the guns?
08:04And everyone was great.
08:05There's a little kid in the movie, and he was the best.
08:08He was so good, and he was so good.
08:09He was, like, scary good.
08:11He was shockingly good with the machine gun.
08:13But everyone was great.
08:14Yeah, yeah.
08:14Yeah.
08:15Oh, my God.
08:16I totally should have led off with this, but what is, I can probably guess your guys' take on this,
08:21but what kind of thoughts did you think about alien life before you made this movie?
08:27Like, did you think about alien invasions?
08:29Did you think about what's out there?
08:31Like, kind of where was that in your thought process before?
08:35I definitely believe in aliens.
08:38I mean, I feel like, I just think, yeah, the universe is so vast and, you know, and massive,
08:45and we're just, like, so tiny, you know, at the end of the day.
08:50So I definitely believe that there's, like, life beyond.
08:53I don't know what it looks like or what form it takes.
08:55Yeah, how do you picture, like, what do you see in your head when you think about alien life?
08:58I genuinely, like, if I try to even, like, conjure up a picture in my head, it's like my brain
09:04goes into, like, overdrive
09:06because I feel like there's so many, there probably are, like, so many different, you know, life forms out there,
09:11and I just can't even, if I start to think about how big the universe truly is, it, like, sends
09:16me into a tailspin.
09:17I don't know if you guys feel the same, but, yeah, that's my, that's my thinking on it.
09:21Well, existential, what about you?
09:22I mean, I don't think about it too, too much, but...
09:26Now's the time.
09:27But, you know, not that I am thinking about it.
09:31I sometimes look at, like, animals and I kind of go, uh, I wonder if aliens do exist,
09:36do they exist sometimes in, like, pets or something?
09:38I'm always thinking about things that are in my actual, like, vantage point in the moment.
09:43Like, thinking about them outside of the universe sometimes feels, like, like, dreamy,
09:49but I'm like, if they're here, then what if they're already, like, here?
09:52And then sometimes I wonder if I am one.
09:56So there's that.
09:57Yeah.
10:00I mean, I don't, I think there's something, but I don't know, yeah, beyond that, I don't know.
10:04I mean, and for purposes of Alpha Gang, we intentionally left that really mysterious,
10:08what they were before they were put in human form,
10:10because ultimately it's about them exploring the human condition in their own, you know,
10:16kind of awkward way.
10:18Yeah, and I think one of the other things we, you know, they're observing these humans
10:22and kind of seeing how humanity, you know, is self-destructive,
10:26and I think if aliens exist, I think they would come down to this planet
10:30and kind of view it as that.
10:33Like, it's just kind of the cycle of, you know, human conflict and,
10:39but how complex that is because it's balanced with moments of joy and love,
10:44and I just think we're kind of very complex and interesting to watch,
10:50and I don't think I see aliens as wanting to integrate and more just observe.
10:56Yeah, that's fair.
10:57If you guys, what would it be about Earth that would, like, get you guys first?
11:01If you were, you know, dropped in like your characters were,
11:05and they start to kind of get attracted to certain things,
11:08what would it be for you?
11:09Like, get you in what way, like, make you...
11:11Make you want to stay.
11:12Make you want to stay, yeah.
11:13Puppies.
11:14Puppies.
11:15Did you just go to the puppies?
11:17We have visited the puppies today.
11:21Um, I don't, I don't, I don't know,
11:23because it's hard to check, because it's like, what,
11:25like, what perspective, like, are you talking about, like,
11:27the aliens that we, like, us in the movie?
11:30Because I'm like, I don't...
11:31You as you.
11:32Me as well.
11:34The puppies.
11:35I don't know, yeah, maybe you're like,
11:38like food, I guess?
11:39Like a delicious meal, maybe?
11:42I'd be like...
11:42Badminton.
11:43Yeah.
11:44Maybe I'd be like...
11:45Who could live without badminton?
11:46Yeah.
11:48Yeah.
11:48What about you, Cal?
11:50I think one of the reasons we make,
11:51we make films is to go to shoot in exotic places,
11:55because there's just so many beautiful places to,
11:57on this planet,
11:58so that might be something that's unique.
12:01It's not just all one sort of, uh, geological,
12:06you know, thing.
12:08Like, when you look at other planets, like Mars,
12:10it's all red rocks,
12:11but here we've got seas and mountains and forests
12:14and all this beautiful stuff,
12:15and I know for Dave and myself,
12:17whenever we see stuff like that,
12:18it's like, well, we wish we had a camera and a crew
12:20and some characters to put in it.
12:22I think that's what inspires us to make movies
12:26as much as other things.
12:28We'll be right back for you guys.
12:28Ciao.
12:29Go to hell on this planet,
12:30No more.
12:31No more.
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