Théodore Pellerin plays a parasocial obsessive who craves proximity to fame in writer/director Alex Russell's impressive, uneasy debut feature "Lurker," premiering at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Set in a present-day Los Angeles where everyone is defined not by who they are but by what they do, "Lurker" follows Matthew (the rising and wonderful Canadian actor Pellerin), who becomes obsessed with pop star Oliver (Archie Madekwe) after a chance encounter. Oliver ropes Matthew into his social orbit in ways that start to feel exploitative, potentially to use him as a videographer to document his rising success (a level of fame Oliver himself is becoming uncomfortable with).

But their relationship becomes much more parasitic and toxic -- and even homoerotic -- in Russell's tense and absorbing film, one of the most buzzed-about debuts playing Sundance.

"The characters in this movie are archetypes," Russell, known for his writing and supervising producing work on TV's "The Bear" and "Beef," told IndieWire. "I've seen every character in this movie 10 times over. Relating to Matthew is very important because the movie is subjective in that way, whereas a lot of movies about an obsessive person, even like a 'King of Comedy,' it's sort of objective, and there's a separation between the audience and the character, and it's a little more like, 'Oh, look at this crazy guy that's not me.' In showing the movie to people, people are sort of guiltily relating to him. On a very basic level, people can relate to the idea of 'if you want to do anything that you weren't born into,' you have to put yourself out there somehow."

There are hints throughout the movie -- which filmed on location in L.A. last year and sadly features a house that was burned down in the Altadena fire -- that Matthew and Oliver's dynamic could become potentially more dangerous. Matthew is a classic hanger-on, whose own identity is mutable, molding himself to whoever is around him and shining their light on him.

"To me, it was a very American story, an L.A. story, mostly because there is the sense, in America, I think but probably everywhere in the West, that mainstream culture celebrities [are] positioned or placed as a form of deities, like gods," Pellerin said. "The thing that people aspire to or love to and look up to and take down. ... He [Matthew] enters that world completely in awe and then he learns of the mechanism and gets really disillusioned."

In terms of casting, Russell said that by coincidence, "On Becoming a God in Central Florida" and "Family First" star Pellerin's audition was the first tape he saw. "I remember seeing it having never directed anything. I was like, 'Oh, my god, if this is the floor, who's going to play this part?,'" Russell said. "He's so good, and he's so perfect at portraying ambiguous intentions, which is so of this character. You're watching him and you're like, 'Is he an OK guy? What are we doing here?' He's also not opaque. He's very expressive. The intrigue of 'where are you going with this?' was specific to him.

In terms of "Saltburn" breakout Madekwe's character, Russell said, "I think there are probably a lot of artists who will see themselves in this character. What's great is making him British and disguising the influences in a way. ... I made a playlist that Archie contributed to of artists in that vein that we could think about it, what their merch looks like, what their songs sound like. Thankfully, Archie is British but he understands the world of this movie and the kinds of people in this world. He listens to this type of music." (The original music is written by record producer and DJ Kenny Beats.)

Madekwe read the script around the beginning of COVID and said he heard nothing. "Years go by, and I am in New York, and my agent calls me and says, 'Alex Russell wants to meet you for Oliver.'" (He initially auditioned to play Matthew.) "It turned out that Alex had seen you in a coffee shop in L.A. and had watched me for an hour, and then decided that I could play the part off of that. ... I found this out months later. It was very strange, meant to be."

As for the script, Madekwe said it "felt very recognizable to me. I've got a lot of friends in music and in that specific world Alex knows so well. It plays with that idea of power in L.A. very, very well."

"I loved being in L.A. and also just doing the teaser [before filming] was great research because Alex took me to a few parties and things, and it was interesting to see how social dynamics play out. It's so much about that. How do you make your plays? How do you take it? Who gets to have an offer of a place in social situations? So it was very interesting," said Pellerin, who here gives one of his best performances as an overwhelmingly lonely L.A. hanger-on.

"Lurker" is currently shopping for U.S. distribution, but word on the ground at Sundance is already strong for the satirical thriller.