Bella Thorne’s an auteurist and she doesn’t even know it. A proud autodidact, she’s recently taught herself the first lesson of film school, and begun thinking about art as an expression of a single entity’s creative sensibility. Independently reaching the same conclusion as the Cahiers staff is just one product of her tireless curiosity, a spirit of inquisitiveness that’s fueled her through a dozen separate enterprises and an eclectic body of work. She’s writing. She’s directing (porn, sometimes). She’s acting. She’s rapping. She’s designing clothes and makeup. She’s promoting her proprietary weed brand. She’s always on, even as quarantine has ground most lives to a screeching halt.
From the grab bag of possible topics for this interview, we’ve landed on her latest feature “Infamous,” a reworking of the Bonnie and Clyde narrative casting Thorne and Jake Manley as killers on the run chronicling their exploits on Instagram. The role is a natural fit for Thorne, not just because of the preponderance of neon-colored wigs or because she speaks social media like a second language, but because she likes room to perform. She exhibits trace amounts of golden-age-Nicolas-Cage energy as Arielle Summers; it’s pronounced like AH-riel, not like the princess from “The Little Mermaid,” and she’ll go apeshit on anyone unlucky enough to mix them up. Her turn is messy, over-the-top, and impossible to look away from in the best way, all of which doubles as a first impression of Thorne herself.
But past the headlines and manufactured scandals, there’s a young woman with tremendous motivation and developing focus.
The most obvious place to start — what made you want to take this role in particular? I’m sure you get sent a lot of scripts.
I loved this one when I found out the director was also the writer. I’ve become more and more stingy about that — as I keep going in my career, I pretty much only want to work with a director if they’re the writer, or if they did a heavy rewrite of the script. I stand a better chance when the director also writes because they’ve got the complete vision for this world. Too many cooks in the kitchen can start a fire, and that’s happened one too many times on movies. With writer-directors, though, that just makes me feel more comfortable. I want the vision to be concise and definitive. I don’t like wavering, or being in the middle.
I loved how in Josh’s writing, he never made social media feel forced like he’s an outsider. I read so many scripts, my god, and everyone wants to put social media in the story somehow. ‘It’s the coolest new thing, look at us, we’re relevant.’ But that gets boring, lemme tell ya. He never made it feel forced in the script. I was really enamored of that part, reading it.
When I talked to Josh, I asked him, ‘If I do this, can I be completely crazy though?’ I want to be a nutso eccentric, way-out-of-pocket, completely you’re-like-what-the-fuck. This girl is reaching all different levels in this movie. She’s a fun character to see on screen, you’re fucking falling in love with her one second and hating her the next. I really wanted to bring that aspect, and I was worried because they really stand out. If she’s walking in a crowd, you’re looking at her, she has that thing. But Josh gave me the reins to have fun and get there, so many little ad-libs and quirks. He let me make her my own, and make her wild. A lot of people are scared of that in filmmaking because they want a lead character with redeeming qualities, someone relatable, someone you can root for. Most people don’t want to make the other movie, and I love that Josh did.
The film gets into the seductive side of social media along with the toxic side. What would you say is the greatest pitfall of being active on social media?
Not realizing that your words can have so much power, which is my main theme in the movie’s messaging. It’s that we can sit behind the screen and think what we’re doing is no big deal, but we’re so obsessed with ‘we’ve never seen this before, it’s so enticing to look at.’ We’re obsessed with the idea of digesting new and crazier content. It started with the Viners, and look how far it’s gone since then.
Are you big on TikTok?
I was watching a lot of TikToks, but then I stopped, so I’m not up on the most recent trends. But my mom is, and she never lets me forget it. People are doing wild stuff — I’ve seen the one where people rip out the hair, the one where boys try to wax their face and they end up bleeding. It’s like what the fuck, why would they do this to themselves?
That gets into what I’d say is the creepiest thing of all, which is when someone loses track of whether they’re doing something for social media, or just as part of their life. Does that line ever get blurry?
Yeah, definitely, the lines get blurred. I decided that there was not going to be much of a line for me. I was just going to be who I am, say what I want to say, and — well, clearly, I’m out there. I didn’t want to worry about that. I hate lying. I don’t want to be called a liar. Everyone’s going to know my life, they’ll put it out before I get to it and that’s just sad. They take all these special moments or these special things about me, and they use them for their advantage. It just makes me feel gross. I decided that the line would be thin, between my public persona and my life. I said fuck it, I’m tired of explaining myself.
Keeping it extremely real is one of the things that the public likes about you, but that can sometimes create friction with fame. You’ve got a lot of people who’d like you to behave a certain way, whether that’s fans or the publicity people working for you. Is there ever tension there?
You know when signing on with Bella Thorne that you’re getting this person who’s outspoken, demanding of your attention, who says, ‘Listen to me, I’m speaking, I have something to say and I’m going to be real about the way I say it.’ I’m going to be completely me. That puts me up for a lot of criticism and vulnerability. People can pick on that, like, ‘I’m gonna pick on her about her soap opera. I’m gonna pick on her acne, call her a drug addict. I’m gonna pick on how she didn’t know how to read, how she’s dyslexic, I’m gonna say she’s fucking stupid.’ It goes on. People are horrible. But that never stops me from inspiring other people or letting people know that no matter where you come from or what circumstances in life you face, if you put your mind to that shit, anything is possible. If I was gonna let a bunch of fuckin’ randos change me, that’d be letting them win.
I’m curious about your life under quarantine. You’re someone who always seems to have ten things going on at any given moment, so it must be a huge shift to have to stay in place and be a little inactive.
Funny enough, I’m working like crazy. I really can’t keep still. I’m studying that more and more as I grow up. What’s wrong with me, why can’t I ever just [deep sigh] take a fuckin’ break, Bella. But it’s like I’ve never accomplished enough, that feeling sets in and makes me feel bad about myself. We face that a lot, this generation, seeing everyone’s goals and you feel like you’re moving so slow. You’re never happy.
You’re staying with family?
Yeah, my mom is here, and my sister and I live together. We’ve just been making hella music, working on this album shit. We’ve got a studio in the house. We’re also building a little writer’s room because we’re doing so much writing. I’ve got the Fox development deal, producing, reading other projects, seeing what fits, directing on my own and writing on my own — it’s a lot. It’s so much redrafting. There’s a movie I’m working on, where I get to do an official redraft. It’s an amazing director-writer, and I’m starring, and this is my first time getting to do rewrites on someone’s final draft. I’m so honored and lucky to be in a writer’s room. I fuckin’ love writing and directing. So much of that, my goodness, I’m tired. But I’m fucking excited!
I’ve found it hard to be productive while cooped up at home, but it sounds like you’re not having that trouble.
It is hard to be productive because moods set in and weeks go by. I have a hard time finishing things. Everything is becoming more difficult, but I’m just forcing myself. I tell myself, ‘Nope, don’t care if I’m in a mood, gotta do it anyway. How else are you gonna get shit done than just fucking doing it?’
“Infamous” is available now on VOD.