A Marvellous Christmas | mcu actors

December 14th

Everglow premieres in New York City

Variety | 17.02.13

When director Damian Wilson got the green light for his movie, it wasn't all celebration at first.

"I got the call from the production company and I couldn't wait to start working on it but at the same time, I was completely petrified about it," Wilson told Variety's Jane Rodriguez on Monday evening at the movie's red carpet premiere in New York. "I've been waiting for years to do this film and believe me I won't be reading under any of the comments sections of anything having to do with the movie."

Wilson has a pretty neat movie history: he won a Golden Globe for his previous movie Wolves and was nominated for an Academy Award. It's easy to see where he comes from: his longlife dream is finally happening and he just got this tremendous success; will his new movie be as successful? Will people love it just as much?

The cast also felt the pressure if we trust Luna Wright on this: "It was the hardest project I've ever done because I knew it was Damian's longlife dream to make it and because it's so awaited for," she said. "Damian's work is such a work of art each time and he knew people were waiting for it, waiting for him to create something as amazing as Wolves, so we all felt like we had to deliver to help him do just that."

In Everglow, we follow Olive Johnson who's long term boyfriend cheated on with her best friend. After realising it and getting awfully dumped, she struggles to come to terms with what happened: how did she let that happen? Is it her fault? How could have she been better to avoid this? Why did he cheat on her with her best friend? How could her best friend do that to her? Profundly hurt and depressed, her life turns into a shit show when everything gets sour. Her dad and brother try very hard to cheer her up but there's so much you can do when the person doesn't really want to be helped. That's when William appear, an old time friend she had lost contact with, that she meets back in Central Park. Trying his best to help her, he faces his own struggles as he sometimes finds himself frustrated with Olive and her way of pitying herself.

Playing James is Sebastian Stan, who said he never dreamed of being cast in a Wilson movie. I've watched Wolves and thought it was brilliant, after that, it had become my life mission to find a movie that would make me feel like I worked on a classic. I have that with Marvel but it's a blockbuster and I really wanted to find something as delicate as Damian's work. I never imagined it would come this fast!"

Logan Lerman echoed Stan's statement, saying he also never imagined he would be acting in a Wilson film, especially since his first film had such an enormous impact on his acting.

"When I saw Wolves, I knew I wanted to act in movies like these for the rest of my life," he said. "There's something about the delicacy of the frames, about Damian's work on lights and colors that make his movies so incredible. I never thought I would work with Damian himself!"

Police shut down a block of New York with a tented red carpet leading to the screening at the Ziegfeld Theater. There were a hundred of tickets available for the audience, not to sell but to win after sending a mail with what Everglow means to them. "I chose the winners," Damian Wilson explains. "I usually picked people who sounded like they could use a night off, people who spoke about depression, about suicidal thoughts, about struggles in their daily lives. I wanted them to have a night off to watch a movie that represents them, that shows what struggling with mental health looks like, to show them that there can be a way out but you have to reach out a hand for others to help. That it's okay to need help". During the afterparty, the cast was there for everyone to meet, whether you were a journalist or a fan. Some people took selfies with Sebastian Stan, some with Harrison Ford. The two stars though were the Johnson siblings, who took time to discuss of mental health issues with people who struggle or with journalists. The first question Luna Wright would ask to audience members who come to her is "Did I portray your struggle accurately? Did you feel fairly represented?" Audience members appreciate the gesture, answer that she indeed did justice to their struggles, that they appreciate the fact that the romance between her and Stan's character is nowhere curing her but that he shakes her up into consulting specialists.