John Early and Kate Berlant make you laugh and cry in new influencer satire
John Early makes his directorial debut with 'Maddie's Secret', playing a dishwasher who dreams of becoming a food influencer while battling an eating disorder.
Comedic duo John Early and Kate Berlant reunite for 'Maddie's Secret', Early's directorial debut. The film follows Maddie Ralph, a wide-eyed dishwasher who longs to share her gooey, crispy, umami-packed culinary creations with the world as a food influencer. But as she gains viral fame, an old eating disorder (bulimia) re-emerges, which she tries to disguise as morning sickness from a phantom pregnancy.
Early, who plays Maddie, says the film is both a pointed influencer satire and a rosy melodrama, inspired by 1980s and 1990s TV movies about bulimia, which he calls 'perverted' and 'sensationalistic'. Berlant plays Maddie's lesbian best friend Deena. She recalls growing up in LA, secretly using her parents' Weight Watchers calorie counter and buying SlimFast at age 15 despite weighing 85 pounds.
The film shifts from zany comedy to dramatic territory when Maddie collapses and enters a treatment center. Early deliberately avoids blending genres into a 'weak middle ground' like dramedy. 'Maddie's Secret' opens in US theaters on June 19; UK and Australian dates TBA.
