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‘I Saw the TV Glow’: Jane Schoenbrun on Why Trans Stories Don’t Need to Explain Themselves and How Directing Is Just ‘Angry Sex Between Art and Commerce’
"I Saw the TV Glow" director Jane Schoenbrun explains why they didn't define Justice Smith's character as trans and how filmmaking is like "hate-fucking capitalism."
The shout-out to the AI antagonist of “The Matrix” was posted in the hours after Warner Bros. announced a fifth film in the science-fiction franchise, with writer-director Drew Goddard taking the reins from series creators Lana and Lilly Wachowski, who both came out as trans after the release of the original trilogy. The actor goes on to say they shared several conversations with Schoenbrun about the filmmaker’s own “Maddy.” From production to press, the director has been open about how their own individual experience shaped “TV Glow,” but the film itself is purposefully shackled to its protagonist’s perspective. The director shares that their Q&A gradually divulged into a conversation with students about the “trans predilection for apologizing for your own experience.” It’s a defining tendency of Smith’s uneasy performance; when pressed by Maddy about a romantic interest, Owen is lost for words and can only sheepishly summon, “I like… TV shows.”
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