{"id":206496,"date":"2026-03-26T05:30:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T05:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/206496\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T05:30:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T05:30:42","slug":"a-different-kind-of-miami-story-the-making-of-edie-arnold-is-a-loser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/206496\/","title":{"rendered":"A different kind of Miami story: the making of \u2018Edie Arnold is a Loser\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEdie Arnold is a Loser\u201d Courtesy of Infigo Films<\/p>\n

Flashy strippers, cocaine-fueled parties, and colorful lifeguard posts on South Beach: These are the things that probably come to mind when thinking of the city of Miami. After all, it\u2019s how the media has portrayed the city I\u2019ve called home for the past nine years.<\/p>\n

Of the many films set in Miami, only a few take place in Coral Gables (I\u2019m looking at you, 2022 reboot of \u201cFather of the Bride\u201d), the backdrop for my middle and high school years. So you could understand my excitement when I learned that \u201cEdie Arnold is a Loser\u201d wasn\u2019t just set in Miami, but in Coral Gables. Finally, a coming-of-age story set where I actually came of age.<\/p>\n

\u201cEdie Arnold is a Loser\u201d is about Edie, an outcast at an all-girls Catholic high school who navigates various intrapersonal relationships, from the mean girls at school, to the altar boy everyone knows and loves (he listens to the Yeah Yeah Yawehs!), to her mother, who still seeks approval from her high school\u2019s resident mean girl. After being pigeonholed into playing drums and organ for their church choir \u2014 because the next best extracurriculars were celibacy club and straight-straight alliance \u2014 Edie and her best friend Frances take their church gig to the next level and start a punk rock band.<\/p>\n

The day after \u201cEdie Arnold is a Loser\u201d premiered at SXSW Film & TV Festival, Student Life sat down with directors Megan Rico and Kade Atwood, along with leads Adi Madden Cabrera and McKenna Tuckett.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The film was both Rico and Atwood\u2019s directorial debut, and also the first feature in which Cabrera and Tuckett acted. Rico, who also wrote the script, explained that growing up attending a Catholic school in Miami made it difficult to feel accepted, primarily because she did not fit into what she described as \u201ca very homogeneous beauty standard,\u201d especially standing at 6 feet, 1 inch tall. This feeling manifested itself into a script Rico wrote 10 years ago, which ultimately became a quirky, energetic coming-of-age story.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, without realizing it, I was just working through all those feelings, because when I revisited it like 10 years later, I was like, \u2018Oh, okay, you\u2019re really dealing with some stuff.\u2019 But I think it really was just kind of an outlet, a way for me to make mean jokes about people that made me feel insecure,\u201d Rico said, laughing.<\/p>\n

Similar in many ways to Rico, Atwood grew up feeling like \u201ca loner, outcast,\u201d and a \u201closer.\u201d He thought that he had to fit himself into the mold society seemingly cast for him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that was never the case. I just needed to be who I was and find my community of people that were also weird and strange, a little quirky,\u201d Atwood said. \u201cAnd so I think for anyone that might feel like they don\u2019t necessarily fit in, don\u2019t try changing yourself. Just try to change the environment around you and the people that you\u2019re surrounding yourself with.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Rico initially showed Atwood her script, she realized that her Catholic upbringing in Miami wasn\u2019t as universal an experience as she\u2019d thought.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was like, \u2018How did you come up with this?\u2019 and I\u2019m like, \u2018I lived it, brother!\u2019\u201d Rico said. In telling a story that closely parallels Rico\u2019s own upbringing, Atwood added that \u201cYou\u2019re letting other people into a piece of yourself, in a way that\u2019s nice. It\u2019s also weird, because [the story] is very specific, but then I also relate to it. It\u2019s so strange how the more specific a story gets, it actually then becomes more universal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film includes moments of animated magical realism and lively cinematography akin to \u201cScott Pilgrim vs. the World,\u201d directed by Edgar Wright. Edie\u2019s imagination comes to life with the help of sketched animations on screen, adding another dimension to the film\u2019s storytelling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Edgar Wright, in general, is a big influence on both of us. We love comedy, and we love visual comedy. We just love when there\u2019s a visual component to the jokes \u2026 and I feel like he\u2019s kind of the king of that,\u201d Rico said, also citing Mel Brooks as another influence on \u201cthe joke density and the rhythm\u201d of her writing. Atwood was especially influenced by the style of the Coen Brothers, in which over-the-shoulder shots appear rarely, if ever, and many conversation scenes include wide shots amongst shot-reverse-shots.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite the film being their debut, Cabrera and Tuckett (who star as Edie and Frances) had the playful chemistry of two longtime friends, making for a dynamic drummer-singer duo throughout the film.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re pretty lucky. We have a pretty natural chemistry,\u201d Cabrera said.<\/p>\n

Tuckett comes from a musical theatre background (a couple of months after wrapping the film\u2019s 10-day shoot, she played Regina George in her high school production of the musical \u201cMean Girlsl\u201d), so acting as the lead singer of a band was not far off from what she already knew how to do. Cabrera, on the other hand, learned to play the drums and sing poorly for the role. To learn the instrument, Cabrera took lessons from her coworker\u2019s husband, a skilled drummer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had always wanted to learn an instrument, and so I was excited at the opportunity to do it,\u201d Cabrera said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Frances is Edie\u2019s over-the-top best friend who provides just the right amount of push for Edie to first tiptoe and eventually leap outside of her comfort zone. She\u2019s loud, adventurous, and unapologetically herself. These qualities, arguably distinct from the media\u2019s typical portrayal of women, were some of the characteristics that drew Tuckett to Frances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, being in this industry, there\u2019s an expectation, especially for women, to shrink and to fit the molds that are set out for you, \u2026 and I really think that there should be more media where there are characters who are loud and big, and there\u2019s nothing wrong with that,\u201d Tuckett said.<\/p>\n

Despite featuring buildings with Spanish architecture, Florida license plates, and 305 area codes, \u201cEdie Arnold is a Loser\u201d was actually filmed in Utah, not in Coral Gables. Rico and Atwood had previously worked on a sketch comedy show together in Utah for nearly six years. During that time, they became part of a strong film community from which they pulled the film\u2019s crew. Their ties to the filmmaking community in Utah and their indie-sized movie budget were key factors that influenced their decision to shoot in Utah instead of Miami.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I talk shit on Miami at the beginning, but I don\u2019t hate it. I love it there, because it\u2019s such a specific place, and it\u2019s so beautiful, and there\u2019s not a lot of cities in America like it,\u201d Rico said.<\/p>\n

To students at WashU involved in creative projects, especially filmmaking, Rico imparted valuable advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have free time, you should be making stuff because one, it\u2019s so fun, and two, you\u2019re never gonna have this many people around you who are trying to do the same thing as you. And I feel like that\u2019s how you really learn,\u201d Rico said.<\/p>\n

So, to any students contemplating taking a movie production class, joining the cast or crew of the next Film Club production, or simply making art with friends, take it from a director and leading actress whose debut feature film just premiered at SXSW Film & TV Festival and was recently accepted into the Miami Film Festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cFind your creative outlet and do it even if you\u2019re not good at it, or even if you won\u2019t achieve anything else from it except for your own personal fulfillment. It\u2019s so important to just do it and make your art,\u201d Cabrera said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEdie Arnold is a Loser\u201d premiered at SXSW 2026. The film is currently seeking nationwide distribution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cEdie Arnold is a Loser\u201d Courtesy of Infigo Films Flashy strippers, cocaine-fueled parties, and colorful lifeguard posts on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":{"0":"post-206496","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-miami","9":"tag-miami-headlines","10":"tag-miami-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}