{"id":111574,"date":"2026-01-25T00:26:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T00:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/111574\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T00:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T00:26:17","slug":"how-charli-xcx-became-the-new-queen-of-indie-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/111574\/","title":{"rendered":"How Charli XCX became the new queen of indie film"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARK CITY, Utah \u2014 This is the year Charli XCX is ready to let \u201cbrat\u201d die.<\/p>\n

The British pop star, whose sixth studio album became a cultural and commercial phenomenon synonymous with an attitude of spiky independence in 2024, is moving on to a new passion: film. And she has unofficially launched her new chapter here at the Sundance Film Festival with \u201cThe Moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The A24 film, directed by Aidan Zamiri and co-written by Zamiri and Bertie Brandes, is a satire about Charli\u2019s life at the height of her fame, at the end of \u201cbrat summer\u201d in 2024 as she was preparing to embark on her first arena tour.<\/p>\n

The movie, which will open in theaters Jan. 30, stars Charli as herself, Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd as a pompous director trying to take over her tour and Rosanna Arquette as a steely record label head, and it includes cameos from stars like Kylie Jenner, Julia Fox and Rachel Sennott.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, unlike the me in the film, I am sort of like really wanting \u2018brat\u2019 to stop and actually pivot, like as far away as possible,\u201d Charli said from the stage of Sundance\u2019s 2,500-seat Eccles Theatre. \u201cAnd that\u2019s not because I don\u2019t love it. It\u2019s just because I think for all of us as artists, you want to challenge yourself and \u2026 totally switch the creative soup that you\u2019re in and go and live in a different bowl for a while and feel enriched by that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe cast of “The Moment” at the premiere Friday night.sundanceorg<\/p>\n

Charli is definitely entering new creative territory in 2026. In addition to \u201cThe Moment,\u201d she has acting roles in two other films at Sundance, Gregg Araki\u2019s \u201cI Want Your Sex,\u201d in which she plays a character who fakes an orgasm with Cooper Hoffman, and an art world satire called \u201cThe Gallerist\u201d with Natalie Portman and Zach Galifianakis, which premieres Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey call it XCX Dance I hear,\u201d Zamiri joked onstage when festival director Eugene Hernandez mentioned Charli\u2019s diverse slate.<\/p>\n

She also wrote the soundtrack<\/a> for the new Warner Bros. film \u201cWuthering Heights,\u201d starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, which opens Feb. 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Moment,\u201d however, is the project that showcases Charli front and center.<\/p>\n

The artist previously described<\/a> a brat as someone who likes to party, \u201csays some dumb things sometimes\u201d and is \u201chonest, blunt and a little bit volatile.\u201d After the release of \u201cbrat,\u201d the album became an aesthetic, with its signature green color and typeface turning up in memes and even in messaging from the Kamala Harris campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A24A24 and Charli XCX created a “the moment generator” online, where fans can create their own neon, all caps text similar to the film’s aesthetic.bratgenerator.com<\/p>\n

In the film, the once-underground club artist is seen feeling disoriented by her new mainstream success and barraged by people who want to capitalize on it in questionable ways. She gets all kinds of advice, including from Jenner, who suggests, \u201cThe second you think people are getting sick of you, that\u2019s when you have to go even harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I am, as an artist, quite a volatile person,\u201d Charli said onstage after the premiere. \u201cAnd nice, though. I am quite nice too \u2026 right? But having been in the music industry since I was 16, it\u2019s like I\u2019ve gone through various different stages in my career where I\u2019ve felt on top of the world or felt like absolute s—. … For me, I\u2019ve had a lot of practice reacting to all of those different characters in my real life, so I think I was drawing from that really.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CharliFrom left, Charli XCX, Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd and Aidan Zamiri at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 23 in Park City, Utah.Mat Hayward \/ Getty Images for IMDb<\/p>\n

The filmmakers said an inspiration for the movie\u2019s tone was the late Rob Reiner\u2019s 1984 mockumentary \u201cThis Is Spinal Tap.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, if Charli is ready to close the \u201cbrat\u201d chapter, her fans may be harder to convince.<\/p>\n

Ticket holders and festival volunteers lined up outside the theater in the snow on Friday night wearing lime-green beanies \u2014 a promotional item from the film \u2014 and holding copies of the album.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like she has been big for a while, but not as popular as she deserves,\u201d said Hibba Ahmed, 21, from Salt Lake City. <\/p>\n

\u201cI love her confidence. \u2026 The brand that she\u2019s built people are so easily able to recognize and identify with,\u201d said Gabrielle Held, 23, a production assistant from Atlanta. \u201cIt can be interpreted in so many different ways, and everybody can enjoy it for different reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked whether they are ready to say goodbye to \u201cbrat,\u201d some fans in line said they are on board for whatever Charli\u2019s evolution may involve.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said she wants to get into film. She wrote a lot about it in her Substack,\u201d said Emma Roth-Wells, 23, who lives in Salt Lake City, adding that it\u2019s \u201cexciting.\u201d \u201cI do hope she also continues her music.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the movie\u2019s after-party, police on horseback forcefully pushed people away from the crowded door at the Premiere lounge on Main Street, where partygoers on the list were given brat-green wristbands to enter.<\/p>\n

Inside, as a DJ spun Rihanna, the Verve and, yes, Charli XCX, bartenders served cocktails in Poppi soda cans branded with \u201cThe Moment.\u201d Among the attendees were stars from Charli\u2019s other film that premiered that night, \u201cI Want Your Sex,\u201d including Hoffman and Chase Sui Wonders, as well as local celebrity John Barlow, the husband of \u201cThe Real Housewives of Salt Lake City\u2019s\u201d Lisa Barlow, the self-anointed queen of Sundance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Charli\u2019s moment at Sundance continues on Saturday, where audiences will get their first look at \u201cThe Gallerist.\u201d<\/p>\n

She is attending the festival in a particularly significant year<\/a>, its last in Park City before moving to Boulder, Colorado, in 2027 and its first since the death of its founder, Robert Redford.<\/p>\n

Though Charli may seem ubiquitous in Park City this year, not everyone at Sundance, an event that draws cinephiles from all corners of culture, was aware of her.<\/p>\n

In a line for a panel on environmental films Friday afternoon, one attendee mentioned that night\u2019s upcoming \u201cThe Moment\u201d premiere to his friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s Charli XCX?\u201d one friend asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember \u2018brat summer\u2019?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cVaguely,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n

At least in that Sundance line, when it comes to moving on from brat, Charli may already be getting her wish.<\/p>\n