{"id":203810,"date":"2026-03-14T00:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T00:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/203810\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T00:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T00:20:10","slug":"sxsw-2026-keke-palmer-demi-moore-and-the-cast-of-i-love-boosters-speak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/203810\/","title":{"rendered":"SXSW 2026: Keke Palmer, Demi Moore and the cast of ‘I Love Boosters’ speak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

AUSTIN, Texas\u00a0\u2014\u00a0It\u2019s been an ongoing conversation of late as to what the role of politics should be at film festivals. The SXSW Film & TV Festival found its own unique answer to that dilemma by featuring director Boots Riley<\/a>\u2019s \u201cI Love Boosters\u201d in its opening night slot.<\/p>\n

Riley is unapologetically outspoken on a wide variety of topics, and his script for \u201cBoosters\u201d is rooted in a pro-labor, anti-corporate worldview that\u2019s often pushed into radicalism. The movie is also surreal, absurd and crowd-pleasingly funny. It would never be mistaken for a dry lecture or a didactic pamphlet.<\/p>\n

All the same, certain timely political issues \u2014 either the Middle East or immigration domestically, topics one might presume Riley or anyone else might be inclined to speak about \u2014 were never addressed from the stage of Austin\u2019s Paramount Theatre on Thursday night. Neon will be releasing the film May 22.<\/p>\n

In the movie Keke Palmer<\/a> stars as Corvette, who, along with her friends Sade (Naomi Ackie) and Mariah (Taylour Paige), run a shoplifting ring, reselling their stolen merchandise at cut-rate prices. Things only get more complicated from there, as they join forces with a Chinese factory worker (Poppy Liu) to bring down an imperious fashion mogul (Demi Moore<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The film also features a car chase depicted with miniatures and stop-motion animation to convey humanoid figures who have removed their skin. That is to say, \u201cI Love Boosters\u201d is, above all else, wild, rollicking and unpredictable.<\/p>\n

Having given an introduction before the show, Riley and SXSW festival head Claudette Godfrey returned to the stage afterward, bringing out much of the film\u2019s formidable cast: Palmer, Ackie, Paige, Liu, Moore, Eiza Gonz\u00e1lez and LaKeith Stanfield.<\/p>\n

Asked where the idea for the movie came from, Riley responded, \u201cI\u2019ve definitely bought a lot of stuff from boosters in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dressed in his trademark oversize hat and a black-and-white floral print suit, Riley said it was thinking about the fashion world in particular that sent him onto the specific spiral of ideas that led to the movie.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow does it get made and what puts the value on it?\u201d Riley asked. \u201cIs it just the idea only or is it the labor that it takes to make it? And just talking about the idea that so many people want to be involved with the world and involved with art and feel like they\u2019re in that conversation \u2014 and it costs too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Three <\/p>\n

From left, Naomie Ackie, Taylour Paige and Keke Palmer in the movie \u201cI Love Boosters.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Neon)<\/p>\n

Palmer noted she has already watched the movie multiple times and that something specific struck her watching it this time. \u201cThis is a Boots Riley movie, you know what I mean?\u201d she said \u201cAnd so I love to watch it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reward is I keep seeing all the different layers of things that he put in there,\u201d she continued. \u201cWhatever you are, we\u2019re all dealing with some crazy struggles. And if we could all just figure out how to come together with it and stop fighting our own independent fights, then that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Referring to a fantastical device that plays a crucial role in the story, Palmer added, \u201cThat\u2019s the situational accelerator.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time when we watched it, I cried at the end when they were showing the global workers unionizing and uprising and stuff,\u201d said Liu. \u201cAnd what a moment right now to be seeing that on screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stanfield had also starred in Riley\u2019s debut feature, \u201cSorry to Bother You.\u201d He revealed that his onscreen partner during a particularly outrageous sex scene was actually his wife, Kasmere Trice Stanfield, who was in the audience.<\/p>\n

On working with Riley again, Stanfield said, \u201cIt was beautiful to reunite. And I told him: On his next one, just call me.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cCall me too,\u201d said Paige.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe three,\u201d added Palmer. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou need a Chinese girl in every movie now,\u201d said Liu.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd a Mexican,\u201d chimed in Gonz\u00e1lez.<\/p>\n

That mix of seriousness and playfulness ran throughout the evening. At one point Riley pointed out that comedian and actor Eric Andre<\/a>, who has a small role in the film, was in the audience. Andre, sitting near the front of the room, stood up to a round of applause and said that photographers had mistaken him for Riley on the red carpet and that\u2019s how he got into the screening. Riley added he has gotten free stuff in liquor stores because people thought he was Andre.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be fair,\u201d said Stanfield to Andre, \u201cI also thought that you were him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all look the same to you, huh?\u201d Andre retorted with mock indignation to a laugh from the audience.<\/p>\n

As for her part playing a villainous fashion designer, Moore said, \u201cAt first I was saying, \u2018Wow, I didn\u2019t know that I would be thought of as cool enough to be part of a Boots Riley [project].\u2019 And it was so out of the box and we had an amazing meeting and it was just a character that I wouldn\u2019t have thought of myself for. And it gave me this incredible place to play and take a risk and do something different. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever had a chance to do something like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the talk threatened to spin out of control, with multiple cast members all talking at once, Paige said of Riley, \u201cYou can tell he has sisters, because we all would be speaking over each other, over him. We\u2019d be giggling. He\u2019s like, \u2018OK, we kind of have to start now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

As the Q&A was winding down, Riley got serious. \u201cThis movie, there\u2019s silliness in it, but it\u2019s also a very important movie to be out there right now,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause I think we all need to figure out ways that we can change what\u2019s happening, ways that we can fight fascism, ways that change the structure of the world around us.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what I\u2019m saying here is, tell people about this movie,\u201d Riley continued. \u201cI need it to be spread out there far and wide. You might think because it\u2019s on Neon and they\u2019re the s\u2014 and we got it covered. We don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the audience began to get up from their seats and staff attempted to turn over the theater for the following show, Riley continued speaking, shouting out his wife and children and other family members in the crowd until he eventually made his way offstage as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas\u00a0\u2014\u00a0It\u2019s been an ongoing conversation of late as to what the role of politics should be at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[80353,80354,132,134,133,80348,55546,3325,51784,80351,80356,21362,80355,80352,80349,47792,28385,80350],"class_list":{"0":"post-203810","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-andre","9":"tag-audience","10":"tag-austin","11":"tag-austin-headlines","12":"tag-austin-news","13":"tag-booster","14":"tag-demi-moore","15":"tag-film-festival","16":"tag-idea","17":"tag-lakeith-stanfield","18":"tag-many-people","19":"tag-movie","20":"tag-naomi-ackie","21":"tag-palmer","22":"tag-poppy-liu","23":"tag-riley","24":"tag-stuff","25":"tag-taylour-paige"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}