'Disagree': How filmmaker Quinn Shephard sifted through notorious scammers for this influencer cameo

[Editor's Note: The following article contains spoilers for "Disagree".]

That alleged viral influencer and scam artist Caroline Calloway appearing in Quinn Shephard's hilarious internet satire "Disagree" comes as no surprise: The figuratively canceled Instagram personality (and has repeatedly touted her involvement in the Hulu movie with tweets and retweets (of course!) for all sorts of marketing materials, well, herself.

Given the subject of the film, it's a definite shrewd cast. Shephard's second outing follows budding influencer Danni Sanders (Zoey Deutch) as she rises to viral fame and deals with the fallout of her own scam. Although not as well-known as rogue brothers like Anna Delvey, Elizabeth Holmes or Martin Shrekli, Calloway is infamous for a certain class of very online who are also the kind of people who appreciate Shephard's (very clever). (Need a Calloway primer? Is that and more.)

Related Related

When it came to finding genuine Internet stars canceled for a key scene that sees Danni attending a scammer support group, Shephard cast a wide net.

"Initially, the idea was that the support group was full of people who had been shamed and canceled online," Shephard told IndieWire in a recent interview. "Zoey and I made it our mission to try and get as many cameos in this scene as possible. I can't say who, but Zoey and I FaceTimed with so many 'cancelled' people who almost made this movie It's crazy the people whose numbers I have in my phone. We've made so many calls. Someone would like that, but then their rep would be like, 'Absolutely not. "Or we'd write jokes for them: 'What do you think? ' and they'd say, 'Oh, I don't know. about it.'"

Shephard said Calloway was still in the lead. "It was always an idea to have Caroline in it, because just as I was writing the story, it was about to be," Shephard said. "She also represents everything Danni wants to be, in that she's a writer but she's also an influencer. This is Danni's mental mashup."

While some balked at Shephard's ideas, the filmmaker said that was never the case with Calloway. (IndieWire reached out to Calloway on Instagram, appropriately enough, but received no response.)

"She gets, that's what was so funny," she said. "Caroline understood it straight away and was like, 'I like to make fun of myself. I understand that this film is also not a takedown of people like me. Let me rephrase that: it is and it isn't. It's a criticism of people, but it's basically like, I don't think destroying their lives is necessarily the answer. The answer is that Danni needs to do some self-reflection.

Shephard soon caught up with Calloway for an eye-opening evening where they discussed Calloway's experience, how it is reflected in Shephard's film, and general disgust with internet culture. Calloway had the part (of herself) before the conversation even started, but her ideas appealed to Shephard.

“We went to a really fun dinner and had drinks afterwards, which was possibly the biggest hangover I've ever had in my entire life,” she said. “We got drunk and talked about the internet. It was intense to hear from her side what she went through. It's pretty awful to be a woman that the whole internet is piling up and tearing at for making mistakes. The way people like to see women suffer is part of that story. »

"We're not saying Danni, again, doesn't deserve consequences," Shephard added. “She deserves consequences, but is destroying a woman's life, doxing her, sending her rape threats the answer? No either."

"Not Okay" is now streaming on Hulu.

Sign Up: Stay up to date with the latest film and TV news! Sign up for our email newsletters here.