The Cast of ‘The 4:30 Movie’ Is Bringing the 80s and Kevin Smith’s Teenaged Years Back
From left to right: Reed Northrup, Austin Zajur, Siena Agudong and Nicholas Cirillo in ‘The 4:30 Movie’
Austin Zajur, Siena Agudong, Reed Northrup, and Nicholas Cirillo represent both the future and the past, as they bring to life the newest Kevin Smith ribald comedy.
For those of us in the weird “Xennial” middle-child sub-generation, there are days you’re defending your youth, telling yourself you’re not that old, and then other days you’re trying to show your membership card to Generation X, bragging about being raised on VHS and remembering the songs from the original Muppet Show verbatim.
Filmmaker Kevin Smith is arguably the strongest voice when it comes to representing the everyman of that generation. The writer-director made a name for himself showing the last generation of listless slackers who were the last gasping breath before the death of video rental stores and mall culture. Young adults in today’s world admittedly have much bigger problems, having to worry about a shrinking or non-existent job market, and the fact they’ll probably never own property. They don’t have time to take an hour off of work and play road hockey on the roof, or skip school to spend the day chasing your ex-girlfriend around a shopping center. That is, if you can find a mall that’s not a ghost town.
Smith has taken that Gen X approach in almost everything he’s made, which is arguably why he’s so popular, it represents a time when we didn’t need a future, or a career, or property, when we could focus on the important things in life like comic books, movies, and most importantly, sex. His newest film, ‘The 4:30 Movie’ is a return to form in that respect, a love letter to the easier time, when film nerds weren’t the loud, million-strong voice that Letterboxd and social media has created.
4:30 takes place during the summer of 1986, as three 16-year-old buddies spend their Saturday sneaking into R-rated movies at the local cineplex, which serves as both cinematic classroom and sanctuary to the friends. Brian (Austin Zajur) chooses to invite Melody (Siena Agudong), the one girl he hasn’t been able to get off his mind, to see a 4:30 matinee with him. In preparation for his afternoon date, he and his buddies, Belly (Reed Northrup) and Burny (Cirillo) theater-hop throughout the day, taking in a few films all while trying not to get caught. Chaos and hilarity breaks loose, in typical Smith fashion, as a self-important theater manager and teenage emotions interfere with the carefully laid plans of the day.
Clearly the young cast won’t remember the 80s - the oldest of them, Cirillo, is only 27, but capturing the youth of the project, regardless of the era, is easy enough as the film is essentially a Kevin Smith autobiography. ”It’s pretty much Kevin’s origin story” reveals Zajur. Zajur plays Brian, the central, love-struck teen who finally gets up the nerve to ask out his dream girl. Zajur continues, revealing that 4:30 could be considered the spiritual origin story to other famous Smith works. “To an extent it’s the prequel to Clerks, and it's kind of the story before all the stories that he's told. There's tons of little weird easter eggs throughout the film about his life”.
Click below to see the full interview with the cast, or continue to scroll for the remainder of the article.
Naturally, it wouldn’t be a Smith film if it didn’t reference the classics of the age. There are a ton of 80s era-appropriate jokes about Jaws, the yet-unreleased Batman movie, and of course, Star Wars. When it was put to the cast what films from today might be considered classics 40 years from now, the youngest cast member admitted something you should never admit if you’re in a Kevin Smith film. Agudong confesses “I don’t watch too many movies.”
She quickly passes the question to the old soul of the group, Cirillo. He sits there at the ripe old age of 27, and yet the young man doesn’t even hesitate with his answer. “Oppenheimer” he says with conviction. “Pivotal film. They’ll be talking about 4:30 and they’ll be talking about Oppenheimer.” He smiles at the suggestion that in the future, the double bill “Thirtyheimer” will likely exist, much like “Barbenheimer” did last summer. It’s easy to see why this cast was chosen to represent these teenaged cinephiles in 4:30, as the young cast discuss their ‘cinematic awakenings’ - ranging from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Good Will Hunting to Edward Scissorhands and classic James Dean films.
But while Agudong might have some catching up to do when it comes to the meta-movie references throughout, that’s not the only Smith staple. 4:30 is a great throwback to some of Smith’s classic characters like Dante in Clerks or Brody in Mallrats. These characters, as much as they might be hyperbolic representations of real people, have a very relatable core to them. Northrup has a theory as to why writer-director Smith is able to create these characters time and time again.
“I hope Kevin doesn't mind me saying this, but I feel like in some ways, he views himself a little bit like a lovable loser” says Northrup. “He’s a geek with a lot of passion and talent, and that's something I really related to as well. But I think Kevin is really good at writing [these characters] because he understands them, for better or worse. I think it's part of who he is and part of his story, and who doesn't love a little bit of a nerd with a lot of heart?”
As the interview descends into utter chaos, this old timer, well into his 40s is reminded of the time my generation first discovered Smith. We too, were full of sarcasm and opinions, we mocked our friends openly and would barely let them get a word in. Smith has been able to recreate this dynamic time and time again, for more than thirty years, and has seemingly caught that lightning in a bottle, at least one more time.