Although reports of him donning his Spider-Man tights again continue to circulate, Andrew Garfield will focus on a world that is potentially far greater than Marvel’s: YouTube.
Garfield plays Link in Gia Coppola’s Mainstream, a Logan Paul-like vlogger with a huge audience of young, impressionable followers who is eager to parlay his vlog into television success after teaming up with a greasy executive played by Jason Schwartzman. Maya Hawke’s Frankie is along for the ride, and she seems enamored with Link, willing to help him achieve new heights of superstar success while falling in love with him, but Link hasn’t exactly been telling the truth about, well, anything.
Real YouTube stars like Paul can be seen in the trailer, which also features Johnny Knoxville as another TV executive as a nod to the source material. When you remember that Knoxville and his Jackass peers paved the way for this new wave of internet stars who are willing to go to any length for viral glory, it’s a fascinating nod. But the question the Mainstream seems to be posing is this: what kind of harm is the age of relentless clout-chasing doing to young minds, and is all of it really true?
Here’s the official synopsis:
A young woman (Maya Hawke) thinks she’s found a path to internet stardom when she starts making YouTube videos with a charismatic stranger (Andrew Garfield) – until the dark side of viral celebrity threatens to ruin them both. Starring Maya Hawke, Andrew Garfield, Kalena Yiaueki, Nat Wolff, Johnny Knoxville, and Jason Schwartzman.
Mainstream hits theaters and VOD on May 7.
