Pete Ohs lauds Charli xcx as a "legit actress" in his new film Erupcja

Brat was everywhere this summer, from Kamala Harris’ campaign to Barack Obama’s airpods. But while the former president may identify as (or at least relate to the struggles of being) a 365 party girl, the actual artist behind the phenomenon was trying to take a few days off from it all to film a secret project in Poland.

It didn’t really work, obviously. Charli xcx is one of the most recognizable pop stars in the world right now, and the news of her upcoming cinematic collaboration with playwright and actor Jeremy O. Harris and filmmaker Pete Ohs leaked pretty quickly. Despite this setback—and a bunch of selfies the “always really sweet” Charli took with Polish fans when they recognized her—the team did manage to film an entire movie during the biggest summer of the artist’s career. 

Variety just revealed that the film is called Erupcja, and it was inspired by a conversation Ohs had with a man who got trapped in Warsaw for a month after a volcanic eruption in Iceland grounded his flight. Charli stars as Bethany, a tourist visiting the country, who has what the trade describes as a “combustible relationship” with a Polish woman (Lena Góra). Per her own suggestion, Charli’s character is “super shy”—completely different than her brat persona; according to Ohs, the pop star is “unrecognizable” in the role. Ohs directed the film, with Harris and Will Madden rounding out the cast. 

The secrecy around all of this apparently had a lot more to do with Ohs’ process—which involves a lot of spontaneity and writing on the fly—than Charli’s fame. In fact, the Jethica director’s quirks are what drew Charli to him in the first place. The two met at a bar in New York in May, after Charli and Harris ran into each other and Harris introduced them. According to the director, Harris told the singer about Ohs’ process and she “was like, ‘I want to do one,’… and I was like, ‘What are you doing in August? Want to come to Warsaw?'” Charli actually followed up the next day, and the secret project was born.

“The way he talked about making his films felt akin to making an album and the chance meeting also felt equivalent to the conversational and spontaneous nature of his film making,” Charli said of Ohs. “Our processes felt linked in some kind of way and it felt right and exciting to pursue some kind of collaboration.”

Erupcja is just one step on Charli’s quest to become Hollywood’s number one. She’s also set to star in Gregg Araki’s I Want Your Sex with Cooper Hoffman and Olivia Wilde, as well as Daniel Goldhaber’s Faces of Death, Julia Jackman’s 100 Nights of Hero, and Benito Skinner’s series Overcompensating. “Charli is an excellent actress,” Ohs said. “She understands what it’s like to have a camera pointed at her… she could deliver all the goods. She’s a legit actress.”