Before summer vacation ends and you’re forced to return to that institution known as college, there’s one movie you absolutely MUST check out: We Are Your Friends. Starring Zac Efron and Emily Ratajkowski, directed by Max Joseph, and featuring a wide range of electronic dance music, this is the perfect film to cap off your summer. For the past few days, Zac, Emily and Max have been traveling the world on a whirlwind press tour, ranging from cities like London to Toronto. We had the opportunity to attend an exclusive screening of the film in NYC, which included a surprise appearance from the cast! Needless to say, everybody in the room (us included!) whipped out their camera phones to snap some candid pics.
Following the screening, we met up with Max, Zac and Emily at the after party, where we chatted about all things related to the movie! Important side note: Yes, we can confirm that Zac Efron is just as dreamy in person.
We Are Your Friends is a coming-of-age film that examines the life of Cole Carter, an aspiring DJ (played by Zac Efron), who’s on a quest to create the one track that will propel him to fame and fortune in the electronic music world. At the same time, he finds himself involved in crazy shenanigans with his three closest friends (played by Johnny Weston, Shiloh Fernandez and Alex Shaffer), who all have a strong desire to leave “the valley” for a more promising future. Along Cole’s journey, he is mentored by James Reed (played by Wes Bentley), a veteran DJ who has issues of his own. However, things get complicated when Cole fosters a relationship with Sophie (played by Emily Ratajkowski), James’ younger girlfriend and personal assistant.
What separates this movie from others is the unique backdrop of the electronic dance world, a perspective that hasn’t been showcased much in modern movies. Max Joseph’s attention to detail combined with comedic one-liners and catchy tracks lace together to form a cohesive and enjoyable film for all audiences. For Max, having a low budget for the film was also considered a good thing, since he was able to exercise more creative freedom. “When you’re making a movie and you don’t have a lot of money, people let you do your own thing creatively,” he told us during our interview. Having a small budget also allowed Max to focus on more “emotionally powerful” scenes, rather than large scale, pyrotechnic moments that typically occur during a music festival.
While the film’s music seemed to fit perfectly with the storyline, Max assured us that selecting the right songs was no easy feat. “It’s very daunting to represent all of EDM in one movie,” he shared with us. Moreover, Max’s ultimate goal was to make a movie that wasn’t about electronic dance music. Instead, he aimed to examine the lives of the characters and their journeys, with music tying the entire concept together. “We really wanted to represent as many different types of electronic music as we could,” Max said. Considering that the movie is an hour and half, we think he was quite successful in accomplishing that (with help from a music supervisor). In order to create Cole’s defining track, Max worked closely with Pyramid, a 26-year-old bedroom DJ and producer based in France. Throughout the movie, EDM fans will recognize pieces from the many sub genres of electronic music, such as “trap,” “synth pop,” and “progressive house.” The film’s soundtrack (available now on iTunes and streaming on Spotify) features tracks from well known artists including Hook N Swing, Pyramid, Justice, and Simian. DJs Nicky Romero, Dirty South, Dillon Francis and Alesso (pictured below with Zac) also make cameos in the film!
Although we all know Zac has natural musicality (as seen in Hairspray and HSM), this movie enabled him to experiment with another facet of the music industry—DJing. While Cole is an aspiring DJ, Zac pointed out that he himself had only basic knowledge of the EDM world prior to filming. “I was aware in the mainstream sense. I knew what was popular and easily accessible, but I hadn’t really delved deep into all the sub-genres,” Zac told us. Luckily, Wes Bentley (Zac’s costar) had experience with making music as a DJ. “He sort of got me into SoundCloud and taught me about so many sub-genres of electronic music. He taught me about minimal house and minimal tech, and I like those a lot. When I was filming, that’s what I was listening to most.”
With DJ/producer Jason Stewart (also known as Them Jeans), Zac was able to learn the basics of DJing over a short period of time. “I worked a lot with Them Jeans, he was kind of like my coach,” Zac shared with us. “I learned how to do a whole set. I could do a transition, make new transitions, add effects, have fun, and play around.” To get more acquainted with the equipment, Zac bought his own decks, and spent time experimenting with all the buttons and knobs. “I would sit and spend time going back and forth until I got so lost that I would entirely pass out. There’s actually a lot of math going on,” Zac said, laughing. For him, the best part of the process was “learning stylistically what DJs do to make it entertaining.” By observing artists like Alesso, Zac learned how to get the crowd pumped up through simple gestures, like jumping and throwing his arms in the air. “On the deck, it’s just the twist of a knob, but he turns it into an event, and I thought that was really cool,” Zac said. We think Zac’s training paid off. He looked like a natural at the DJ decks!
Also worth acknowledging is a great performance delivered by Emily Ratajkowski, who plays Sophie. Although Sophie forms a complicated romantic relationship with Cole, her character shouldn’t be categorized as simply being a love interest. Instead, Sophie is a strong female lead, but not in a blatant or overly done manner. Even though she’s made mistakes in her past, she remains independent albeit somewhat unsure of her future. Perhaps that’s why she and Cole initially connect with each other. For Emily, getting into character was made easier thanks to a playlist that Max put together. “When I was driving to work, that was always what I listened to,” she told us. “We listened to the actual songs that you hear in the move at the same time as filming those scenes, which is cool.”
After wrapping up the interview, Max, Zac and Emily joined the large crowd gathered at the after party. While Zac did a little DJing of his own at the decks, exclusive We Are Your Friends T-shirts were tossed into the crowd of enthusiastic concert attendees. Based on this photo Zac posted on Twitter, we think he had a blast in NYC! “I’m not a DJ. I just play one in a movie. These guys made me sound good. #WAYF international DJ Crew #WAYFtour #NYC,” he captioned the silly photo (which includes Max, Pyramid, and Them Jeans).
While we won’t give away any spoilers regarding the conclusion of the film, we can guarantee that you’ll absolutely LOVE it. To see what happens, be sure to check out We Are Your Friends, in theaters Friday, August 28!