While the internet continues to buzz around rumors that he’ll be donning his Spider-Man tights again, Andrew Garfield will tackle another universe that’s arguably even larger than Marvel’s: YouTube. In Gia Coppola’s Mainstream, Garfield plays Link, a Logan Paul-esque vlogger with a massive audience of young, impressionable followers that he’s eager to parlay into television success after teaming up with a greasy executive played by Jason Schwartzman. Along for the ride is Maya Hawke’s Frankie, who seems to be enthralled with Link and eager to help him reach new levels of superstar success while falling in love with him, but Link hasn’t exactly been telling the truth about, well, anything.
As a hat tip to its source material, actual YouTube stars like Paul can be seen in the trailer, which also includes Johnny Knoxville playing another TV exec. It’s an interesting nod when one considers that Knoxville and his Jackass cohorts paved the way for this next generation of internet stars who are willing to to any lengths for viral fame. But what Mainstream seems to ask is this: what kind of damage is the age of constant clout-chasing doing to young minds, and is any of it even real?
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.
