“Mainstream” takes aim at the 21st century’s main vice.
The sophomore feature of Gia Coppola — granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola, and niece of Roman and Sofia — which came out Friday in theaters, digital and on demand, begins by looking at social media like so many of us do, or did: as an escape.
It doesn’t take long though for the sheen of likes and followers to wear off and reveal something far less attractive and infinitely more toxic and soul-sucking.
“The subject matter was kind of sickening,” Nat Wolff told the Daily News over Zoom last week, adding with a laugh, “But the experience [of making the film] was beautiful.”
The 26-year-old “Paper Towns” star, who Nickelodeon fans will remember as one half of the titular “The Naked Brothers Band,” had previously worked with Coppola, 34, on her 2013 debut feature, “Palo Alto.”
The film also reunites Wolff, who plays Jake, with Maya Hawke, who stars as Frankie — a young girl low on cash and structure who finds an answer to the former when she runs into the mysterious Link (Andrew Garfield).
Wolff and the “Stranger Things” actress knew each other from the sandbox days, when Wolff’s younger brother Alex — of both “Naked Brothers Band” and “Hereditary” fame — “had like a huge crush on her.”
Wolf says exploring the dark side of the web also brought him close to “The Amazing Spider-Man” star Garfield as well.
Though “Mainstream” dives into some of the most damaging aspects of social media, Wolff said those working on the film “were all very clear about the fact that there are these inherent great things about people being able to connect on social media.”
He pointed to how information concerning last year’s Black Lives Matter protests was found online and noted when celebrities such as Mark Ruffalo “use it for good, it’s really amazing.”
“But then also it’s like one of the main causes of teen suicide in America,” said Wolff.
The actor recalled the bullying that pushed him off of Instagram, or at least made him a very intentional and sporadic user.
“I still have it for my band with my brother, you know? And it’s been really helpful to connect with fans of our music,” Wolff said. “But I remember being 18 or 19 and for about six months ... and I would go on my phone, and after like 15 minutes of looking on it, I would see that, you know, we’d have post something and I’d see something anti-Semitic about myself.
“I was just way too sensitive for it. ... But it’s like the Wild West on the internet. So it’s a scary place to live. And I think this movie is good at shining a light on the real negative sides of it.”
Among Wolff’s favorite parts of the film, though, was Jake and his nature of being the trio’s “moral compass.”
“Besides social media, I think Jake is like the best parts of myself,” said the “Fault in Our Stars” actor. “And there are moments when in my life I’ve felt less like him and felt corrupted more by the business of acting or the music business. ... For me, one of the parts of growing up has been recentering myself and trusting my artistic soul and spirit. And at the end of this movie, I felt like I got a lot out of Jake. You know, this is kind of the person that I strive to be, on my better days. You know, hopefully not hopelessly in love with my best friend that doesn’t love me back. So that’s not what I strive to be [chuckles].”
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