Love Me is a post-apocalyptic movie that centers around a love story between non-human characters as it takes place in a future where humanity has died out. Kristen Stewart stars in the film as a buoy floating in the ocean and Steven Yeun plays the role of the satellite orbiting the Earth. In a new interview, the actors reflected on their respective roles in this debut feature from directors Sam and Andy Zuchero.
Kristen Stewart & Steven Yeun on how they approached their roles as a buoy and a satellite
Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun spoke about how Love Me delves into human issues using non-human characters as mediums. In the movie, a weather buoy accesses a satellite’s immense memory and learns about a social media celebrity named Deja and her husband, Liam, and creates a personality named “Me.” The Buoy then begins calling the satellite “Iam.”
“There’s like a congruency that ties us all together, like even the people that would seem to be coming from totally different sides of the earth,” Stewart told CBR about her character. “And so, I think that the buoy can be nothing other than me. And when I say ‘me,’ I really mean me, because my character is also called ‘Me.’ But it’s just I can’t be anyone else other than myself.”
Love Me explores consciousness, identity, and other concepts generally associated with people through its main characters. It does this not necessarily by anthropomorphizing them, but by drawing attention to their sentience. Asked if he thought the satellite was always sentiment, Yeun stated that he didn’t know, before adding, “I think. I didn’t try to ponder too much about it. If anything, the experience itself as we shot sequentially was kind of revealing as it went. And I don’t know if I got to understand what consciousness and awareness is from that angle, but I did think at first this satellite is pure function. And it thrives on being [just] ‘function.'” He further added, “It just fell forward and revealed itself, and the exercise was almost getting out of the way of the film, making itself in that way and so. That was a trip.”
According to Yeun, the buoy’s arrival into the satellite’s existence ultimately helps the latter escape “stagnation” and gain freedom.
Love Me had its world premiere at last year’s Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2024, before releasing in US theaters on January 31, 2025.
Originally reported by Tamal Kundu on ComingSoon.
