{"id":331,"date":"2026-02-01T04:58:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T04:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/02\/01\/charli-xcx-is-a-cinephile-through-and-through-says-director-cathy-yan-she-really-knows-the-craft-exclusive\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T04:58:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T04:58:47","slug":"charli-xcx-is-a-cinephile-through-and-through-says-director-cathy-yan-she-really-knows-the-craft-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/02\/01\/charli-xcx-is-a-cinephile-through-and-through-says-director-cathy-yan-she-really-knows-the-craft-exclusive\/","title":{"rendered":"Charli xcx Is \u2018a Cinephile Through and Through,\u2019 Says Director Cathy Yan: \u2018She Really Knows the Craft\u2019 (Exclusive)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yan directed Charli xcx in the new film \u2018The Gallerist,&#8217; which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 24<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/uEmPxK0jEyI1-BmhCs5MuaTqm4M=\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)\/cathy-yan-charlie-xcx-sundance-013026-e05dd6caa8264c46ace768ec6c24111e.jpg\" alt=\"Cathy Yan; Charli xcx C Flanigan\/imageSPACE\/Shutterstock; Dia Dipasupil\/Getty\" title=\"Cathy Yan attends 'The Gallerist' Premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at Eccles Center Theater on January 24, 2026 in Park City, Utah; Charli XCX attends \" \/><figcaption><i>Cathy Yan; Charli xcx <\/i>\n<p>C Flanigan\/imageSPACE\/Shutterstock; Dia Dipasupil\/Getty<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>NEED TO KNOW<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Filmmaker Cathy Yan says singer Charli xcx is a true \u201ccinephile\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Yan directed the singer, 33, in the new movie<em> The Gallerist,<\/em> which stars Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega<\/li>\n<li><em>The Gallerist<\/em> premiered at the Sundance Film Festival<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Filmmaker Cathy Yan says <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/tag\/charli-xcx\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">Charli xcx\u2019s<\/a> talents don\u2019t stop at the recording booth \u2014 she\u2019s a cinema expert too.<\/p>\n<p>Yan directed Charli xcx, 33, in the new movie <em><a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/natalie-portman-jenna-ortega-charli-xcx-premiere-the-gallerist-2026-sundance-11891639\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">The Gallerist<\/a>, <\/em>which stars <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/tag\/natalie-portman\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"2\">Natalie Portman<\/a> and premiered at Sundance in Park City, Utah, on Jan. 24. Yan caught up with PEOPLE on the red carpet of the premiere, where she sang the <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/why-is-every-celeb-doing-the-apple-dance-charli-xcx-8681793\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"3\">\u201cApple\u201d<\/a>\u00a0singer\u2019s praises.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe is so good,\u201d Yan said. \u201cShe really knows the craft. She is a cinephile through and through. She really respects films, and I just find her so interesting and so mature and so insightful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yan said that the film, which she described as \u201cdark satire set in the art world\u201d ended up being a great fit for Charli xcx.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere just happened to be a role that I thought would really fit with [Charli xcx]. And also turns out that she had gone to art school in the past, so there was a sort of overlap and background and interest, and so she took an interest in this movie as well,\u201d Yan added.<\/p>\n<p>The movie, which also stars <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/jenna-ortega-8742146\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">Jenna Ortega<\/a>, follows an art gallery owner (Portman) who enlists her long-suffering assistant (Ortega) to sell a highly-controversial piece of art.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/L6npdpJ3dFq3AQ-lOXiXzRu7-FM=\/fit-in\/1280x960\/the-gallerist-premiere-sundance-013026-631f8016724248d79dd8cce8ab57bb16.jpg\" alt=\"Jenna Ortega, Natalie Portman, Cathy Yan and Charli xcx at 'The Gallerist' premiere at Sundance on Jan. 24, 2026 Dia Dipasupil\/Getty\" title=\"Jenna Ortega, Natalie Portman, Cathy Yan and Charli xcx attend \" \/><figcaption><i>Jenna Ortega, Natalie Portman, Cathy Yan and Charli xcx at &#8216;The Gallerist&#8217; premiere at Sundance on Jan. 24, 2026 <\/i>\n<p>Dia Dipasupil\/Getty<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The film was Charli xcx\u2019s second project to premiere at the winter film festival, the other of which being <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/charli-xcx-mockumentary-the-moment-sundance-premiere-11891088\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\"><em>The Moment<\/em><\/a>, a mockumentary that screened there on Jan. 23.<\/p>\n<p>The movie, directed and co-written by Aidan Zamiri, was inspired by Charli\u2019s xcx&#8217;s real-life Brat Tour.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for<a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/people-news-daily-newsletter-sign-up-8692701\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\"> PEOPLE&#8217;s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m obviously quite related to my character, so I had a lot of inspiration to pull from,\u201d Charli xcx said onstage after the screening.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would like to think I&#8217;m not as much of a nightmare as Charli in the film, but my real managers are in the audience and they probably know the true answer to that,\u201d she added jokingly.<\/p>\n<p>The Charli in <em><a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/charli-xcx-kylie-jenner-the-moment-trailer-11853476\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">The Moment<\/a> <\/em>has &#8220;spiral moments&#8221; the musician could relate to, she added. &#8220;I have been there. I think I am, as an artist, quite a volatile person. And nice though. I am quite nice too. Right?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Zamiri chimed in, hurriedly saying, &#8220;Yes, yes, confirmed,&#8221; to which Charli xcx responded, &#8220;Too f&#8212;ing right.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/PoENixM6VzxUQ_exFFf6AC_9lww=\/fit-in\/640x480\/Charli-xcx-at-A24s-The-Moment-Los-Angeles-Premiere-013026-7becec2192dd4300a5159936f4481891.jpg\" alt=\"Charli xcx at 'The Moment' Los Angeles premiere on Jan. 29, 2026 Michael Buckner\/Variety via Getty\" title=\"Charli xcx at A24's \" \/><figcaption><i>Charli xcx at &#8216;The Moment&#8217; Los Angeles premiere on Jan. 29, 2026 <\/i>\n<p>Michael Buckner\/Variety via Getty<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/people-puzzler-8620185\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\"><strong>The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Joining Charli xcx and Zamiri at the premiere were most of the movie\u2019s cast, including <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/tag\/rosanna-arquette\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">Rosanna Arquette<\/a>, Kate Berlant, Jamie Demetriou, Hailey Gates, Trew Mullen, Mel Ottenberg, Isaac Powell, Rachel Sennott, Rish Shah, Tish Weinstock, Michael Work\u00e9y\u00e8 and <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/tag\/alexander-skarsgard\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"2\">Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd<\/a>. The film also features an appearance by <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/tag\/kylie-jenner\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"3\">Kylie Jenner<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yan directed Charli xcx in the new film \u2018The Gallerist,&#8217; which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 24 Cathy Yan; Charli xcx C Flanigan\/imageSPACE\/Shutterstock; Dia Dipasupil\/Getty NEED TO KNOW Filmmaker Cathy Yan says singer Charli xcx is a true \u201ccinephile\u201d Yan directed the singer, 33, in the new movie The Gallerist, which stars [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-everything-else"],"wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","cvmm-medium":"","cvmm-medium-plus":"","cvmm-portrait":"","cvmm-medium-square":"","cvmm-large":"","cvmm-small":"","full":""},"categories_names":{"1":{"name":"Everything Else","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/category\/everything-else\/"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}