Izabel Pakzad’s ‘Find Your Friends’ Doesn’t Ask For Permission
What happens when your friends split up during a night out? The possibilities are endless, but when you’re a woman, there’s always one scenario that rises to the top first.
Words by Dio Anthony
The girls in Find Your Friends talk like they’re trying to keep the night alive by sheer force of will. They’re vulgar, hilarious, reckless, tender, a little too loud, and completely alive in the way girls can be when the world has not yet reminded them to be afraid. Directed by Izabel Pakzad and led by a cast that includes Bella Thorne and Chloe Cherry, the film begins in that sacred, chaotic language of female friendship: sex stories, inside jokes, bad decisions, bathroom-line philosophy, and a big one—laughter.
American Studies sits down for a delightfully chaotic conversation with the stars and their director. Read on for fun.
American Studies: I'm honestly still recovering from the film, particularly Chloe's death scene. That was brutal.
Chloe Cherry: Oh, you're telling me?
American Studies: This question is really for all of you guys. Izabel, in your director's statement you talk about the characters being vulgar, wild and sexually empowered without consequence, which I feel like is really reflected in that first opening sequence. Can we just talk about the scene for a second? I feel like I've never heard any of the words, any of you ladies say in a film maybe ever? I thought it was such a good setup into the mindsets and just their general point of view on sexuality. I'm wondering what was the direction like for the girls and how much of those words were in the script?
Chloe Cherry: Well, honestly, there is a little bit of romance and sexuality. But mostly, I feel like it’s about talking about our sexual pasts and having this girl-to-girl talk about our sexual experiences. I feel like that’s where a major part of our sexuality is revealed.
And then, with two of the characters — my character and Bella’s character — we both find guys that we like. My character ends up going out to hang out with some guy she wants to hook up with or something, because she’s having a crazy party night and just wants to keep it going, keep the excitement going. Eventually, that leads to my demise.
But yeah, I think it was important for us to juxtapose the beginning, where we’re just normal girls having all this fun, with what becomes a terrifying night.
American Studies: I agree, there’s this lightness to the first half, yet there is still an undercurrent of doom. Which feels true to the experience of the characters.
Chloe Cherry: I think for the second part of the movie — it was very important for it to have that juxtaposition, to really make the ending as terrifying and intense as it needed to be. Because I agree with you: this movie is so scary.
After my character gets killed, I can’t watch the rest. I can’t even watch that part where they kill me, and then I just can’t watch the rest of it. It’s so scary. Except for when they’re in the desert scene and Amber’s kind of having a trip — then I can watch it again. But the violence and stuff, I personally can’t watch it, even though I obviously know it’s fake. I was there. I knew it was all props and stuff. I still can’t watch it.
But I just think that us starting it off with fun and romance and partying, and then turning it into nightmares, kind of made it as scary as it is.
American Studies: Absolutely. I thought it was pretty scary. I just loved the way they spoke with each other, and I thought that was really interesting. I was like, “Oh, wow. Were they feeding off of each other?”
“I was really inspired by that — just women talking in a free way about their sexual experiences, because why the fuck not?”
Bella Thorne: Lots of feeding off of each other. It's definitely on the page as well as we brought it off the page too. Everyone finding their own lingo and whatnot of how we speak to one another.
Chloe Cherry: Like the scene where our neighbor comes and knocks on the door and complains, like, “Hey girls, stop making so much noise,” and then we make fun of him — Bella and I just made that up as we were doing it.
I think part of it came from Bella and I probably having our own experiences of wanting to make fun of old men for finding us annoying or something. It’s kind of like, “Come on. Who are you, the fun police?” And he was.
Bella Thorne: I tried to make sure that I was twerking in almost every scene.
Chloe Cherry: Cuz that's what these characters would do.
Bella Thorne: That's what they would do!
American Studies: That interaction in particular between both of your characters–I was like what are they doing? It's so funny. It's so unique. You've never heard anyone say anything like this.
Izabel Pakzad: Just quickly, I want to say this because you’re talking about the way they speak. There’s a scene in Kids, Larry Clark’s Kids, where the girls are having their sex talk. They’re talking, and I remember when I first saw that movie, it was shocking. It was like, wait, they’re talking about this in a movie? This is insane.
I was really inspired by that — just women talking in a free way about their sexual experiences, because why the fuck not? And that’s actually realistic. The girls sort of took that and ran with it, which was awesome.
So I just wanted to note where I was working from, because I do feel like that was a huge reference for me for those scenes: the one in the beginning and the one in the car on the way to the desert. Those are two big scenes where you’re like, whoa, we’re talking about some wild, wild stuff here.
American Studies: Yeah, totally. You guys all really killed all of that — no pun intended, but also maybe a little bit of pun intended.
Respectfully, I’m obsessed with all of y’all’s past work too, so I think this union was so fun and unique. And the chemistry made me think: how much did you play off each girl’s strengths as well?
After getting to know them, was it like, “Okay, Chloe will be Lola, and so-and-so will be this person”? Were you already far along in the writing process, or was it more like, “You know what, I think she might say it this way”? Or were you asking them, “How do you think they’d respond?” The way Bella and Chloe’s characters had that funny interaction, for example.
Chloe Cherry: I personally remember that I was originally cast as Zosia, and then my agents told me, “No, we think you should instead play Lola.” And then Izabel agreed.
When I was meeting with Izabel in person, she told me, “Honestly, I really want you to…” Because Izabel and I could laugh together a lot, and she was like, “I like this kind of vibe. I want you to just play yourself, like you’re talking to girls your age and joking around.”
And that’s where I found my character, working with Izabel. Izabel and I naturally had a good rapport and would laugh about a lot of stuff together. She was just like, “Okay, I want to use this sense of humor in this character.”
American Studies: The dialogue was so interesting. I think it was probably one of my favorite elements of the movie.
I love the scene with Sophia’s [Ali] character and Helena’s [Howard], where she gives her that “love on you” moment in the morning. That was also super cool and sweet — just this bit of, “We’re having these issues, but let me put some love on you.” I thought that was really cool.
Bella Thorne: We had fun in that scene. Later on, when we get into the pool, I think I ordered some food. We were eating in that pool, weren’t we, ladies?
We were eating pizza. And it was kind of cold, kind of warm, but we were like, We’re gonna party this out right now!
Chloe Cherry: I remember it was really cold too,
Bella Thorne: It was so cold!
Chloe Cherry: It’s actually really hot in the movie, so we had to play it that way. And I feel like we pulled it off because we were jumping in the pool.
Bella Thorne: Joshua Tree in the winter is freezing.
Chloe Cherry: Izabel jumped in the pool first to prove that it was bearable. She didn’t want the actors to have to go through something the crew couldn’t even imagine. And I was like, “That’s very nice of you.”
Bella Thorne: Izabel was like a ghost character. She was literally there with us through everything. She was another one of the girls.
Izabel Pakzad: It was funny because it was so cold during those scenes — when we were dancing in the montage scene and the “loving on you” scene.
I remember being like, “I need to get involved. I want to be part of the energy.” And I’m pretty sure I was on the side, obviously off camera, twerking.
Bella Thorne: For sure!
Izabel Pakzad: During the montage, I was standing there like, lets go! It was just so funny and fun, because it was also freezing. So I was like, “Okay, I’ve got to get the energy up. I’ve got to make sure everyone’s feeling good, and I’m game to go for it too.”
And honestly, it was really fun.
American Studies: I’m obsessed with the dialogue. I feel like this has just become a conversation about the dialogue, but even Sophia’s mini monologue, where Helena’s character is like, “Is this all we’re doing?” and she’s kind of like, “Yeah,” but then takes it a little deeper — like, “Let’s just have fun all the time.” I thought that was really profound.
And then I also loved, specifically, when Bella is talking to Helena’s character at the party and she’s like, “What’s going on right now?” The specificity of “right now” was really interesting to me. Like, what happened right now? I don’t know, that just hit a little differently for me.
I also love the element of bringing the actual Find My Phone / Find My Friends thing into the title and the plot. How big is that in your actual lives? Because I have girlfriends who always have each other’s locations, and one of them will be like, “You have my location.” And I’m like, “Oh, do I?” And she’s like, “Yes, I put it on there.” But I don’t really pay attention to those things as a guy.
I’m wondering how big that is for you in your regular lives.
“I tried to make sure that I was twerking in almost every scene.”
Chloe Cherry: Is that an app or something?
American Studies: There's a few–Life 360, Find Your Friends app..
Bella Thorne: That's how they found out that West Wilson and Amanda Batula were dating. That's how they found out!. Turn it off! turn it off!
Izabel Pakzad: [Laughs].
Bella Thorne: My best friend Alexa has it on for everyone, and she had it on in her sorority as well. Even after she was out of the sorority, she would still watch everyone. She still keeps track of all her littles.
We had a sleepover the other night, and I was like, “What are you doing?” She was like, “Oh, I’m just making sure everyone got home. She’s still out.” I was like girl…[laughs].
Chloe Cherry: If I'm being honest, I don't really want anyone to have my location.
Bella Thorne: Apple already has it and that’s enough..
Chloe Cherry: You can find me if it comes down to it.
Izabel Pakzad: Everyone has my location, by the way, and I have like 30 people’s locations. I’m always like, “What are they doing?” or Why did she turn off her location?”
Bella Thorne: And then that becomes a whole other thing. Like, girl, what's going on?
Chloe Cherry: Exactly.
American Studies: What’s your one rule you won’t break on a night out with the girls?
“If I’m being honest, I don’t really want anyone to have my location.”
Chloe Cherry: Never leave without everyone. When I go out, I’m not drinking at all, but in case my friends are, I always make sure I know where everyone is throughout the whole night — everyone I came with.
And when we’re leaving, I make sure every single person is accounted for.
Bella Thorne: No lame vibes. No lame vibes. If you’re lame, you’re out.
Chloe Cherry: What’s a lame vibe?
Bella Thorne: Just no lame vibes, man. If we're going out, we're going out, man.
Chloe Cherry: Like, no being crazy?
Like, just don't be lame. Like if there's music on, you gotta dance. You know? You gotta get a little funky.
Chloe Cherry: Oh, I hate going to the club–cuz no one dances.
Bella Thorne: yeah no one dances, that’s ugly.
“Just no lame vibes, man. If we’re going out, we’re going out, man.”
Chloe Cherry: It’s so hard to find places where people actually dance. I’m like, that’s the whole reason I want to go out — to dance. I don’t want to just stand there with a freaking drink.
Bella Thorne: Literally! We need reasons to pop the pussy. We've got no reasons to pop the pussy. And if we can't pop the pussy, then there's no reason that we should be there.
Chloe Cherry: Hero!
Izabel Pakzad: If we’re going for it, we’re going all the way, like..[Laughs].
Bella Thorne: Yeah! [Laughs].
American Studies: Amazing. I’m officially so sad I don’t have more time with you ladies. This is more of an observation, really. I loved how, when you’re all in the party scene — after Chloe’s character does the coke with the guy and they come back — all the girls realize at the same time that they’re not safe. I felt that was very real.
I’m wondering what that was like for you all? Did you have to do that a few times, or were you so connected that you were like, “This is it”? Because it felt like, without saying anything, everyone just kind of looks at each other and realizes, “This is not a safe situation anymore.”
Bella Thorne: I think that just happened naturally.
Izabel Pakzad: Genuinely, I would say it was the performance. It was hard because there are so many elements to that scene. We have a group of five women, we have the group of men, we have like a hundred extras at the party, and making all of that happen was difficult.
But they all locked in. Genuinely, I have to give you guys credit because that is a hard scene. It’s a delicate balance, at least for me on the other side of the camera. There’s something about it where you don’t want to go too dark, because they still have to continue on and have this fun time. So it can’t be so scary where you’re like, “Oh—”
Bella Thorne: –-We need to leave completely…
Izabel Pakzad: Right. it can’t be so scary where you’re like, “Oh, these girls are so silly for not going home,” but it has to be enough that a seed is planted. You’re like, “Oh, okay, something’s off.”
But also, this happens. As women, this happens all the time, so you just kind of keep going. It’s a very hard balance. And honestly, all the girls did such a great job.
Bella Thorne: Yeah. If we left every time we felt unsafe, we'd never go anywhere. You know what I mean?
American Studies: The chemistry was so impeccable, what was the first scene you all filmed together?
Bella Thorne: It was sitting around the pool, taking shots. Taking shots, like a bad bitch can!
American Studies: I feel like every girl needs to watch this movie. It might need to be on a college syllabus somewhere.
Bella Thorne: Can we put it on a t-shirt?
American Studies: Yes, you should.
Find Your Friends is now streaming on Shudder.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
