Kyle Mooney Explains Why Directorial Debut ‘Y2K’ Becomes A “Whole Different Movie” After This Shocking Kill & If Myspace’s Tom Survives

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains details about Y2K.

Kyle Mooney is partying like its 1999 with the release of his directorial debut Y2Ka nostalgic horror comedy that plays on a familiar public hysteria 25 years later.

The Saturday Night Live alum, who directed and co-wrote the A24 film with Evan Winter, told Deadline that the coming-of-age story becomes a “whole different movie” after the unexpectedly heartfelt death scene of Julian Dennison‘s Danny.

“I felt like we knew it was coming, and it was fascinating, because we shot pretty much chronologically, and so we were making this whole different movie,” explained Mooney of the film, which is now in theaters.

Set on New Year’s Eve in 1999, Y2K follows best friends Eli (Jaeden Martell) and Danny as they ring in the new millennium at a house party, where electronics come to life after the stroke of midnight and go on a killing spree.

After closing out the year as the life of the party, Danny ends up dying in Eli’s arms, shifting the entire tone of the disaster film, which imagines an alternate world in which the “Year 2000 problem” was real.

“It was essentially these two guys in a coming-of-age high school film, and I think everybody knew at some point, we’re gonna have to do that scene,” Mooney added. “And we tried to be conscious of making it as comfortable for these guys as possible and kind of thoughtful about the transition from one world to the next. But for me, speaking for myself being on the other side of the screen, it’s just made so much easier by these two guys who are bringing such earnestness and honesty.”

Dennison felt the pressure to get the scene right, agreeing that Danny’s death was “kind of that gateway into that world” where the movie takes on more horror elements.

“I think even while we were shooting that, we could kind of feel what the scene was and how important it was,” he explained. “There was like this mutual respect, and we could kind of understand each other during it. There wasn’t need for a lot of words, but it’s just kind of a feeling.”

And although Dennison and Martell were both born after 2000, they enjoyed slipping into the “lack of convenience and the lack of technology” that came with the era. “I wish I got to experience that. I wish I didn’t live in the age of everything being so accessible,” said Martell.

From battle rap to Fred Durst‘s cameo and Myspace creator Tom Anderson’s fate, read the full interview with Y2K co-writer/director Kyle Mooney and stars Jaeden Martell and Julian Dennison.

DEADLINE: Tell me about mining all that Y2K nostalgia. Was there anything from your youth that you just had to include in the movie?

KYLE MOONEY: I wrote it with my friend Evan, he grew up in Eugene, Oregon. I’m from San Diego, California. So we sort of had separate lives but the same general references. So, the writing process was really fun, just being like, “Do you remember this?” “Oh, yeah, that was a good show” or “I like this song.” Everything that’s in there is something that was likely meaningful to me or to him or to both of us in some way. And I was mainly psyched in the process in like pre-pro, we were doing a lot of watching YouTube videos of video yearbooks and stuff like that. And I love taking screen grabs of what people were wearing. There’s one thing that we worked in that I don’t think will be meaningful to anybody. But there was a moment in time where all of the girls in my school were wearing overalls and a white shirt underneath. And so we got that in the movie, and that’s all I could ask for.

DEADLINE: Jaeden and Julian, I can’t believe you guys weren’t even alive at that time. Was there anything from that era that you wish you could have experienced after making this movie?

JULIAN DENNISON: Yeah, my older brother was really into battle rap and really into underground rap. And being from New Zealand, we kind of also got everything like 10 years later. So, it was kind of like I did grow up and kind of experience that through him. But I think, like the characters CJ (Daniel Zolghadri) and Farkas (Eduardo Franco), just to see those people in real life and to interact with them would have been pretty, pretty cool.

JAEDEN MARTELL: I think it would be the lack of convenience and the lack of technology. I wish I got to experience that. I wish I didn’t live in the age of everything being so accessible. I mean, you can abstain from things, which is why it’s here, to test us as new people in the new generation. But yeah, technology, lack of it.

DEADLINE: I feel you there. The movie feels like such a fun stoner comedy horror for good chunk of it. But then that’s what made Danny’s death scene so heartbreaking. What was it like filming that for you guys?

MOONEY: I felt like we knew it was coming, and it was fascinating, because we shot pretty much chronologically, and so we were making this whole different movie. It was essentially these two guys in a coming-of-age high school film, and I think everybody knew at some point, we’re gonna have to do that scene. And we tried to be conscious of making it as comfortable for these guys as possible and kind of thoughtful about the transition from one world to the next. But for me, speaking for myself being on the other side of the screen, it’s just made so much easier by these two guys who are bringing such earnestness and honesty, because the performance felt incredibly real, and there wasn’t a lot we had to do. I think they knew what their job was, and they did it.

DENNISON: Yeah, I think that scene really pivots the film and you go from watching one film and then you kind of are transported into this new world. And it was really important for me that, if Danny is seen as kind of that gateway into that world, to make it really good. And I think I was really blessed and fortunate to work with people like Jaeden. I think even while we were shooting that, we could kind of feel what the scene was and how important it was. There was like this mutual respect ,and we could kind of understand each other during it. There wasn’t need for a lot of words, but it’s just kind of a feeling. It was great because that whole start of that film was pretty crazy, it’s pretty funny and pretty insane. And then all of a sudden, you switch and it’s like, how do you do that? With other great actors and actresses.

DEADLINE: Kyle, what was it like directing your own death scene, especially a beheading like that? That was so wild.

MOONEY: I mean, there were so many people on set, helping out. We had my partner Evan, who I wrote it with, and then Bill Pope shooting it and all of the other artisans. So, I had people looking out for me for sure. I love that sort of thing. I think there’s a line I have to say after I get my arm chopped off, I say something like, “I don’t know if I like this” or something like that, and I remember doing however many, seven takes of that, and just being like to the script supervisor, “Did I get it? How did I do? Did I get it?” So, it’s always fascinating to go from working behind the camera to coming back in front of the camera and the vulnerabilities and being reminded, oh yeah, it’s not easy being an actor sometimes because you really start to question how you’re doing.

DENNISON: It’s impressive though, I remember shooting that scene in the DVD store. Just watching you, I was very impressed because that scene was very complex actually, with the camera movements and smoking. There was a lot of things going on.

MOONEY: I love to mess around.

MARTELL: Yeah. And having your head on set was a lot of fun for everyone.

DEADLINE: Did you get to keep the prop head?

MOONEY: I think Louie (Zakarian) has it, who is our special effects makeup artist, who works at Saturday Night Live. Yeah, he has it. Maybe someday, I can borrow it.

DEADLINE: What was it like shooting with Fred Durst and getting him to make a cameo?

MOONEY: I mean, rad. He was so awesome. We pitched him as an idea at the very beginning when we started talking about this movie … But I think we just felt like he was always the person we wanted. We were so blessed to get him, and then when he came on set and we found out, oh s—, he’s actually very, very good and better than we imagined. It just felt like one of those things where, okay, things are coming together in a way that feels very special.

DEADLINE: In that last scene, was there any significance to the 2005 time jump? Because you mentioned some of the technology of that time like Myspace and whatever else they were using. But was there anything specific about that year?

MOONEY: That might be a question that I would have to consult my co-writer on. It was five years later and I think we wanted to establish where these guys were, kind of at the end of college and sort of… yeah, I’m trying to think of why we landed specifically. I think it was mainly the college thing and just giving it a coda and kind of checking in with these characters to see also how the world has evolved, which I think plays out. But yeah, I don’t know. I guess, I don’t know why we didn’t choose four years later if that’s what your question is.

DEADLINE: I was just curious because the fact that Myspace still exists made me think Y2K didn’t totally mess up the world in this film’s universe.

MOONEY: Oh yeah, Tom survived.