Imagine dipping out of middle school to go take over the turntable of a New York nightclub. Reggie Absolom, the 14-year-old star of Club Kid, speaks about doing so with an earnestness and professionalism that suggests the cool factor of it all may have yet to fully resonate.
When we speak, the young actor is back to his real life outside Oxford in England. He’s wearing a jumper, button up, and tie—the regalia of young English schoolkids—and still donning the tightly wound mop of curls that made him the believable offspring of Club Kid director, writer, and star Jordan Firstman. In the film, Peter (Firstman) is a thoroughly entrenched gay club promoter whose ketamine-infused party cycle is interrupted by the arrival of a 10-year-old son, Arlo (Absolom), he didn’t know he had. Arlo starts running with the scenesters, averting his eyes from the copious drug use, and playing DJ sets with the best of them as Peter tries to figure out how to parent on the fly and model some self-improvement.
The tender and riotous Cannes Caméra d’Or nominee, which is Firstman’s directorial debut, launched him to the center of promising young filmmaker conversations. For Absolom—“introduced” in the opening credit run, Old Hollywood-style—conversations are just beginning. He’s been traveling the world with Firstman, giggling while getting hoisted up by his castmates during the standing O at Cannes, and pointed at while sitting on top of double-decker buses in London. “People would shout ‘Club Kid’ at us, and we’d just wave to them,” he recalls, of the international press tour.
Only a week out from release, he’s already been clipped and memeified—particularly when Peter lets Arlo try out swearing on East River Promenade (“Fucking bitch,” said with a lovely British twang and mimicry of Firstman’s natural, louche swagger). Or, when Arlo naively pulls a “I love Björk and Bareback” T-shirt from Peter’s closet, a moment that got a particularly audible reaction from my theater audience. “Okay, not that shirt,” Peter pleads. Arlo’s innocent retort, “Why? I like Björk,” has already become a favorite quip of his classmates back home. “I don’t know how to respond,” he admits, with a laugh.
Absolom’s jumble of wide-eyed enthusiasm and maturity beyond his years is the kind of combination casting directors dream of. It was enough to stick him in the mind of casting director Lucy Bevan, who first encountered the sweet, floppy-haired kid with a taste for metal music while watching the Harry Potter self-tapes of every Brit in his age bracket for the series’ forthcoming TV adaptation. When a role for a young Londoner who could believably like Cocteau Twins and spin Machine Girl came along, she called Firstman with the perfect choice.
So, now what? From what looks like his family’s kitchen table, a charming little spot sitting before a wooden spice rack and plaid curtains, Absolom is dreaming of being in action movies and commanding the gravitas of a Denzel Washington. Who’s to say that, give or take 10 years, he won’t? At the moment, he seems, with precocious sagacity, content to take things one step at a time.
How did you first get into acting?
It all just kind of came by mistake, honestly. My mom does eyelash extensions, so people come to her and one of them was saying, “I’ve put my toddler into this modeling agency. They’re looking for kids Reggie’s age. You should put him in.” My mom came and asked me, “Would you want to join a modeling agency?” I was like, “Sure, why not? Sounds fun.”
I started getting self-tapes, and when I got my first job, it was an advert. When I came off set, because it was such a good job and I was so well taken care of and it was so fun to be there, I just wanted to do more. Film was one of my top goals, like any size role. But getting a role that is so important in a film was just unimaginable. I really wanted to try my best to be in this because I think being in a film would open up so many more doors going forward in acting.
Arlo’s a bit edgier of a character, maybe, than the Harry Potter role you first auditioned for.
Yeah, very different than Harry Potter. Very, very different. But I feel like this was a nicer experience, maybe, because there were a lot less people on set than there would’ve been on Harry Potter. So you feel close with everyone and you feel like they’re your family, and you really connect with everyone. I can’t name one person on set that I didn’t have a pretty nice, chill conversation with at one point, you know?
Doing Harry Potter, another thing about that was, since there’s so many more films, it would take up a lot of time compared to just doing this. I would rather have just done a movie, and then we start going on from there instead of doing one thing that takes up my whole childhood.
Do you have a favorite memory from being on the set of Club Kid?
I was talking to one of the [crew members] and he was just talking about, “Oh, what places have you been to so far?” I was like, “I haven’t had loads of time to go around and see New York.” He was like, “You have to go to Trader Joe’s.” I was like, “I’ve never heard of Trader Joe’s.” And went in. It’s amazing. I love Trader Joe’s.
You walk into Trader Joe’s thinking that you’re gonna buy one thing, and then you come out and you’ve got so much more random stuff that you never thought you actually needed to buy. And the fact that it’s all their brand, you’ve never really tried any of it before, so it’s a whole new experience. I love Trader Joe’s now.
Did you get to see anywhere else in New York? Trader Joe’s is great, but maybe not the most quintessential tourist attraction.
I mean, I did go to Target. That was also somewhere on my list. I did see the top half of the Empire State, and the Statue of Liberty. What else did I do? I think I went to one of those indoor golf things where you hit it against the screen. And mostly [it was] the driver just driving us around. He would kind of give us a tour.
That is the quintessential New York experience—your driver gives you the breakdown. They always know the best places. How does it feel going back to school after spending the summer in the New York clubs and on set? Do you tell friends about it?
They all know about it because it’s on TikTok. I probably get asked even more questions than I did on the press tour. In school, it feels like a second press tour, with maybe not as good questions.
If there’s a clip that’s come out, like a teaser clip, they love a reference. They love making a reference from any of my interviews. I don’t know how to respond. I’m just like, “Yeah. What do you want me to do?”
What are some of the references they are throwing about in school?
There’s this interview where I was getting shown stuff from the ’90s, and there were burnt CDs. And I go, “Why do you burn them?” “I like Björk” gets referenced. People say “I like Björk,” but they don’t say the last bit [and bareback]. They always ask me, “What’s Björk?” I’m like, “It’s a singer, like a band kind of thing.” Then they ask me, “What’s the last bit mean?” I’m like, “Just forget about it. Google it.”
Just watch the film.
Yeah, you’ll learn…
I also read that Jordan, when talking to different people who might play Arlo, sent around a playlist and tried to learn more about everyone’s music taste. The two of you bonded over that. What was that experience like of getting to know him and work with him?
I just loved having chill conversations with him between takes. That was the main thing that we would do. There was a lot of food talk. I got recommended 7th Street Burger. Still haven’t gone. It was right outside my hotel during the press tour, and I forgot to go. I really wanna try 7th Street Burger.
We did go over music quite a bit, but that was mainly after I watched [the film] for the first time. I kept on asking him, “What’s the name of this song there?” Because I liked them all. I wanted to add them all to my playlist.
What do you tend to listen to on your own now? It sounds like the film’s music sort of bled in.
Yeah, definitely. There is a lot of Cocteau Twins, and then maybe some bands that are similar. But then there’s also some other kind of stuff in there. Sade. I used to listen to metal before filming. There’s still a little bit of that left behind, but it’s more like—how do I explain? It’s like punk mixed with club-ish music, electronic stuff. There’s a band called Ho99o9 that I listen to.
Okay, I’m not a metalhead in any way. What’s your metal recommendation if I was gonna start listening?
Definitely, definitely, Ho99o9. I think a good one to get in, if you’re just getting into it, Alice in Chains is pretty good. And Korn.
These are some classics. I’ll give them a listen.
Machine Girl as well, another one.
What was your family’s response to seeing you onscreen? You’re a long way from your mom dropping you into a modeling agency. How did she feel about it?
I think she loved it, if I’m being honest. She does everything for me. She’s my PA, basically. We got a private screening for close family in London, and my dad almost cried at it, but he doesn’t cry at movies. I’m pretty sure he got pretty emotional. He said that he needs to see it again because he was only watching me, really.
My sister said that I was really good in it. And then my mom was like, “Some other family are going to see it at the London Film Festival. Do you wanna go?” She was like, “Will the dolls be there?” “Uh, no, they’re not gonna be there.” “Reggie, you were great, but I’m not going if the dolls aren’t going.” She’s obsessed with the dolls. When we were in New York, we got them to send a video to her saying hi and stuff.
*Note: Spoilers for Club Kid in the below portion
Going through this whole process, is there a mentor that you’ve been able to find? Whether it’s an acting coach or someone from set?
I did have an acting coach for some of the harder, more emotional scenes. She was called Jackie Brogan. She’s really nice. She taught me a lot about how to prepare for a scene or prepare a script. It was mainly imagining a backstory. Even if it’s not written on the paper, it’s not in the script, if they’re in a different room and then there’s a conversation going on outside, did Arlo hear Peter and Edison’s conversation whilst he was in Peter’s room? It changes the way that he acts when he comes out of the room.
And then there’s what happened in his backstory to make him lash out at that kid at the park. Why? You can make up a lot of things about a character.
What are some of the things that you imagined for his backstory?
You imagine his mom. We said she was a very bipolar person. His mom was kind of his best friend when he was younger. They were really linked when his mom was on the happier kind of side. He did have brothers who were not really like him as much. They more took after their dad and things like that. We did imagine when he’s in Peter’s room, he doesn’t really hear what goes on outside unless it’s shouting, shouting.
Where do you see them going from here, him and Peter?
At the end, Peter goes back to London to see Arlo, and then they go to Sharon’s big house, bring his CDJs. Arlo keeps DJing at Sharon’s. Arlo definitely gets told off for playing too loud, because I don’t think Sharon—Sharon’s a more classical girl. She’s not for that club life.
Then I think when Arlo’s old enough, he does go to clubs in London. But then sometimes he does go to New York, maybe stays at Peter’s apartment for a few days, DJs a bit, maybe for two weeks or something like that. I think Peter moves apartments.
Really?
He’s living in his mom’s old apartment. Obviously, it’s cheap, it’s nice. But I feel like there’s so much that’s happened there. He’s become a whole new person in that apartment. He just needs to start fresh. Maybe he goes into Brooklyn or something. I don’t know where, but I think he moves.
I could see him in Brooklyn, but it’d be hard to give up that prime real estate. Do you have an idea of what you would wanna work on next?
I do like action films because I like seeing the special effects and going on the wires and stuff like that. But then probably just something new. I don’t wanna be someone who gets typecast and plays the same person in every single thing that they’re in. I wanna do something new, something different almost every time, basically.
You wanna do your own stunts is what I’m hearing. You wanna be up on a wire, jumping off a bridge.
Doing my own stunts would be fun. Maybe there’s a few where I’d be like, “Okay, we’ll get someone in for that one.” But most of them would be fun to do.
Do you have any actors that you look to, where you love the projects that they’re in or the characters that they’ve chosen?
I think I have two. Denzel Washington. Any good action movie, you know Denzel’s in it. And then Winona Ryder, because I’m a big Stranger Things fan, but then also Edward Scissorhands.
What’s your favorite project? Or, give me your Letterboxd top four.
Ratatouille is actually in my top four. It’s the best animated movie of all time. I don’t care if it’s for kids or not. If you think it’s for kids, you haven’t seen the deeper meaning of Ratatouille yet. And then I’m gonna go for Whiplash. I like a movie where you have to think about the ending and there’s a lot to think about while you’re watching.
And then Straw. Have you seen it? It’s new. Then the last one. Trying to pick a good one. I’m not gonna put Club Kid in there. Project Hail Mary. Has to go there.
I feel like maybe someday, if there’s a live-action Ratatouille, you’ve got the curls for Linguini.
Oh, yes, yes. Dye me ginger, and I will be Linguini. Like, come on!
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