Basking in the ‘Glow’: ‘I Saw the TV Glow’ explores our obsession with the tube

LOS ANGELES — “I Saw the TV Glow” is director Jane Schoenbrun’s coming of age film — an uncanny story of suburban horrors in the 1990s. It follows Owen, a teenager who is introduced to a mysterious late-night television show that soon feels more real than real life.

“I Saw the TV Glow” not only plays on the shows that keep us awake at night, but the ones that became obsessed over.

But the film also tries to explore the discovery of one’s self, Schoenbrun said: in this case, it tries to authentically capture the gender transition experience.

“I wrote it early in my physical transition,” they told Spectrum News. “I set myself the goal, as an artist, to really capture that feeling in the ways it is beautiful, overwhelming and terrifying.”

For Schoenbrun, “I Saw the TV Glow” is an attempt to unpack everything that leads to the “egg crack” — the moment one finally stops suppressing him or herself and admits who they are.

Justice Smith, who plays Owen, told Spectrum News that he might have not understood the script the first time he read it, but playing his character was an awakening moment for him that was the antithesis of Owen’s arc.

“I learned how to accept myself as being enough. A lot of times when I am doing projects, I have this obsession with the quality of my work. On this project, I really tried to relinquish that and just service the story,” Smith said. “It was scary to do. In the end, it taught me that me at my most raw, my most instinctual is actually fine, if not good. Owen is having the exact opposite, but there is hope for him.”

“The Pink Opaque” is the fictional ’90s television show that Bridgette Lundy-Paine, who plays Maddie, is obsessed with in the film. Growing up, though, their own personal obsessison trended away from scary TV and more toward the lighter side.

“I was obsessed with ‘Monk’ starring Tony Shalhoub,” they said, referencing the show centered on Shalhoub’s obsessive-compulsive private detective. “I would watch the show all the time with my family. I have OCD, but I did not know when I was watching ‘Monk’ — but I really love his character.”

Brigette Lundy-Paine. (Courtesy of Spencer Pazer/A24)

But if “The Pink Opaque” was a real show today, Lundy-Paine would absolutely watch it. Schoenbrun says they would either skip it or just have it playing in the background. Smith says he too would tune in.

“There probably is a ‘Pink Opaque’ out there. There has to be,” said Lundy-Paine.

Schoenbrun says if given enough money, they would make about six episodes of a “The Pink Opaque” like show.

“I Saw the TV Glow” opens in theaters in LA this weekend.

Click the link above to watch the full interview.