Jane Schoenbrun Breaks Down 20-Minute Fried Chicken Scene in Camp Miasma
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 14
Jane Schoenbrun Breaks Down 20-Minute Fried Chicken Scene in Camp Miasma
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 14
Summary
Jane Schoenbrun used a New York Times “Anatomy of a Scene” feature to unpack a pivotal cabin meeting in “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” calling it a turning point where viewers still do not know what kind of movie they are watching.
The scene pairs Kris, a director played by Hannah Einbinder, with Billy, Gillian Anderson’s former “final girl,” as an awkward casting meeting turns into a strange bonding ritual over KFC and dipping sauce.
Schoenbrun said the sequence then slows the film down for about 20 minutes, with the two characters eating chicken, smoking weed and talking about feelings in what she described as a “freaky, fried chicken ‘My Dinner With Andre.’”
The breakdown highlights Schoenbrun’s broader approach to horror-comedy in the film, using an offbeat meet-cute at an abandoned summer camp to make the relationship feel both funny and unsettling.