Fantastic Fest 2025 Exclusive: The Cast and Crew of Appofeniacs Talk Chaos, Deepfakes, and Making Fun Movies Again

The cast and crew of Appofeniacs hit Fantastic Fest 2025, bringing wild energy and sharp insights on deepfakes, chaos, and making fun horror again.

At Fantastic Fest 2025, we sat down with director Chris Marrs Piliero and cast members Aaron Holliday (Duke), Michael Abbott Jr. (Banks), Simran Jehani (Poppy), and Paige Searcy to discuss their wild new dark comedy-horror Appofeniacs. The film, which had its North American premiere at the fest, dives into the absurd fallout of deepfake technology, wrapped inside a chaotic night gone off the rails.

From Music Videos to Feature Film

Director Chris Marrs Piliero, known for his stylized music video work, shared how he carried that visual DNA into his first feature.

“I think like fun, interesting, cool characters that you want to spend time watching. Even back in music videos, I was always trying to create scenarios that I’d want to see as a fan. That definitely carried over here.”

Duke, the Yap Machine

Aaron Holliday leaned into the unpredictable energy of Duke without overthinking it:

“We’re both yappers, so that part was easy. But I also pulled from growing up around intense personalities, seeing incel culture online, even just reading Facebook rants. Life itself gave me everything I needed for Duke.”

Poppy’s Peacock Energy

For Simran Jehani, embodying Poppy meant embracing her flamboyance while anchoring her loyalty:

“She’s always peacocking, always showing those blue feathers. But she’s also fiercely loyal, and that came from my own friendships and support system. Every scene, she’s going to get what she wants — but she won’t compromise having a good time doing it.”

Banks on the Subway

Michael Abbott Jr. brought a gritty realism to Banks by drawing from decades of observation:

“I’ve put in 25 years on the New York City subways, storing away things I’ve seen. Banks is vulnerable, in love with someone out of his league. He was a challenge, but that’s why I had to do it.”

Grounded in the Chaos

Paige Searcy admitted she wasn’t grounded in life during the shoot — which ironically made her performance all the more authentic:

“I had no idea what grounded even was at the time. But the chaos of the set and story forced me to respond in a real way. Sometimes the crew would go silent after a cut because of how genuine it felt.”

Why Deepfakes?

For Piliero, tackling deepfake tech was never about sci-fi spectacle but human fallout:

“Before AI takes us out on a global scale, humans are going to mess with each other first. This tech is just the catalyst. The movie is about how easily we fall into traps of confirmation bias and how dangerous that can get.”

Aaron Holliday added:

“Honestly, I learned more about AI from Chris’s script than anywhere else. My character explains what deepfakes do, so memorizing lines was basically research.”

A Film That Stays Fun

At its core, Appofeniacs thrives because it dares to be outrageous. As I told the team: in a time when too many movies take themselves too seriously, this one brings back the kind of fun audiences crave.

Rating

Appofeniacs is a brash, chaotic, genre-blending trip that nails the absurd horror of digital identity. 4 out of 5 stars.