Carlson Young is a director/ writer/ actor who co-starred in two seasons of Scream: The TV Series and Emily In Paris. Young wrote, directed, and starred in her psychological horror film The Blazing World which premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Now she’s expanded her palette with her Devil Wears Prada-esque romantic comedy, Upgraded starring Camila Mendes (Ana), Marisa Tomei (Claire) and Archie Renaux (William). It’s a classic comedy of telling little white lies and character misunderstandings when art dealer intern Ana Santos is upgraded to first class and “meets cute” William on her flight after she clumsily spills red wine on him in the airport lounge. He mistakes her for her boss Claire and she indulges him thinking she’ll never see him again. Add his mother Catherine (Lena Olin) into the mix who is a high flyer in the art world and strongly encourages the chemistry between Ana and her son, and you have the makings of an entertaining comedy film.
It all started when one of the producers on the project sent Carlson the script as an unlikely followup to her previous dark film.
“I thought the script was great, and most importantly, I thought it was something that I have not have dreamed up. When I’m not writing my own material, I look for things that are outside my wheelhouse I can take and make my own,” states Young.
Naturally, Young infused Upgraded with her own sense of storytelling. “I saw this really cute love story, but mostly I saw this story about three women and the way that they help each other. That’s what felt unique to me.” There was also a lot of fun to be had poking fun at the highly-pretentious art world.
Carlson Young (Photo by Brenna Weeks)
Ana is the main driver of the story as her white lie escalates and she has to run an art auction while hiding the truth from Will and her colleagues. Carlson relates most to this character in the movie because they’re both detail-oriented and emotional. “Ana has so much strength and fortitude in a world that is so closed off to her,” reports Young. Carlson draws upon the inherent parallels between the funny, “hoity-toity” snobbery in the entertainment business and the art world. “They’re trying to add value to something subjective. They’re not curing cancer.”
Carlson relished the opportunity to set a romcom in the world of High Art. There were so many possible scenarios to consider. “The facade of people who are really self-important and indulgent makes it funny. There’s a lot of beautiful things going on, so it has this wish fulfilment/ dream element you want to get in that room.” In this case, the person looking for fulfilment is Ana. Career doors are opening for her. Will has the key that unlocks the fairy godmother aspect of the art world who may also be the man of her dreams.
Writing Upgraded – Starting With A White Lie
The first draft was written by Christine Lenig (Unsolved Mysteries). “She came up with this great idea. All of the bones were there.” Two young comedy writers Luke Spencer Roberts and Justin Matthews (The Duel) wrote a fresh pass of the script. “They have such unique comedy voices as writers. They added funny situations and gags to improve the story. It feels like they wrote it last night. They are so brilliant at making tropes feel real and fresh, and that’s a really unique thing to find in a writer.”
Upgraded had the luxury of a script development process with executive producers Rachel Matthews and Camila Mendes. “They have great instincts in formulating the the modernity of the script and finding the things that worked and didn’t work. When I would get pages I would visualize them in my head and think, ‘Would I want to engage with this world?'” This central question was the barometer for the script.
Ana’s seemingly insignificant white lie kick starts a chain reaction of events. Apart from it all blowing up in her face when Will eventually learns the truth about her, Ana is still glad she did it. “I’ve made more progress in a month than I have in two years,” she exclaims. It was all a means to an end.
Ana Satos (Camila Mendes) Photo by Paul Stephenson/ Amazon MGM Studios
Carlson doesn’t believe that all lies are created equally. “One is a character flaw and the other one is something that feels harmless in the moment.” It all lies in whether Ana remains sympathetic and likeable throughout the film.
“We’ve established that she’s a hard-working and otherwise honest person who gets this big break and has this enchanting moment of luck being on her side by getting upgraded to this first class world, and she’s having a good time with it.”
Despite Ana and Will essentially being involved in a workplace fling, their budding romance takes root as evidenced by their energetic banter and level-headedness. Neither becomes overly-smitten by the other. Carlson points to a scene where Will doesn’t allow Ana’s passion for art steamroll him. Will insists that art is subjective and Ana doesn’t get to decide what art is. She certainly doesn’t get to decide if it’s good or not. She retorts that she can because that’s her job in the “art business.”
Part of the conceit of Upgraded is that Ana spills wine on Will’s shoes and he happens to be on the same flight as her. “I didn’t want to make too big of a moment of it,” explains Carlson. The essential story exposition was dealt with quickly and efficiently because it couldn’t be overlooked.
The cast also added various character nuances to the story during read throughs and on set. Young mentions there was a lot of improv on set during filming. The director quotes an example when Claire asks Ana what is wrong with her when she founds out she’s being lying. Suzette (Rachel Matthews), Claire’s assistant whispers, “So many things.”
“That was totally improv. There was so much magic in this movie because the actors were willing to take risks and I gave them permission to do so. I did the normal takes to get the footage we needed and then let it all let it all go to the wind. It’s a really cool process.”
Claire Dupon (Marisa Tomei) Photo courtesy of Amazon/ MGM Studios
Right through to the editing process, the main goal of the storytelling was balancing the workplace drama with the romantic comedy elements. “By the end of it, it all felt like a love story with art. It felt like a love story with Claire, a love story with Catherine. At one point, Ana declares, ‘It’s all love.‘”
Carlson Young looked to movies beyond the obvious The Devil Wears Prada for creative inspiration. She watched romantic comedies like Notting Hill, How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days, Moonstruck, Four Weddings And A Funeral and When Harry Met Sally to inform the comedic tone of Upgraded. Her aim was to make a contemporary romcom that could also be timeless.
Carlson Young’s Creative Mindset
Carlson doesn’t take issue with making a light-hearted romantic comedy after a psychological thriller. “I am learning to stay in the light. I am learning to create from more of a dream spot positive dream. I create my own material from a very dark and introspective place and I think that that has a purpose in my life.”
“I’m always trying to create things that are challenging to me and that I don’t fully understand. That’s why I have to direct the movie to figure out what that magic is behind the story.”
“Once I have an idea, I crack that nut open into a thousand pieces and see how I’m going to organize those pieces… what I’m going to keep and move forward with. I find more ideas there.”
“There are so many ideas out there and they’re all unique and interesting. I think it’s about taking the seeds and seeing which ones have energy. Some seeds are really brilliant, but they just aren’t for that time and so you have to put them on the shelf and let them sit there and see if they grow.”
“It’s very different when you’re working with an idea that has a lot of energy behind it. Some of those ideas we think are brilliant, but they just don’t have legs. It’s a really special thing when you catch an idea from the big stream of ideas and you have that creative reinforcement by the environment around you and you know that’s ready to be born.”
Carlson describes herself as a filmmaker who takes risks. She’s not tethered to any specific narrative about genre or story. She wants to be remembered for being brave.
