Script

Angel of Anywhere started from a concept developed by Kate Murdoch and Casey Nelson, built around Axel Rockham's real experiences. What pulled me in was one structural choice the writers made early: this is a film about a stripper that almost never lets you watch him strip. The opening sequence puts Angel on stage for maybe twenty seconds, and from there the script moves him into VIP rooms, behind DJ booths, into hallways and finally into a grocery store. The performance is what the people who come to Anywhere want from him. The work, the thing the movie is actually about, happens between songs.

The script's two long dialogues, Michelle in the first VIP scene and Brian in the second, were the reason I wanted to direct it. Both end with the same question phrased almost identically: "Can I touch you?" Michelle asks it from grief. Brian asks it from appetite. Angel's answer is yes to both, and the film does not editorialize about whether that's the same yes or a different yes. The grocery store scene at the end refuses to resolve any of it. Michelle puts the cereal back. Brian doesn't recognize what's happening. Angel sees that his work didn't take. The script ends on Michelle looking at a cereal box because Kate and Casey trusted the audience to do the rest.