I Saw The TV Glow: Full list of cast and crew

I Saw the TV Glow is a film released on May 3, 2024. Written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun, who is non-binary, it's inspired by their own struggles with gender identity and societal acceptance.

The movie was produced by A24 and Fruit Tree, which is Emma Stone and her husband Dave McCreary's production company.

It stars Justice Smith, known for his roles in Pokemon: Detective Pikachu and Dungeons and Dragons: Among Thieves, and Brigette Lundy-Paine, known for starring in Bill and Ted Face The Music. Read on for the full cast list:

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The cast and crew of I Saw the TV Glow

Jane Schoenbrun was inspired by their gender identity struggles when making the film. (Image via A24)

The main cast of I Saw the TV Glow are as follows:

• Justice Smith as Owen, who struggles to relate to his family and is a fan of the show The Pink Opaque.
• Brigette Lundy-Paine as Maddy, Owen's friend who's also a fan of The Pink Opaque and lives with an abusive stepfather.
• Ian Foreman as a young Owen.
• Helena Howard as Isabel, one of the protagonists of The Pink Opaque.
• Lindsay Jordan as Tara, the other protagonist of The Pink Opaque.
• Danielle Deadwyler as Brenda, Owen's mother.
• Fred Durst as Frank, Owen's father.
• Connor O'Malley as Dave.
• Emma Portner as Mr. Melancholy, the main villain of The Pink Opaque. She also plays his henchman Marco, the Evil Clown, and Maddy's friend Amanda.
• Madaline Riley as Polo.
• Amber Benson as Johnny Link's mother.
• Michael C. Maronna as neighbor 1.
• Danny Tamberelli as neighbor 2.
• Phoebe Bridgers, Haley Dahl, and Kristina Esfandiari as themselves.

I Saw the TV Glow is written and directed by non-binary filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun.

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What is I Saw the TV Glow about?

I Saw the TV Glow follows two children in dysfunctional families named Owen and Maddy, who bond over their shared love for the television show The Pink Opaque. The show features two female protagonists, Isabel and Tara, as the protagonists who fight off the forces of the evil Mr. Melancholy and his minions.

Maddy eventually reveals that she's a lesbian and has been outed without her consent by Amanda, who she once considered a friend. Owen is also dealing with difficulties with his mother, Brenda, who's terminally ill, and his father, Frank, who disapproves of his hobby and dismisses The Pink Opaque as a show for girls.

Maddy plans to run away from her abusive stepfather and invites Owen to join her, but he gets cold feet and refuses. Maddy disappears, and Owen's mother dies, leaving Owen to live with his father and get a job in a movie theatre.

In 2006, Owen reunites with Maddy, and she reveals that she now believes The Pink Opaque to be the true reality, claiming that she'd disappeared into the show after running away.

Maddy tells Owen that she's actually Tara, and Owen is Isabella, and both of them have been imprisoned in Mr. Melancholy's Midnight Realm after he stole their hearts and fed them his poisonous Luna juice.

After realizing this, Maddy says that she returned to rescue Owen and have him reawaken as Isabella, his "true self" so that he could be free of Mr. Melancholy's false world. Owen is shaken by the possibility that he may be living with the wrong identity, but he refuses Maddy's offer and sticks to his current life. He never sees her again.

Owen's father dies of a stroke, and Owen grows older and starts a family. He now works at a Family Entertainment Center and claims to be disillusioned with The Pink Opaque, considering it just a cheesy kid's show.

While catering for a kid's birthday party, he has a mental breakdown where he feels like he's dying, and he rushes over to the bathroom and cuts his chest open to see a TV screen glowing. He returns to the apathetic guests and apologizes for his behavior.

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I Saw the TV Glow released in theatres on May 3, 2024. Before this, it had premiered at Sundance on January 18, 2024.