The Supporters, a New Political Satire Film, Goes Down the QAnon Rabbit Hole

The Supporters, a mockumentary-style film following two aspiring Fox News personalities, will be released by an anti-Trump Super PAC on Thursday — one year after the 2020 election.

The film, produced by MeidasTouch, stars Jason Selvig and Davram Stiefler, members of the Good Liars comedy duo. The pair also directed the film, and it was executive produced by MeidasTouch and Michael Rapaport.

Selvig told Mediaite in an interview that part of the inspiration behind the film came from mean interactions they had with Trump supporters.

“We were like, what causes somebody to go and do this? Who are the types of people who would actually do this?” he said. “And then we were like, ‘Let’s play these characters. Let’s go out in the world as these guys and interact with real people on both sides of the aisle.'”

“It was interesting because over the year that we were filming, the world and the U.S. obviously changed a lot, not just with COVID, but just like the conspiratorial mindset kind of set in, especially from Trump supporters,” Selvig continued. “And it was very, very weird and unsettling.”

MeidasTouch co-founder Ben Meiselas told Mediaite that The Supporters will mark the PAC’s first produced full-length film, and that they offered assistance to Selvig and Stiefler but did not want to interfere with their creative vision.

“[Selvig and Stiefler] kind of go deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole as the political environment escalates and more disinfo is being spread by rightwing conspiracy theorists,” Meiselas said. “They are clearly a parody of the kind of QAnon conspiracy theorist experience. But what’s scary and horrifying is they blend seamlessly in there. And in fact, when some people have seen the trailer or clips, who don’t know of the Good Liars, they’re curious if it’s real.”

The film follows Selvig and Stiefler’s characters, both MAGA enthusiasts who travel across the country in hopes of becoming Fox News’ next stars. During their journey, the pair pull off a series of stunts, including heckling then-candidates Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer.

Selvig said his favorite prank in the movie was the one they pulled on Steyer.

“Davram bursts through, acting like he’s been hit by the car that Tom was driving, and then there’s some confusion, and then immediately I stand up and turn it into a lawyer commercial,” Selvig said. “It was the most ridiculous thing I think we did in the movie. Not the most ridiculous thing we were a part of because there were a lot of ridiculous things we were a part of that the politicians were in charge of. But that definitely is one of my favorite pranks we’ve ever done.”

In another moment, Selvig’s character proposes to Warren — and she says yes!

“I was not expecting a yes, but I got a yes, you know,” Selvig said, noting that he personally doesn’t feel great about the stunt but knows many people who have watched the film loved that moment.

While filming began at the beginning of 2020, pre-pandemic, the had to story-line shift amid both the pandemic and rise in popularity of the QAnon conspiracy.

“The characters we set out to play at the beginning had to evolve a little bit as things got weirder in the country, more intense as the pandemic set in,” Stiefler said. “That kind of brand of person [we play] had to evolve and change with the pandemic. And you see our characters are kind of denying that it’s real for a while despite what’s actually happening in their lives in relation to it.”

Both actors were surprised how prominent of a role QAnon ended up having in the film.

“When we started filming, I don’t think we thought Q was going to be a big part of the movie,” Stiefler said. “But then by the time we’re filming, a few months later, we’re at events… and the people are like on board with this Q thing.”

“Actually being confronted by people who believed this, face to face, and having actually watched it catch on, I think was just a huge surprise,” he added. “These are real people. They’re out there. They believe it. And in the shooting of this one film, it went from like a fringe odd thing to something everyone seemed to be familiar with.”

Fox News serves as a central theme throughout the movie, since both characters who operate a podcast out of the back of a van hope to make it big on the network.

“We thought with these guys, these Trump supporters, their goal would be to be the next Tucker Carlson, the next Sean Hannity,” Selvig said. “And our characters are kind of naive… and these guys don’t necessarily know that they are falling for conspiracies and stuff like that.”

Meiselas said that you can’t talk about rightwing disinformation without Fox News being a prominent thread.

“We’ve heard of the American dream, what Fox has created is the American nightmare to sow fear and division across the country,” Meiselas said. “And these individuals in the film, they see themselves as part of that American nightmare and that’s what they’re ultimately chasing. For them, it’s the highest form of success is to be one of the leaders spreading the disinfo.”

Filming continued past the election through Jan. 6, where Selvig and Stiefler watched the insurrection take place from outside the Capitol.

“On January 6th, we were trying to be as safe as possible from the violence that was happening, but also from COVID,” Selvig said. “And we were wearing masks in these big groups of people. I think that was the biggest red flag to Trump supporters that were there on January 6 that these guys are not on our team because no one else was wearing masks.”

Selvig later noted that they spent the night before Jan. 6 at a hotel in D.C. that was “filled with Trump supporters.”

“We were the only people in the lobby besides the staff that were wearing masks, and there were people playing pump up music,” Selvig said. “It sounded like they were getting ready for a football game. You’d hear people screaming like, ‘Let’s go, baby!’ It sounded like the night before people are getting ready for war… I thought there wasn’t going to be violence, and then the night before I was like, ‘Oh no, this is going to be very, very bad.’”

Selvig and Stiefler hope people find the movie funny and possibly use it as an opportunity for reflection.

“The journey of our characters in some ways are what we would hope would be the journey of people who have been kind of indoctrinated by some of these thoughts,” Stiefler said. “I think with Trump and with all this QAnon stuff, it’s not good for the people who are in it. Even if it feels like it’s a satisfying thing to be involved in, at the end of the day, I think our country is worse off for it, and I think our characters kind of live that out.”

“So first priority is to be funny. If you can’t laugh, then it’s all just so heavy, so we hope people laugh,” he continued. “But we hope people look at the journey of [our characters] and take something from it and maybe actually find a way out or some redemption.”

“And there’s other cults out there,” Selvig interjected. “If you feel like you’re in a cult, you know, there’s SoulCycle, there’s improv comedy, there’s other cults you can be in and not be in a political cult.”

The film is releasing for free on Thursday through social media, but people who enjoy it have the option of making a contribution afterward, according to Meiselas.

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