Interview with Annapurna Sriram, Director/Writer/Star of "Fucktoys"

With SXSW kicking off next week, it's time to look back at the standouts from last year. Premiering almost exactly a year ago at the 2025 South by Southwest festival, Fucktoys was one of the event's most talked-about movies. As it traveled, screening at dozens of festivals around the globe, Fucktoys got the honorary title of "the best film of 2025 with no distributor." A bittersweet label it still holds to this day. Written and directed by Annapurna Sriram, who also stars as the lead, Fucktoys is a campy, promiscuous romp through "Trashtown, USA," with major nods to John Waters and midnight movies of the 70's. This week I had the amazing opportunity to speak with Sriram about her film, but the conversation did not stop there. Together we discussed movies, feminism, Heated Rivalry, her past as a champion Irish dancer and the power of being a whore.

Rua: "Welcome, AP, it is so amazing to have you here! Can we start with you introducing yourself to our audience?"

Sriram: "So my name is Annapurna Sriram. Actually, my middle name is Warner but I'm not a nepo baby...unfortunately. I grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and now I'm a filmmaker, and I made the movie Fucktoys!"

Rua: "Amazing! Congrats on your film, I finished it today and it's truly one of a kind; so punk rock, unapologetically creative, the whole nine yards. As someone who has seen a ridiculous number of movies I was getting a lot of references to John Waters, Todd Solondz, Harmony Korine, etc. So I was wondering if you could talk about the filmmakers that inspire you creatively?"

Sriram: "Thank you I love them! My boyfriend and I recently had a religious experience seeing Happiness at Vidiots. That movie is 5 out of five, 10 out of 10. I was like, I can't believe this movie exists and toes this line that is so naughty and well executed. The 1st kernel of the film that was a real reference for me is Nights of Cabiria and the musical Sweet Charity, which is a modern interpretation of Nights of Cabiria, but it was done by Bob Fosse, with Shirley McLean. Obviously Nights of Cabiria is Fellini and the star is Giulietta Masina, his wife, his muse. She's a totally diva. I love her. It's this tragic, tragic movie, but Juliet Masina's character is this tragic clown whore, and I really love that archetype, because I love comedy and sentimentality and sexuality. I really love being able to like mesh all of those together. I kind of feel like that's sort of, my personality: this juxtaposition of the slut and the sentimental person. So that was like the 1st like kernel of reference. There's obviously some Agnès Varda in there, Cleo from 5 to 7 is sort of the opening moment. There is a little bit of Gummo, I think, as well Brazil with the hazmat suit. There's also Crimes of Passion, Gregg Araki's The Doom Generation and Nowhere. The ending of Nowhere was a big inspiration for the ending of my film, just with having something happen that's totally insane and otherworldly. I love theater. I'm a theater kid, but I, what I love about cinema is like truly any story you can make. You are not beholden to the stage and the actors and the set and what you can produce sort of in real time. So I really love pushing boundaries when it comes to storytelling and trying to make everything original and fresh and unexpected. I'm trying to think of some other references of mine... the silhouettes in the strip club are very like 60s James Bond. Um, Repo Man... After Hours... Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Those are some of like the main sort of reference points and they're also films that were so unique when they came out, and remain sort of these cult favorites amongst audiences. So I was really challenging myself to create something that could live in that tradition and in that canon of cinema."

Rua: "You're like, whatever the film equivalent of 'well-read' is. Well-watched?"

Sriram: "I take Letterboxd very seriously, like I'll watch three movies on a Sunday."

Rua: "I did that last year and I got to 1.251 movies for all of 2025. I can definitely see where you're coming from with Varda, the color pallette of Fucktoys reminded me of Le Bonheur."

Sriram: "Yes, Yes, Yes! That like 60s era of French cinema had these icons like, we don't love her but Brigitte Bardot that were very sexy, but also very feminine. I think about this kind of idolization of the female and there's this like mix of the little girl and the virginal whore. So I think that that's something I wanted to have my character be this like virginal whore, romantic slut. You know, she is this interpretation of that, but brown and not a racist."

Rua: "That actually brings me to my next question. We have seen this raunchiness and camp in Fucktoys before, for the past 50 years in fact. But this time it is coming from a new perspective, a woman of color. And as we've seen in the music industry, male rappers can be as vulgar as they want but when female rappers want to go the same route they get absolutely slammed by the public. So, my question is, were you at all cautious or worried about releasing a film this sexually expressive as a woman of color?

Sriram: "You know, I got a BFA from an acting conservatory where I had these incredible professors and directors, and the scenes we would do - I played like a heroin-addicted prostitute for my senior thesis. In theater school, we lived for this gritty, edgy, slice-of-life realism. I also felt like movies are now very...safe? Like, we're losing the adultness of them, they all feel kind of tame. I don't feel like I can relate to these stories because my life is messy, my sex life is messy, decision-making is messy, so I think movies should be too. I love movies like The Piano Teacher where there's all these fucked up people and I'm just riveted. So I kind of felt like making a comedic version of that movie. I just kind of trusted that I was writing these scenes that felt either based on these real moments from my life, or they just felt so honest to what intimacy, vulnerability, and strangeness feel like. I really didn't think that much about my identity or that people would have an issue with it. While I was writing these sex scenes, I didn't see it as graphic, because what I'm really trying to focus on is that kind of silent negotiation where you're being so vulnerable and you don't know how to tell this person, 'I really like you' or 'do you actually like me?' It wasn't until I started sharing the script with people that I would get this overwhelmingly positive reaction. Actors were like, 'yes, I want to be in these scenes' and a lot of artists could see the fun and the potential of the movie. But I think a lot of producers, financiers, institutions, like when I would submit it for grants or whatever, were like 'this script is a mess.' I think because it didn't follow this formulaic indie film method and it would shock vanilla audiences. And I was so confused because I was coming from this school of making these gritty plays and loving these gritty films. I was like: 'this is so tame. compared to like, Naked, the Mike Lee movie that opens with a rape scene,' you know?"

Rua: "To be fair, for a movie called Fucktoys, it's really not that graphic."

Sriram: "The most crazy thing is the title. The title is purely like, just like a 'fuck you,' to the term, it's like its own little reclamation. But yeah, I'm not trying to actually exploit anyone, so I had a lot of stress and anxiety around, making sure everyone felt comfortable and safe. I think the more that people told me 'no' or said 'this is too crazy' the more I was like 'I'm gonna make it, and I'm gonna do it like this.' I think we need to actually have more female gaze centered stories of sex and intimacy because we should be able to share our experience of having sex, especially with men and like how weird it is. You know, it's not like a slow motion scene with like a curtain and like a hand on foggy glass. I think Lena Dunham does a good job at this. I had some great predecessors when it comes to female gaze filmmakers like Catherine Breillat, I could go on this rant forever but I'll end it here."

Rua: "In addition to writing and directing the film, the main character is named after you. Was it always your intention to star as the lead?"

Sriram: "Yeah, it actually wasn't my intention to direct it. I was just trying to have a vehicle for myself as an actor, to kind of show who I was to the industry. Then when I started working with my producer, he was like: 'you're a director.' And I was like, 'what? Like, no.'

And we made a little short film that I never finished because I didn't want to spend money on it. It was just to kind of like practice directing on set. I didn't act in the short I was just like, let me just get behind the wheel a bit. But I think that was when I fell in love with directing, I get why all the boys want to do it, it's very fun! But I also think acting always kind of had this, like, element of unfulfillment to me that was a little disappointing. Like, I'd just say my line and then that's it. I always felt kind of um... blue balled by acting. You know, like, my brain wasn't fully used. But directing is this sort of like, mind puzzle that I really love. I love putting all the pieces together."

Rua: "Kind of going off that, is there any part of the main character that is autobiographical? Is there any of the real AP in there?"

Sriram: "Well, literally I had a psychic tell me to dump my boyfriend, and then I did, I had this kind of obsession with psychics at that time. A lot of the scenes with like the men or the clients, some of like the dialogue or like moments were just like real things that happened where I would just be like, 'this is so insane. I should write this down.' I had a person in my life who was very similar to the co-lead, but they were a little bit more dark and damaged, they weren't this kind of pure baby lamb like Sadie, the actor."

Rua: "Just to go off track for a minute, I want to ask you something. Your wikipedia page describes you as a 'champion Irish dancer.' Now, I'm Irish as hell so can you please tell me about that? Are you Irish at all?"

Sriram: "No, I might have some, like, distant Scottish but nothing cultural. My childhood was in the era of Riverdance and Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance. I think my mom got the VHS for Lord of the Dance and I just really loved it. I loved the music, I watched it a lot, and I tried to kind of like replicate the dancing. So my mom was like, 'do you want to take lessons?' And then I did. Through middle school I became competitive but I quit during I think my sophomore year in high school because I wanted to like, party. Were you an Irish dancer?"

Rua: "No I was like the one girl in town who didn't. It's a very intense sport so I can't imagine someone doing it with zero cultural pressure behind it, good for you.

Sriram: "It's not like a sexy dance, nobody's Irish dancing in the club so now it's more of a party trick. I still love the music, still love Irish culture because of how they've historically fought against colonialism and standing with Gaza."

Rua: "I consider myself very grateful to have grown up Irish. My mom is going to be so geeked when she hears you were a dancer. To get back on track, how has this film's reception affected you? Because everyone I know whose seen it has loved it but I can definitely see some non-camp connoisseurs not understanding it."

Sriram: "I noticed a certain type of, like, film bro who will respond like 'nothing happened,' or 'it was really fun, and then it turned.' I don't know what to say because I'm like, you know, this movie isn't for you, this movie is for hot people. We're in a culture where a lot of men feel like their opinion is important and that they should say it. There are a lot of members of our culture, mainly minorities, who don't get to say their opinion and it's not a given that they will get to speak on something. My film is for women for femmes, for transmasc people, for sex workers, for queer people, it's like not for the gooners. They're welcome to buy a ticket, but it's like awkward for me to know that my work and my perspective is going to be critiqued by someone's opinion I really don't care about. I don't actually trust that, you can remove your, like, internal, maybe misogynistic bias to potentially even understand my film, if that makes sense. There's nothing we can really do about it, unfortunately, other than keep making films and know that they're for the people that they're for, you know?"

Rua: "Of course. Now, aside from you there is another cast member in Fucktoys who has been getting a lot of attention lately. The one and only François Arnaud of Heated Rivalry, the biggest show in the world right now. So I need to know, are you keeping up with the show?"

Sriram: "Yeah, I love Heated Rivalry. I met Francois in 2019, I did a short film with him. My now producer was working on that short, and we all met on that short film that my really close friend directed. We all kind of came together on that film, it was like a 3 or 4 day shoot, and he read Fucktoys during that shoot. And at the wrap party, he went up to my now producer and was like, 'Tim, you need to read her script and make her film! It is so good!' And he was also like, 'we need to shoot it on 16 millimeter' and I was like 'yes!' So he was such a catalyst for the project, just like coming into existence. I think he is obviously very lovable, very charming, but I personally love Francois as, like, this villain brat, fuck boy character. He is able to turn so quickly between comedic and scary and sexy moments that to me, is like another actor and a director. I think he's incredible and I think it's one of his best performances, because he's so funny and so hot, and he's funny while he's being scary. Like there's so many layers to it. His entire like crash out moment in the bedroom I just think is so detailed and pitch perfect. I think he's also great as Scott Hunter, I remember when he was shooting Heated Rivalry, I had no idea what it was. He would, like, send me little selfies and be like, 'I'm shooting this hockey show.' And I was like, that's so funny he's playing a hockey player. I thought it was like a more serious drama like hockey series and he said 'no it's hot but it feels different.' I mean, I love the end when he calls out Kip to come on the ice, like I was screaming, I just think it's it's iconic. My producer read something about Heated Rivalry depicting coming out, and these moments where the characters were met with acceptance and understanding and celebration. I think it does this like positive reframing for a lot of people who didn't maybe have that experience when they came out, and I think that's amazing I'm here for it. And I'm so proud of François. I think he's so deserving. I mean, he's always been such a hard-working actor. He's very script-motivated so he doesn't worry about the size of something, he will work on an indie, a play, a short film, a TV show, he will just work on whatever he likes. So I think he's so deserving of this moment."

Rua: "Yeah, I mean his co-star just hosted SNL last week!"

Sriram: "Oh, Connor (Storey) actually saw Fucktoys at a tiny film festival in Rhode Island last year. I met Connor because Francois took me to something and he was very sweet and he was like, 'I'm so starstruck meeting you!' And I was kind of like 'oh, my god like, bro, you're an A-lister. I'm nothing burger,' you know?"

Rua: "Listen, your next project: AP x Connor Storey, let's make it happen!"

Rua: "Lastly, I want to ask you a question from your film. What do you think is worse, to be a whore or be invisible?"

Sriram: "Honestly, I think an experience that I have that I really struggle with is being invisible. I mean that in the sense of, like, what it feels to not have a voice to feel like you're not included in the industry, you're not part of the community. You know, this is something I struggle with a lot as an artist, feeling like I have so much to say but no one actually cares or wants to platform me. Yeah, I think a lot of women and people of color experience this. We need equity when it comes to visibility, and we need equity when it comes to perspectives and stories. I think that being a whore is a necessary evil of capitalism. I mean that in like a very crude sense of like, you know, if you work for a company, you're whoring your mind out, if you're working as a laborer, you're whoring your body out in some way or another. Trying to make my film, I was having to just put myself out there and offer whatever I could to try and get something made. I think that being a whore comes with a level of swallowing some of your pride and humbling yourself, I actually have never found it humiliating in real life, I find it more like a means to an end. I think it's worse to be invisible, what about you?"

Rua: "I mean, what's wrong with being a whore? In this case being a whore means at least you have a voice to express yourself with. The whole notion that promiscuity is a bad thing is a standard written by uptight, rich white men who denounce sexuality in public but behind closed doors, pay for that mistress's abortion, pay for that lap dance, pay for that hooker to go to your friend's house, they just keep it on the down low. So really, whores make the world go around.

Sriram: "I think that women have constantly been put into these two black and white categories: the virgin or the whore. We are glitching out right now because we're stuck needing to be these like virginal youthful, basically prepubescent women who are also sexually liberated freaks, that will do whatever men want. I think that's such a contradiction and it's impossible for us to achieve any of that and it's not natural. Like, we're supposed to age, we're supposed to grow, we're supposed to have our own fetishes, our own proclivities. I think that this goes back to the male gaze but if we just reject the male gaze altogether, then we don't even have to try and choose."

Rua: "Well thank you so much for talking with me today, it was such a joy to pick your brain. I sincerely hope Fucktoys gets a distributor soon and I can't wait to see what you do next!"

Sriram: "Thanks for having me!"

We'd like to thank Ms. Sriram once again for appearing on our publication. You can find her other work on her website, IMDb, and instagram. More info on Fucktoys can be found Fucktoys.lol. Thank you for tuning into Cinemasters.net and remember to never stop watching!