Warning: This story contains spoilers for Club Kid<\/a><\/em><\/h5>\nThanks to Harry Potter<\/a><\/em>, Club Kid<\/em> found its star kid. <\/p>\nJordan Firstman<\/a>‘s Cannes sensation, about a hard-partying New York nightclub promoter whose wild lifestyle is upended by the arrival of his previously unknown 10-year-son, was shot on a tight budget and on a tight schedule. And the filmmakers needed some last-minute magic to find a young British actor for the role. <\/p>\n“We didn\u2019t have much time. We got financing on short notice and needed a visa for a young actor from London,” the film’s Oscar-winning producer Alex Coco revealed at a special screening this week. “We needed a great actor who fit the character as written, and it felt like a needle in a haystack.” A friend put Coco in touch with U.K. casting director Lucy Bevan, who, it turns out, was uniquely qualified.<\/p>\n
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“She had just cast HBO’s new Harry Potter <\/em>series and had seen around 40,000 kids between 9 and 12, which was the age range we were looking for,” said Coco. “I asked her to send every kid who had just barely missed being cast.”<\/p>\nBevan gave Coco and writer-director-star Firstman a list of about two dozen performers. “Jordan quickly identified Reggie [Absolom],” Coco recounted. “Reggie had been up for Harry Potter and was one of the finalists. … Jordan flew there, met him on his birthday and they hit it off. It was very lucky.”<\/p>\n![\"Jordan](\"https:\/\/www.goldderby.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Club-Kid-still.jpg\")
Jordan Firstman and Reggie Absolom in Club KidA24<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThat surprising casting tidbit was one of several topics Coco addressed after screening the film, which opens in theaters this weekend. The producer, who has worked extensively with Sean Baker<\/a>, including on Anora<\/a><\/em> (which earned Coco, Baker, and fellow producer Samantha Quan the Academy Award for Best Picture) and Red Rocket<\/em>, discussed Baker’s influence on Club Kid<\/em>, how the film owes a debt to Kramer vs. Kramer<\/a><\/em>, and why they didn’t shoot an alternate ending.<\/p>\nHere are five factoids we learned about Club Kid<\/em>, in Coco’s own words.<\/p>\nHow did Coco come to produce <\/em>Club Kid?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nJordan\u2019s team contacted my agents and thought I might be a good fit for the project. I read the script and fell in love with it, and then with Jordan. It started an amazing, almost symbiotic creative relationship between us. We were very much on the same page from the start. Anora<\/em> was made on a small budget in New York City, and this was, too, so there was a lot of overlap in how we approached the movie.<\/p>\n![\"Samantha](\"https:\/\/www.goldderby.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/P10ZBWR.jpg\")
Alex Coco (right) won an Oscar for producing ‘Anora’ with Samantha Quan and Sean BakerMichael Buckner\/Penske Media<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHow long did it take to shoot?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nThe timeline was fast. We shot 26 days: 24 in New York and two in London. We crammed a lot into a short time. We were shooting around this time last year and wrapped Nov. 3.<\/p>\n
We submitted [to Cannes] around March or April; the festival was in May. We were confident from the beginning. I\u2019d had a bunch of films play at Cannes, and I felt this was a fit. A week before production, we sat down and went through what we were going to shoot and what our budget was. The plan was to play in Un Certain Regard and have all the dolls on the red carpet. That was our goal, and we met it.<\/p>\n
Once we were ready to share the edit, I emailed Thierry Fr\u00e9maux, who runs the festival, and said, \u201cI think this is a film you should take a look at and pay attention to.\u201d He watched it within 24 hours and said how much he loved it. We got word we were in about 24 hours after that.<\/p>\n![\"Club](\"https:\/\/www.goldderby.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Club-Kid-club-scene.jpg\")
Club sceneA24<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWas there ever discussion of toning down the depiction of sex and drug use in the club scenes?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nI wouldn\u2019t want to pull back on something for a reason other than the artistic vision or what the director intends. It wasn\u2019t prescriptive, like, \u201cWe need to pull back on the sexuality.\u201d Some department heads and cast members who read the script had feedback. Jordan has a certain reputation, and people had seen Rotting in the Sun<\/em>. His humor can be provocative, so people had expectations about a script for Jordan Firstman about a party promoter. The beginning met those expectations. Then the kid comes in, and people who didn\u2019t know where the story was going were surprised. We liked that and wanted to protect it as much as we could.<\/p>\nJordan and I talked about when the kid should come in. There was discussion about what page the story device should arrive on. We liked leading the audience in one direction and then subverting expectations. The movie opens in a world of strip clubs, sex, partying and drugs, and then becomes something else. That\u2019s fun; it plays with the medium and structure.<\/p>\n
Were the Kramer vs. Kramer-esque custody battle scenes intentional?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nSo much so. I love Kramer vs. Kramer<\/em>; it\u2019s one of my favorite movies. When I first read the script, I loved how the courtroom section just becomes a courtroom drama for a while. That\u2019s memorable. We talked about it from the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n
Jordan Firstman<\/a>‘s Cannes sensation, about a hard-partying New York nightclub promoter whose wild lifestyle is upended by the arrival of his previously unknown 10-year-son, was shot on a tight budget and on a tight schedule. And the filmmakers needed some last-minute magic to find a young British actor for the role. <\/p>\n “We didn\u2019t have much time. We got financing on short notice and needed a visa for a young actor from London,” the film’s Oscar-winning producer Alex Coco revealed at a special screening this week. “We needed a great actor who fit the character as written, and it felt like a needle in a haystack.” A friend put Coco in touch with U.K. casting director Lucy Bevan, who, it turns out, was uniquely qualified.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n “She had just cast HBO’s new Harry Potter <\/em>series and had seen around 40,000 kids between 9 and 12, which was the age range we were looking for,” said Coco. “I asked her to send every kid who had just barely missed being cast.”<\/p>\n Bevan gave Coco and writer-director-star Firstman a list of about two dozen performers. “Jordan quickly identified Reggie [Absolom],” Coco recounted. “Reggie had been up for Harry Potter and was one of the finalists. … Jordan flew there, met him on his birthday and they hit it off. It was very lucky.”<\/p>\n That surprising casting tidbit was one of several topics Coco addressed after screening the film, which opens in theaters this weekend. The producer, who has worked extensively with Sean Baker<\/a>, including on Anora<\/a><\/em> (which earned Coco, Baker, and fellow producer Samantha Quan the Academy Award for Best Picture) and Red Rocket<\/em>, discussed Baker’s influence on Club Kid<\/em>, how the film owes a debt to Kramer vs. Kramer<\/a><\/em>, and why they didn’t shoot an alternate ending.<\/p>\n Here are five factoids we learned about Club Kid<\/em>, in Coco’s own words.<\/p>\n How did Coco come to produce <\/em>Club Kid?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Jordan\u2019s team contacted my agents and thought I might be a good fit for the project. I read the script and fell in love with it, and then with Jordan. It started an amazing, almost symbiotic creative relationship between us. We were very much on the same page from the start. Anora<\/em> was made on a small budget in New York City, and this was, too, so there was a lot of overlap in how we approached the movie.<\/p>\n How long did it take to shoot?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The timeline was fast. We shot 26 days: 24 in New York and two in London. We crammed a lot into a short time. We were shooting around this time last year and wrapped Nov. 3.<\/p>\n We submitted [to Cannes] around March or April; the festival was in May. We were confident from the beginning. I\u2019d had a bunch of films play at Cannes, and I felt this was a fit. A week before production, we sat down and went through what we were going to shoot and what our budget was. The plan was to play in Un Certain Regard and have all the dolls on the red carpet. That was our goal, and we met it.<\/p>\n Once we were ready to share the edit, I emailed Thierry Fr\u00e9maux, who runs the festival, and said, \u201cI think this is a film you should take a look at and pay attention to.\u201d He watched it within 24 hours and said how much he loved it. We got word we were in about 24 hours after that.<\/p>\n Was there ever discussion of toning down the depiction of sex and drug use in the club scenes?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I wouldn\u2019t want to pull back on something for a reason other than the artistic vision or what the director intends. It wasn\u2019t prescriptive, like, \u201cWe need to pull back on the sexuality.\u201d Some department heads and cast members who read the script had feedback. Jordan has a certain reputation, and people had seen Rotting in the Sun<\/em>. His humor can be provocative, so people had expectations about a script for Jordan Firstman about a party promoter. The beginning met those expectations. Then the kid comes in, and people who didn\u2019t know where the story was going were surprised. We liked that and wanted to protect it as much as we could.<\/p>\n Jordan and I talked about when the kid should come in. There was discussion about what page the story device should arrive on. We liked leading the audience in one direction and then subverting expectations. The movie opens in a world of strip clubs, sex, partying and drugs, and then becomes something else. That\u2019s fun; it plays with the medium and structure.<\/p>\n Were the Kramer vs. Kramer-esque custody battle scenes intentional?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n So much so. I love Kramer vs. Kramer<\/em>; it\u2019s one of my favorite movies. When I first read the script, I loved how the courtroom section just becomes a courtroom drama for a while. That\u2019s memorable. We talked about it from the beginning.<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n