Alex Wolff Was ‘Nervous’ to Be Acting Opposite Icon Chlo? Sevigny for Satirical Indie ‘Magic Farm’
Alex Wolff is praising his “Magic Farm” co-star Chlo? Sevigny for setting the tone for the satirical feature.
Wolff, who stars alongside Sevigny, Simon Rex, Camila del Campo, and Joe Apollonio in the film, said during the IndieWire Studio at Sundance, presented by Dropbox, that Sevigny is one of his acting inspirations. Thus, he understandably was “nervous” to act opposite her on the indie.
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“Magic Farm” centers on a Vice News-esque documentary film crew led by Sevigny’s character. The crew travels to Argentina to expose the effects of pesticides on people; Amalia Ulman wrote and directed the film.
When asked by IndieWire’s editorial director Kate Erbland how the two onscreen generations, represented by Sevigny and Rex’s respective characters and del Campo and Wolff’s roles, impacted the making of the film, Wolff credited Sevigny’s three decades in Hollywood as key to making “Magic Farm” work.
“Chlo?, it’s not about a generational thing with her because the amazing thing about being such a force in movies for so long is we have it, it’s on film,” Wolff said. “I saw ‘Kids’ when I was 15. I grew up in New York and I remember thinking it was one of my favorite performances I’d ever seen. I’ve felt that way about her work with Luca Guadagnino and everything she’s done over the years.”
Wolff continued, “I was nervous to be working with her but I also felt like these characters were, we all had to make fun of ourselves. The movie is really funny and it’s about stuff that ordinarily wouldn’t be funny. […] Chlo?, on day one, it just felt like she could be withholding and not do it but she went for it completely and is exposing a part that may not be exposed.”
Writer/director Ulman confirmed that Sevigny’s character was the first role she wanted to cast.
“Chlo?’s role was written for her, based on characters that I’ve seen in ‘Big Love’ and also ‘Demon Lover’ and ‘Dogville,'” Ulman said, explaining that the film is a meta statement to show a story “through a hipster media documentary crew and how they relate to the locals that they’re visiting.”
“The original seed was that some of my family was affected by this spraying on the plantations with pesticides. I started researching more and more, and then it was a few years later that the idea crystallized in my mind,” Olman said.
Sevigny, who also was part of the Sundance Beyond Film panels, added that they “all know people who work at those networks,” and that Rex even has a background in MTV. And yet to be cast as a cancelable girl boss proved to have other implications.
“I think I went through a lot of different feelings. I’m still processing,” Sevigny joked, adding, “I was very interested in [playing] this woman in a position of power with a partner who is being canceled. I thought it was an interesting thing to examine.”
Dropbox is proud to partner with IndieWire and the Sundance Film Festival. In 2025, 68% of feature films premiering at the Sundance Film Festival used Dropbox in their film production. Dropbox helps filmmakers and creative teams find, organize, and secure all the files that are important to any project.
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