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Interview: Celine Song Talks ‘Materialists’ and Why She’s Drawn to the Subject of Love in This Modern Age
June 14, 2025Ben MK
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With her debut feature, 2023's Past Lives, writer-director Celine Song quickly found herself one of the most talked-about filmmakers in Hollywood. So, when it came to making her highly anticipated next movie, Materialists, it's no surprise that the playwright-turned-director was once again in the spotlight. The story of a successful New York City matchmaker named Lucy (Dakota Johnson), who becomes entangled in a love triangle of sorts with her former boyfriend, a struggling actor named John (Chris Evans), and her new beau, a rich businessman named Harry (Pedro Pascal), Materialists takes the familiar framework of a romantic dramedy and uses it as a platform for exploring something much more deep and nuanced — the very nature of human relationships and what it's like to be in pursuit of love in our modern age. But although the subject matter may feel quite traditional, audiences who are familiar with Past Lives will know that Song isn't one for convention. And while Materialists does certainly deliver on some of the expected rom-com beats, there's also much more subtlety to its themes and characters, making it a worthy follow-up to Past Lives. I caught up with Celine Song to chat about Materialists, and to find out what it is exactly about love and romantic relationships that makes it such an irresistible topic as a filmmaker. You've always drawn from your own life experiences for your work. And while Past Lives was semi-autobiographical, I understand that the idea for Materialists came about from the time you spent working as a matchmaker. Can you talk a bit about how this film originated? Song: I was inspired by the time that I worked as a matchmaker. I was a matchmaker in my '20s because I couldn't pay rent being a playwright, I just felt like I needed another source of income. But I think I learned more about people and what they want than I think that I did at any other time in my life. 
What I love about the movie is that it's more than just a romantic dramedy; it's really a very thought-provoking exploration of romantic relationships. Even the title of the film, Materialists — as well as the themes that play out within the story — they really speak to the kind of attitude that a lot of people have when it comes to the modern dating scene and finding a partner in general. What about this particular subject matter was most important to you to communicate as a filmmaker?Song: I'm really interested in love as a universal theme. That I'm just always fascinated by, because it's the one domain where I think that is a mystery, and it's an ancient mystery. So, I was interested in talking about it just through the way that it feels to me in 2025 — in a way that is as honest and open-hearted and frank as possible. I think so much of it had to do with how much I'm going to say [about] the real thing. So, that was really [what] guided me through all of it. So much of [what] I wanna talk about [is] dating in pursuit of love, and dating and love in 2025. And how can I talk about it in a way that feels the most honest to me. Materialists isn't a rom-com per se, but did you draw from any of the movies in that genre as inspiration? Song: It depends on how one defines a rom-com, too. I've heard Phantom Thread described as a rom-com. [laughs] So, I think that the genre itself is so fluid, but on the other hand, I wasn't really thinking about making Materialists as something that's genre-driven. I was told at some point that they believed that it was a rom-com or a rom-dramedy. So, I didn't really think about it while making the movie. I knew what I was making was a modern romance, and what I was making was a love story. That was really the core of it. The cast really is fantastic, and Dakota, Chris and Pedro all have such great chemistry. What was it like working with them and what did they bring to the movie beyond what was on the page? Song: They brought with them such a passionate understanding of the characters. There's a line in the film where a character goes, "I'm not merchandise, I'm a person." That is the running theme of the whole film. It's about the way that we we turn ourselves and each other [into] merchandise, and that how, at the end of the day, all of us are human beings. And, by the way, accepting that we're human beings is the only way that we're going to find love. That was always something that all three of my actors understood. Because all of them have experience being treated as merchandise. So, they brought their own beautiful understanding of the characters, and their own passion for the work. And I really loved working with them. 
Did you write Materialists with them in mind, or did they all just fall into place?Song: No, I never really write with actors in mind. I usually write the characters, and then, kind of like a matchmaker, I go out in search of the character's soulmate. And when I was meeting these actors, something that I really felt was that each of them were, in their own way, soulmates of the characters that I wrote. They really inspired me, as the ideas for these characters, and that's how I cast them. Is there a scene that's a favorite of yours, or one that's especially memorable for you? Song: Ooh. I feel like part of making a movie is that I have to be — and I am — in love with every shot of it, because I'm making the thing. It's kind of like, how can you say, "I love one part of my child." I have to say I love the whole child, right? But there's a scene that made me laugh, and [that] felt like it was just exactly the thing that I always wanted, [which] is when the wedding guests at the first wedding sing 'Sweet Caroline.' I'm curious about the bookend scenes with the cave people — the ones Lucy dreamt were the first people to ever get married. Why was it important for you to include those scenes in the film? Song: The thing about the cave people scenes is that it was scripted. And, from the beginning, I always knew that it was going to be bookended by the story about cave people. Because we have records of stone tools passing from one corner of the Earth to another — we know there were trades — but the thing that we do not have records of is this totally intangible, immaterial thing. Which is what may have passed between those two people who were trading the stone tools. It's really about the way that there is a material record of things happening in history, and human beings exchanging things with each other. But the feeling that passes between these two people — the feeling, the miracle of love — that is something that we don't actually have a record of. Similarly, there might be marriage records in City Hall, which is the final scene of the film. In City Hall, there might be marriage records, and all the names look the same; but some of those marriages were really beautiful, some of those marriages were probably abusive and bad, and some of those were [marriages where] they fell in love [and] fell out of love. So you don't actually know what those marriages were like. And of course, queer love doesn't have any record, but it doesn't mean that what passed between two human beings [and] is not on record is less real. To me, I want to talk about how true love is not less real just because it is invisible. 
Last but not least, now that you've made movies like Past Lives and Materialists, do you feel like you've said all that you wanted to say about romantic relationships? Do you have any story ideas for what kind of subject matter you might want to tackle in your next film?Song: It's always gonna be something that is driven by the things that I'm obsessed with. So, it's gonna be, in some way, connected to what it's like to feel something, or what it's like to be a part of a powerful connection in some way. No matter what the actual genre, I feel like the thing that I'm gonna be drawn to is always gonna be some kind of connection, or some kind of the way that we feel as human beings. |
Materialists is in theaters June 13th.
