Cat Person: Emilia Jones & Nicholas Braun Discuss Filming the Bad Kiss & Viral Short Story

There was a lot of buzz at this year’s Sundance Film Festival for Susanna Fogel’s Cat Person, starring Emilia Jones and Nicholas Braun. Based on Kristen Roupenian’s remarkably viral New Yorker short story of the same name, Cat Person is an unsettling look at dating as it’s evolved with technology, or devolved in some cases. These uneasy encounters are, unfortunately, all too common, but Jones – who attended Sundance for both this and Fairyland – and Succession’s Braun give new life to these two modern-day archetypes. Jones plays Margot, a 20-year-old college student working the concession of an old movie theater part-time. One evening, on a whim, she strikes up a brief conversation with an older and somewhat odd regular, Robert (Braun), allowing him the confidence to pursue more flirtation the next time he comes in. Their banter leads to a string of texts in which Robert exudes a confidence he lacks face-to-face. As their relationship progresses, Cat Person, like the short story that inspired it, explo