Celebrities on Reddit

Bo Burnham

Comedian and filmmaker, Eighth Grade and Inside

u/boburnhamAMA ↗AMA only

How we know it's theirs

His 2018 r/IAmA AMA, posted from this account

We retrieved 1 post and 50 comments from u/boburnhamAMA, all from 2018, most often in r/IAmA.

Best moment

A redditor wrote in r/IAmA

On “Hey Reddit, my name is Bo Burnham and I wrote and directed the film EIGHTH GRADE which is now in theaters NATIONWIDE. AMA.”

How did you decide on Enya's Orinoco Flow to play while Kayla scrolls on her phone? It is one of my favorite uses of the song in a movie, the other being in David Fincher's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

u/boburnhamAMA replied

Thanks! I knew the sequence of her surfing the web was going to be very important. And I wanted to show a kid online in a way that didn't feel like the sort of cheesy, 80s "hacking sequences" that I…

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Thanks! I knew the sequence of her surfing the web was going to be very important. And I wanted to show a kid online in a way that didn't feel like the sort of cheesy, 80s "hacking sequences" that I normally see in movies. To show being online as something deeper and more emotional and almost spiritual. And enya just has that sound. Her music sounds warm and human and alien and electronic and acoustic and just deep and weird and beautiful. I had to write a letter to her to get her to sign off on using the song. And I assumed I would have to attach a letter to a salmon and put it in the euphrates. She is a true mystery.

More moments

A redditor wrote in r/IAmA

On “Hey Reddit, my name is Bo Burnham and I wrote and directed the film EIGHTH GRADE which is now in theaters NATIONWIDE. AMA.”

Hey Bo! Was there ever a single point in your career that you thought "I've made it" as an actor/comedian? Was it before or after you decided to turn down Harvard to pursue your dream? Thanks! Also, Make Happy is still my all time favourite comedy special. Can't wait to see…

u/boburnhamAMA replied

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You know, that was a problem for me for a long time. Believing that I hadn't MADE it yet or I wasn't a REAL COMEDIAN. I think its especially prevalent for people that makes things online. That making youtube videos isn't REAL. It took me a long time to realize that I'd been real the whole time, and the thing that I am pursuing was the thing I was pursuing doing theater in sixth grade. Do you write? You're a writer. Do you act? You're an actor. I'd say don't wait to get some arbitrary version of success or attention for you to believe that you are doing the thing. You really can start enjoying it right away. You don't have to wait to be good. The process of doing it is the process of becoming better not being good. I am now looking at your question and realizing you never asked for advice. Am I psychotic? Perhaps!

A redditor wrote in r/IAmA

On “Hey Reddit, my name is Bo Burnham and I wrote and directed the film EIGHTH GRADE which is now in theaters NATIONWIDE. AMA.”

Funniest moment on set?

u/boburnhamAMA replied

I made a kid do nine belly flops in the pool scene and then cut it from the film. Sorry!

A redditor wrote in r/IAmA

On “Hey Reddit, my name is Bo Burnham and I wrote and directed the film EIGHTH GRADE which is now in theaters NATIONWIDE. AMA.”

How has your opinion of kids/teens changed during the process of making this movie (from before you started writing to after doing research online to working with them in person)? Did anything surprise you?

u/boburnhamAMA replied

I found out what I had hoped which is that young people are a lot more self-aware and sort of in on the joke of themselves than people think. Like when you're 13, you know that you're a mess, and…

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I found out what I had hoped which is that young people are a lot more self-aware and sort of in on the joke of themselves than people think. Like when you're 13, you know that you're a mess, and you're joking around about the fact that you're a mess. A lot of people warned me that working with kids would be impossible but I really found it to be a total joy. It makes sense that a generation of kids that self-documents is actually pretty comfortable on camera. And kids are ready to act naturally and be themselves if you give them permission to just be and don't freak them out by making them feel like they have to be in a movie. Hope that answers your question.