Miranda July Talks Margaret Qualley Affair During Virtual Book Tour, Monograph Out Now
Miranda July has shed some light on her Instagram-friendly relationship with Margaret Qualley. Amid a brief virtual book tour for her new monograph, Miranda July, she fielded questions about her social media-documented affair with the Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood actress and explained how it came to pass. July’s answers might surprise you.
April is the month of Miranda July: Monograph, Criterion Release, Virtual Book Tour
The calendar might say April, but July is owning this month. Last week, Miranda July, a chronological survey of July’s career to this point, dropped via Prestel. The book includes her early plays and fanzines, participatory works, and personal projects. Modeled after Edie: American Girl, it’s structured like an oral history told by July’s friends, collaborators, curators, assistants, and audience members. It features accounts by Carrie Brownstein, David Byrne, Spike Jonze, Sheila Heti, and Hans Ulrich Obrist. You can watch a video of her contributors reading from the book below.
Also this month, Me and You and Everyone We Know, July’s debut feature, arrives on DVD and Blu-ray courtesy of the Criterion Collection. July is also using this time to revisit the interfaith charity shop she created with Artangel inside Selfridge’s in 2017. On Wednesday, Vanity Fair premiered Open to the World, a documentary about the radical pop-up. Come April 28, the film will stream on the Artangel website. Open to the World is also a special feature on the Criterion release. Other DVD/Blu-ray extras include deleted scenes, a new documentary with a conversation between July and filmmaker Lena Dunham, and four pieces from July’s Joanie 4 Jackie video chain letter.
If the Covid-19 pandemic hadn’t hit, July would be in the throes of a mini-tour for her book. In fact, today she would have been in New York City for a talk hosted by Books are Magic. Instead, July has embarked on a virtual tour. She spoke with Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally for In Bed with Nick and Megan (listen), Entertainment Weekly’s David Canfield for 92y (watch), and author Jenny Odell for City Arts in San Francisco (see below). She has another virtual talk coming up on Monday, April 27, at 2pm ET/11am PT with Tank Magazine’s Caroline Issa. The focus will be her interfaith charity show. You can watch it at Artangel’s Instagram.
Miranda July’s ‘Kajillionaire’ Release Still Moving Forward
The general unveiling of July’s third feature, Kajillionaire, is still on track. Following its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2020, Focus Features picked up the picture and set a release date of June 19, 2020. Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally asked if things were still on course during their podcast interview. July explained that the distributor was putting the finishing touches on the trailer. She added she has been working on the soundtrack that features music by Emile Mosseri.
The July and Qualley Instagrammable Affair
As for the July-Qualley saga, which you can catch up on here, the creative polymath confessed during her City Arts talk that the romance was a work of fiction and predominantly scripted. After July completed Kajillionaire, she was looking to do something completely different. Amid a funk, she met Qualley at a dinner party in Los Angeles. She found the young actress unusually open, so she asked for her phone number, hoping they might work on a project together. When July finally got around to calling, Qualley was in New York, so whatever they did would need to be long distance. July came up with a FaceTime call between ex-lovers and sent Qualley a script as a guide. The initial scene went so well, it left July reeling with possibility. She asked Qualley if she would be up for doing more, potentially from different locations.
Regarding Jaden Smith‘s involvement, he was a fan of July and commented on one of her posts. July then slid into his DMs to see if he wanted a part in the saga. According to July, Jaden responded, “Best day of my life.” She shot him off a four-page script that cast him as a concerned friend who suggests a way for the star-crossed lovers to wed. July rehearsed the scene with him and they recorded it while he was on tour.
Sharon Van Etten, who composes a song for July and Qualley’s climactic Hazion ceremony, is someone July admired but had never met. July DMed the Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter to see if she would be interested. Van Etten agreed, and July ventured to her home studio for a session the musician describes as being “surreal.”
To watch the Instagram drama unfold, you wouldn’t have guessed these people were virtually strangers. Now they have this unique shared experience that has bonded them together forever. You can view July’s interview with Odell about the performance below.
If you don’t follow July on social media, what are you waiting for? She’s rethinking the possibilities of the medium. Also, she’s hosting trivia contests on Instagram to give away Miranda July promotional posters.
Want even more July? She chatted with James Bond director Cary Fukunaga for the Spring 2020 issue of Interview Magazine. You can find that here.
Miranda July is available for purchase here. Me and You and Everyone We Know can be pre-ordered at the Criterion Collection website.
