Even though she’s not as active on it now, Mary Neely has Twitter (now known as X) to thank for launching her career. The actor went viral in the early days of COVID-19 for uploading videos of her re-enacting famous musical numbers to the platform – playing all the roles with whatever homemade props, costumes and wigs she had lying around. Why Twitter/X? Neely is blunt: “Purely because of music copyright issues,” she says. “Every time I tried to upload them to Instagram or TikTok, they would immediately get flagged or taken down. I figured it didn’t matter because no one was paying attention anyway. And then it changed the course of my life.”
Neely jumped from about 800 followers to more than 30,000 after TV critic Emily Nussbaum tweeted her and she began to hear from Broadway legends like Lin-Manuel Miranda and Kelli O’Hara. She also heard from several creatives behind popular shows, including Warren Leight, who cast her on “Law & Order: SVU” in a guest star role.
Those videos and that platform also led directly to Neely co-writing and starring in her latest movie, “Or Something,” a mumblecore-esque slice-of-life film about a pair of strangers who spend a day traversing New York to track down money they’re owed. One of the people who slid into her DMs at the time was Wil Shipley, a software developer who basically offered her a blank check. “He wrote me and said, ‘I want to give you money to make something. I really believe in you,’” Neely recalls. “And I thought he was lying. I was like, ‘Okay, yeah, sure, buddy. So, I basically ignored him for a year.”
Fortunately, Shipley persisted and the resulting film “Or Something” was shot in six days for less than a half-million dollars. Directed by Jeff Schroeder, the film stars Neely as Olivia while her co-writer Karren Rahma (of “Subway Takes” fame) plays Amir. The pair are a mismatched but charismatic duo who ferociously debate love, death and the meaning of life. Factory25 is releasing the film theatrically on Aug. 22 in New York City at the Quad before a Sept. 14 opening in Los Angeles at Braindead Studios.
Though a Los Angeles native, Neely has long loved New York – she admits to having a map of Manhattan taped to her wall as a kid. When she began to gain notoriety for her videos, she took it as a sign to make the leap to the East Coast in March of 2021. A few weeks later, she met Rahma at a rooftop comedy show.
Her initial impression of her future collaborator? “He had his shirt unbuttoned way, way too much,” she recalls. “I was like: Who the hell is this guy?” The pair immediately started debating everything – even having sessions called “the audit” where they would give one another notes on their dating app profiles. Neely says it was a special dynamic because “he’s a very interesting, grounded, even-keeled, funny person who also believes things I inherently disagree with.” That included an intense debate on how men are only friendly to women they want to sleep with – a discussion that features large in the script of “Or Something.”
The pair spent most of 2021 and 2022 meeting up to work out the script. While primarily associated with comedy, both Neely and Rahma knew from the start they wanted to do something more honest and vulnerable. “We wanted to go to some darker places than we have in the past,” Neely notes. “And maybe give ourselves the kind of roles we wouldn’t normally be thought of for.” So while a dark comedy, there are some surprises in store as the film unfolds.
“Or Something” was shot in the winter of 2022 on a shoestring budget – asked if it was under a million and Neely laughs, noting it was “significantly under” that number. Being an indie film, they often had to think on their feet or pivot to rework scenes. One pivotal scene involves Amir wanting to show Olivia a meaningful “secret spot” in Central Park where he would people watch.
The day of shooting, it was raining uncontrollably, and the production ended up huddling under a tunnel. “On the fly we switched the dialogue to talk about how he and his brother used to come here and feel hidden from the city,” Neely notes. “It actually made more sense for the story and was so beautiful visually. It’s become one of the best parts of the film.” It also added a moment where DP Jeff Leeds Cohen was able to capture the two leads in the reflection of a puddle; it’s a shot that several viewers have singled out as a favorite. “We never could have predicted this beautiful, beautiful shot. And it was born out of a moment where we just had to push forward.”
Up next, Neely will be seen in “Swiped,” starring Lily James as the founder of dating app Bumble, which is headed to the Toronto International Film Festival before premiering on Hulu Sept. 19. The film reunites her with director Rachel Lee Goldenberg, who cast Neely in her first studio movie, the 2020 remake of “Valley Girl.” While she can’t reveal much, Neely can divulge “I play a woman in tech who gets talked over a lot and has to do a job that is pretty undesirable and well below my pay grade and intellect level.”
She also stars in a pilot called “Stars Diner” that she cowrote with directors Fidel Ruiz-Healy and Tyler Walker which premiered at this year’s SXSW Film Festival. Fans of her quarantine videos will appreciate the pilot’s musical number and practical effects, such as miniature sets and fire made from tissue paper. While still on the festival circuit, the trio has been pitching it around town. Neely is also working on a “silly horror comedy” that she cowrote and will star in that she describes as “Zoolander meets Brian DePalma.”
And this week, the artist will get to see “Or Something” premiere at her favorite theater in New York City. “The Quad is the pinnacle of independent film in New York,” she enthuses. “So many amazing films have played there and it’s such a great location. I was really hoping it would play there – it was secretly my dream.”
