Kid Cudi is stepping further into filmmaking, and early reactions to his directorial debut are promising.
The multi-hyphenate artist recently hosted a private screening of his upcoming film Doe, inviting a small group of friends and collaborators to get an early look. Among those in attendance were actors Robert Pattinson and Brandon Perea, producer Dot da Genius, filmmaker and actor Alex Winter, and Justin Dickson, a chief lighting technician who has an extensive film and television resumé.
Sharing the moment on Instagram, Cudi expressed excitement over the response.
"Everyone fuckin LOVED it," he wrote. "It was such a good feeling hearing them raving about the film, talking about different things they noticed."
Winter, on IG, called the film “a beautiful achievement.” Dickson commented: “The world is about to wake up and see the true artist you really are!”
According to Cudi’s post, the project was completed under tight conditions, with the entire film shot in a handful of days, on a limited budget.
"Being blown away we were able to shoot the whole thing in 9 DAYS on a micro budget," he added, reflecting on the process. "When the stars line up, everything happens as it should."
Doe, per Deadline, "explores themes of addiction and survival through the lens of a man living on the streets of Hollywood who, over the course of 24 hours, drifts through a series of encounters that pull him in and out of the cycles of his compulsion.”
Cudi's move into directing builds on a steadily growing résumé in film and television. He's appeared in projects like Don't Look Up, where he shared the screen with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, and X, part of Ti West's acclaimed horror trilogy.
He also had a major role in HBO's Westworld and starred in Netflix's animated project Entergalactic, which he co-created and executive produced.
