Followed is a horror movie from Global View Entertainment, starring Matthew Solomon as DropTheMike, a vlogger who takes his crew on a three day journey to the infamous and allegedly haunted Lennox Hotel. To read our full thoughts on the film, check out our review here. Following a successful opening weekend, the film recently expanded it’s theatrical run.
On Monday, June 21, 2020, we spoke with Matthew Solomon in order to discuss the film’s past, present and future. Please enjoy our interview with the man behind DropTheMike.
Followed Star Matthew Solomon
The Illuminerdi: Hi Matthew, this is Corbin with The Illuminerdi, how are you doing today?
Matthew Solomon: I’m doing really great, thanks for having me for the interview.
Thank you for coming on, I’m really looking forward to this, I have watched your movie twice already and it absolutely blew me away.
I’m so glad you think so. I actually read the review you guys did and I could not be more appreciative of the kind words you have for us and for my performance, so I’m very very grateful.
Well I’m glad you got a chance to read it, that’s awesome. One of the most amazing things about the film in my opinion, was certainly your performance. There were so many layers, so much to it, and I can’t wait to talk about all of that with you.
Today is Monday, which marks the end of opening weekend for the movie, and it’s my understanding that this is your first feature length film?
Yeah, it’s my first feature length film released in theaters, yes.
Got it. So how are you feeling after your very first opening weekend, what’s that experience like?
You know, I can only describe it as strange, in a good way, strange. The fact that so many people are going to see this movie right now is so cool, my family in Ohio called me from the drive-in theater. They got like twenty of their friends together and they all went. So just the idea that, you know, I’m used to watching people watch me at this point, for the most part I’ve been in smaller indie stuff. So to know that there are so many people, who I’ve never met before, seeing my face for an hour and a half is a very odd feeling.
I believe it.
And it’s exciting, and I think that people are going to fall in love with this movie. So I’m happy about it.
So for the fans, if there was one kind of message or take away you want someone who experiences the film to think about after watching it, what would that be?
That’s a good question. I think the first thing would be to listen to the people that you care about. Especially when they tell you that they’re worried. I think that without giving too much away, Mike really doesn’t listen to the people around him who care. I think that’s definitely something to take away. Also, maybe don’t go into haunted hotels.
Definitely, definitely. That’s a great piece of advice.
As for your character DropTheMike, he’s the centerpiece of the story. It’s his vlog and the movie is unique that it’s pretty much a screen recording of a series of vlogs. He’s the one that decides to take them to the hotel and obviously he’s a very complex character. He’s definitely not the most morally straight guy.
You can say he’s a jerk, that’s fair.
