Appofeniacs Star Sean Gunn on Tech Sci-Fi Horror, Piliero, and More

Posted in: Exclusive, Horror, Interview, Movies | Tagged: Appofeniacs

Appofeniacs Star Sean Gunn on Tech Sci-Fi Horror, Piliero, and More

Sean Gunn (Superman) spoke with us about the tech sci-fi horror film, Appofeniacs, writer-director Chris Marrs Piliero, AI boundaries & more.

Published Sat, 17 Oct 2026 08:46:09 -0500
by Tom Chang
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Article Summary

• Sean Gunn explains why Appofeniacs hooked him early, praising its timely deepfake horror and tight indie script.
• Gunn talks writer-director Chris Marrs Piliero’s feature debut, vision, and grit bringing Appofeniacs to life.
• Appofeniacs star Sean Gunn praises Aaron Holliday’s subtly despicable turn and the chaos of low-budget horror.
• Sean Gunn sounds off on AI in Hollywood, questioning digital performers like Tilly Norwood and who wants them.

Sean Gunn is always looking for new opportunities to tell thought-provoking, fun stories, no matter the scale, whether it's on the big canvas of Marvel, DC, TV, or indie. Aside from his memorable run in Marvel's The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, he's also starred in DC's Superman (2025) and the psychological thriller The Belko Experiment. His latest is Magena Light's tech-horror thriller Appfeniacs, from writer-director Chris Marrs Piliero in his directorial feature debut. Gunn spoke with Bleeding Cool about embracing his friend's dark, innovative vision of AI and deepfakes, co-star Aaron Holliday, embracing the ingenuity with indie budget constraints, and how he feels humanity is already setting boundaries with AI, including rejecting digital actress Tilly Norwood.

Amused by exploiting our instinct to believe what we see and hear, Duke (Aaron Holliday) treats deepfakes like a contagious party trick. Not because he has something to prove, but simply because he can. Soon, blood starts to spill, but Duke isn't the one who has to clean it up. Intersecting storylines catch the fallout of Duke's petty pastime: Poppy (Simran Jehani), heading into the desert for a weekend of cosplay and foreplay; Clinto Binto (Gunn), a legend in the scene with a reputation too expensive to fake; and Lazzy (Paige Searcy), a stranger who picks the wrong line, the wrong coffee shop, and the wrong day to argue.

Appofeniacs Star Sean Gunn on Film's Commentary on Deepfakes, Piliaro, AI Use, and Tilly Norwood.

Bleeding Cool: What intrigued you about 'Appofeniacs?'

Gunn: When I first read it a few years ago, Chris Marrs-Piliero, the writer-director, had been a friend of mine. Still, he had known my wife (Natasha Halevi) for many years and told me that he was making this movie, doing it on the fly, putting it together, scraping money together from savings, friends, and family. He's like, "I'm going to do it. I'm going to make this movie." I'm like, "Cool." I always support people trying to do that, and I was like, "Can I read it?" He sent me the script, and I immediately responded to the fact that it felt super current to me. It's very much about playing into fears that we all have right now about Deepfake technology, how it's falling into the wrong hands, and it was just skillfully written. The script was tight and interesting, and it was written with an eye towards being able to make it on a small budget and make it look great and cool. I was like, "I'm really interested in this. How can I help?" He asked if I wanted to play one of the roles, and it went from there, where I was doing what I could for the project.

What was it like working with him as a creative?

Really great. It's something I've learned in my years in the film and television business: when you have a really good script, the best thing to do is to make sure that the director has what they need to execute their own vision, and then get out of their way and let them cook. I think that Chris did a great job. There were kick-ups along the way, and he proved himself to be very adept at dealing with those things and adjusting as needed to creative decisions. I think that he had a strong vision and knew what he wanted, so that's the whole deal right there.

What can you say about Aaron's performance and the way he carries his stuff? I know you spent some time as an outlier.

Aaron's great, and unfortunately, I think he might live in New York, but I haven't seen him in any of the press stuff that we've done for the movie. I haven't seen him since we shot, which is a shame, because I would like to tell him to his face what an excellent performance he gives in the movie. I love the way he plays that character (Duke). He is so subtly despicable [laughs], and it's really cool. I think that in some ways the movie probably doesn't really work unless you have a performer who's nailing that character, and so I'm more than anything grateful to him for doing such a great job.

How did you navigate…I mean, there's so much chaos that went into this film, especially when you're the one who had that grenade in your hands. What did you enjoy about shooting those scenes? Is there any one of them that was perhaps a little more difficult to get through?

I think you know what you're getting yourself into when you do low-budget horror, that it's going to be a grind. You're going to have long days. There will be days when you must put in the hours and do it. You might be wet, tied up; there might be blood everywhere- who knows? It could be any of a number of things. In the long run, you're going to be happy you did it, because it's going to pay off, but in the moment, you just take it on the chin and figure it out. I knew there'd be some long days involved, and we had some long days, but it works.

How do you feel about how comfortable content creators are, and in Hollywood in general, as far as their use of AI? Do you feel like there's any form of organic growth and evolution with it? Do you think we're moving too fast, and we still really don't know about proper responsibility for its use?

I don't know what I'm supposed to do about it exactly. I do know that I am not in favor of technology that no one is asking for. It's like the idea that we do these things just because we can do them. We've seen… there's this AI (Tilly Norwood), the first AI actress, right? Who's out there, an AI-generated human, and videos of her responding to comments, saying things, doing auditions, all this stuff. To me, it's less about the morality of doing it than it is about, "Who asked for this?" Who was watching a human being perform and said, "You know what would be great? It is if we had a non-human performing this." No one wants it, and if there are practical applications for it, great! I'm really confused by the technology for the sake of technology. Personally, from an ethical standpoint, I like human beings, and I'm interested in what human beings do, so I have not run out of my capability to watch and enjoy human creation. I don't need to move on to computer creation. It does not interest me in the slightest. I do not care about what you can make a computer do or get a computer to do. Who cares? I want to know what humans can do, because I'm a human.

Appofeniacs, which also stars Jermaine Fowler, Michael Abbott, Jr., Will Brandt, and Harley Bronwyn, is in theaters.

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