With Rolling Loud: The Movie now playing in theaters, we were recently able to sit down with the annual festival's co-founder Matt Zingler to break down his role in making this film into a reality and what it was like filming at the actual festival in 2024.
The story is based on writer/director Jeremy Garelick's real-life experience taking his son to the Rolling Loud Festival, before promptly losing him. The film does understandably take a number of creative liberties, but Garelick recently told us that most of what we see in the movie did actually happen to him and his son, which only adds some extra flavor to this wild true story.
Zingler walks me through his initial conversations with Garelick, how the movie got the backing it needed before filming, and why Travis Scott was the perfect artist for Owen Wilson to walk out with. He also talks to me about cultivating long-term relationships with major artists from across the globe and how that helped make Rolling Loud one of the biggest festivals in the world.
In case you missed it, we also spoke to Owen Wilson and Matt Rife. Check out our fun-filled conversation here: Rolling Loud: The Movie - Owen Wilson & Matt Rife Talk Travis Scott & Adapting Wild True Story (Exclusive)
The cast features Owen Wilson, Matt Rife, Christine Ko, Christian Convery, Jolene, with Henry Winkler and Travis Scott.
Jeremy Garelick helmed the feature, with a screenplay he wrote. His son Zion also contributed to the story.
Rolling Loud: The Movie is now in theaters!
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ROHAN: When Jeremy Garelick first pitched you his idea for the movie and about shooting the movie at the actual Rolling Loud Festival, and how he wanted to make it feel like what it's actually like to attend the concert - what was your initial reaction, and what did you want to add to the movie so it felt even more authentic?
MATT: Yeah, our first conversation was him calling his agent, getting in touch with me, explaining to me what happened. Him being like, "Dude, I brought my son here. My son ditched me. I lost my son. It reminded me of when I lost Doug on the roof in The Hangover. I want to make a movie about it."
So, that was our first conversation. Then the second part was reading the script, going back and forth, creating authenticity, and then figuring out really where to shoot it.
So it was, "Oh, can we shoot this at Rolling Loud?" And I'm like, "Of course. We spend $30–40 million producing a music festival; it'd be a disservice not to shoot on the actual site itself."
And then that's when it kind of parlayed into, "Oh, let's shoot this at a music festival that's actually functioning at the same time that it's going on with fans in it."
ROHAN: When Owen Wilson joins Travis Scott during his set, what was it like coordinating that moment with the artist? You obviously have a pre-existing relationship with Travis, but how did you know he would be open to the idea? How did the sequence come together, given that it's also a live event and the audience doesn't know you're shooting a movie?
MATT: Yeah, I mean, Travis is an amazing performer. He had his whole set design laid out. He was aware, but not fully aware. But since he was down to play "FE!N" 10 times anyways because it was so hot at the time, it made it easier for him to bring him out for "FE!N," repeating it a few times.
He was a great sport during the whole film, and he really enjoys film and television. So he was definitely the right choice for us. If you've seen Travis on Rolling Loud climb the bill, he has been with us now since 2015. It's been great to see him platform into a headliner, and that's kind of the goal of any artist at Rolling Loud.
We definitely have the relationship and understanding, but most importantly, it's something he wanted to do.
ROHAN: You started Rolling Loud a little over ten years ago, and have worked with so many different artists. When you're collaborating and discovering a lot of talented performers, what would you say is your first step into building that trust with these extremely talented people over multiple years?
MATT: I think it goes both ways. Initially, they want to show me that they're the one to hit the stage and perform, that they care, and that they're investing in their career to be here a long time and build. So I do think it's a mutual understanding.
As the artist develops and grows, we do have a relationship. Sometimes it's with the manager, sometimes with some of the friends, sometimes with the artist direct—it really just depends. We've been a large supporter of Travis for his whole career, I would say. We gave him the headlining position before anybody else did at our festival and saw his value as an artist.
There's just a mutual respect there of what it's done for his career and what it's done for us as a brand. It's been a very beneficial relationship, and that's not the only artist, too. There's been artists like Post Malone and other people that have become headliners that were at the first Rolling Loud that no one even knew.
So it's really exciting to see how artists adapt and grow, how our relationship will build, and the value. Some artists don't see the value, and that's okay, too.
Hank can feel his family slipping away. His marriage to Melanie is strained, and his 13-year-old son Zion is growing up and pulling away. So when Zion begs to attend Rolling Loud, Hank sees one last chance to be the cool dad. Melanie says the festival is inappropriate for a 13-year-old, so Hank lies: he tells her they're spending the weekend at the lake, sneaks Zion into the festival—and promptly loses him.
Unable to call security without exposing his lie, Hank launches a frantic search through tens of thousands of festivalgoers. Along the way, he teams up with reckless old friend Terry and eccentric security guard Linda, and every attempt to find Zion leads to more chaos: drugs, backstage disasters, a Ferris wheel, a mosh pit and a run-in with Travis Scott.
When Hank finally finds Zion, he's safe—and having the time of his life. Hank realizes that his real struggle isn't finding his son, but accepting that he's growing up. After one unforgettable moment together, father and son race to the lake house before Melanie discovers the truth.