Lana Del Rey is one of the executive producers of the psychedelic short film “Hi, How Are You“.
Earlier this month, Lana Del Rey and rapper Mac Miller each donated $10,000 to a Kickstarter campaign for this film directed by Gabriel Sunday.
“Hi, How Are You” stars Daniel Johnston, with Sunday playing a younger version of the musician, fully entering the songwriter’s off-kilter creative mind and bringing his illustrations to life. The production team initially launched the Kickstarter campaign to cover its post-production costs including animation and CGI. But after reaching its minimum goal of $35,000 in less than a week, Sunday says they may decide to film more.
To promote the Kickstarter, they sent emails to Johnston’s mailing list, and soon Spin picked up the story. Word spread quickly, and Mac Miller and Lana Del Rey caught wind.
Lana herself took a somewhat more sly approach and started following Sunday on Twitter, which Sunday said started bringing attention his way through her 3 million followers. Then, on Nov. 17, she and boyfriend Barrie-James O’Neill called Sunday, he says, saying eerily at first, “Gabriel, we’ve been watching you … You’ve been doing cool things, Gabriel …” And then they offered him whatever help he needed, pledging $10,000 to the project while they were on the phone.
“[Johnston]’s fighting the long crazy fight, (…) He’s a genius. And more human beings have to know about his crazy good songs and talent. His spirit is golden. This film will only prove to show that.” – says Lana Del Rey
For their contributions, Mac Miller will receive Johnston’s “Keep on Rocking” chord organ and Lana Del Rey will receive his “Sorry Entertainer” Smurf ukulele.