A global crisis was avoided when the calendar flipped from December 31, 1999, to January 1, 2000, thanks to the hard work of countless programmers. But what if the “year 2000 problem” had resulted in major computer malfunctions or, even worse, a robot uprising? That’s essentially the premise of Y2K, the new comedy from former SNL cast member Kyle Mooney.
A24‘s Y2K takes place on the last night of 1999, when two high school juniors, played by Jaeden Martell and Julian Dennison, crash a New Years Eve party only to find themselves fighting for their lives against various robots and household appliances. The nostalgia-heavy film also stars Rachel Zegler, who talked to Screen Rant about how she joined the cast.
“I came across it really late in the game. There ended up being an opening in the cast. I was in the middle of Death Valley, Nevada on a commercial shoot, and I had no service, and my agent was breaking up on the phone,” the West Side Story actress said. “I was wandering around the desert, this is a true story, trying to get the script to load on my phone. And I read it in-between takes of this commercial I was doing.”
She continued, “I just loved that it was so self-aware of what it was both portraying and making fun of, in a way. And I love Kyle so much. I’m such a big fan of Kyle’s. Anything that he does, I immediately can subscribe to, so I just really enjoyed it. It was so different than anything I had done before.”
Y2K, which also stars Alicia Silverstone, The Kid Laroi, and Fred Durst, opens in theaters on December 6, 2024.