Charli XCX Reflects on Acting Career at Sundance Premiere of A24's 'The Moment'

Charli XCX is diving into her acting ventures at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

During a Q&A after the premiere of her new A24 film, The Moment, on Friday, January 23rd, the 33-year-old pop star explored her growing acting career and how her on-screen persona relates to her real life, particularly concerning the mockumentary inspired by her hit Brat album and subsequent world tour.

"I’m obviously quite related to my character, so I had a lot of inspiration to pull from,” Charli said. “I would like to think I’m not as much of a nightmare as Charli in the film, but my real managers are in the audience and they probably know the true answer to that.”

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The Moment, directed by Aidan Zamiri, tells the story of “a rising pop star navigates the complexities of fame and industry pressure while preparing for her arena tour debut,” according to A24’s synopsis. Check out the first trailer here.

The film, in theaters January 30th, also features Rosanna Arquette, Kate Berlant, Alexander Skarsgård, Kylie Jenner, Rish Shah, Jamie Demetriou, Arielle Dombasle, Trew Mullen, Shygirl and A. G. Cook.

The British singer-songwriter dominated summer 2024 with her sixth studio album, Brat, which reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200. Her world tour ran from November 2024 to August 2025.

During the panel, Charli acknowledged that some of the movie’s chaotic moments felt very real.

“I know that sometimes I do give them a bit of a hard time, and I think for me those real spiral moments that you see in the film, I have been there,” the singer said. “As an artist, I am quite a volatile person. I am nice, though! I am quite nice, too. Right?”

Zamiri quickly added, “Yes, yes, confirmed,” prompting Charli to respond, “Too f—king right,” to the crowd's amusement.

Charli remains busy at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Besides The Moment, she stars in two other films premiering at the event: Gregg Araki’s I Want Your Sex, starring Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman, and Cathy Yan’s The Gallerist, featuring Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega.

“Right now, I am like the me in the film where I am wanting Brat to stop and pivot,” she said at the panel. “That is not because I don’t love it, it’s just because for all of us as artists, you want to challenge yourself and totally switch the creative soup that you are in and go and live in a different bowl for a while.”

She added, “That is how I feel about the projects that I am in. I just really want to work with these incredible directors like Aidan [Zamiri], Gregg Araki, [and] Cathy Yan, who I can live completely different lives with.”

Beyond Sundance, Charli has appeared in projects such as 100 Nights a Hero and Erupcja, and played herself in the Amazon comedy Overcompensating. Upcoming films include Faces of Death and the Dakota Johnson-directed A Tree Is Blue.