‘Butter’ Actor McKaley Miller Talks Teenage Bullies and Online Relationships [Exclusive]
McKaley Miller stars in a new dark comedy film from Blue Fox Entertainment called Butter. The movie’s protagonist, referred to by everyone at school as Butter, faces bullying both online and in-person for his weight. On a whim, Butter makes a shocking announcement. On New Years’ Eve, he will eat an enormous meal, which he intends to be his last. As word gets out about Butter’s mission, he finds something like popularity in the fascination of his classmates. Meanwhile, Butter is also in an online relationship with the prettiest, most popular girl at his school, Anna McGinn (Miller). However, Butter is posing as a jock from a private school named JP.
Miller recently spoke with Showbiz Cheatsheet about her character’s quest to find something genuine in an online relationship. She also shared her insight on why teens feel empowered to bully others from behind a screen.
McKaley Miller explains why her ‘Butter’ character Anna went online to form a relationship
McKaley Miller’s Butter character Anna is described as the prettiest, most popular girl in school. Yet instead of dating boys in her class, she seeks out an online relationship with a guy who (she believes) knows nothing about her, including what she looks like. Miller explained why her character went online to form a relationship.
“You know, there’s a moment in there where she sort of says, ‘I fell in love with JP online because he got to know me for me and not just saw what I looked like.’ And I think it goes a little deeper than that,” the actor began.
“I think that she just sort of has this reputation that she didn’t mean to have, and it’s probably not true. And I think that sort of hurt her chances of finding genuine connections with boys in high school because she just has this reputation about her. So I think that she sought after finding a true connection with somebody, and it just so happened to be online was the easiest way for her.”
Did Anna genuinely feel that it doesn’t matter what JP looks like?
Unfortunately for Anna, the person she was talking to went to her school after all. Anna makes it clear several times in the film that she would like JP no matter what he looked like, and Miller does think her character meant that genuinely. In the end, it’s Butter’s lies and deceit that ruin things for him.
“It’s just the fact that it ended up being someone from the school who still understands her reputation, who still thinks of her and sees her every day as this popular girl in school,” Miller explained. “I think it sort of just ruined her whole experiment of finding somebody online that truly likes her for her. So I do think she was serious about, ‘It doesn’t matter what you look like.'”
McKaley Miller discusses why Butter’s classmates waited until the last minute to get him help
Although Butter appears to be a comedy at the surface, the film deals with very real and serious issues. These include teen suicide and bullying. Although the whole school knows about Butter’s plans, no one attempts to get help for him until the last minute.
“They don’t fully understand that the threat of what he’s threatening to do carries such a weight about it,” Miller told Showbiz Cheat Sheet. “I think this is why social media in certain ways is so dangerous because you’re really disassociating from the person. It’s really — I don’t know if that’s the right word, but distancing.”
“It puts a whole barrier between you and ‘Oh, I’m reading this thing about this person. They didn’t say it to me. So I’m just kind of seeing it from a distance.’ And I think that’s a way of them just deciding among themselves that this is just a fun thing. That’s probably not going to happen.”
Why do some people feel empowered to bully others online?
Many of Butter’s classmates show a lack of understanding behind the seriousness of his plans, but there are some who also bully him online. They write cruel messages, even on the website where Butter is planning his final meal. “I think it’s it’s crazy that lots of people feel this power by doing things via an online personality,” Miller said.
“Social media has become a way to say things that you necessarily wouldn’t say to somebody in person because, you know, it’s horrible or it’s mean, but it sort of just gives you this distance. And I mean, I was bullied on the internet when I was in high school. So it’s a weird power trip that I think people get by creating these profiles and getting to say whatever they want to say without really seeing the consequences.”
How to get help: In the U.S., call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Or text HOME to 741-741 to speak with a trained crisis counselor at the free Crisis Text Line.
