What would make filmmakers want to rewind 16 years to 2008? Maybe to whip up a hard-hitting look at the global financial crisis? Or perhaps to dazzle everyone with a sports drama about the Olympics? For the filmmakers behind Beyond The Likes, a star-studded comedy hitting theaters on November 7, the answer is neither. Instead, the film takes us back to the early days of social media, where five friends in Chicago accidentally become some of the world’s first influencers.
Directed by Rhyan LaMarr and produced by Elijah Long, known for Rambo: Last Blood and Tesla, the upcoming film explores the rise of social media stars, and more importantly, the timeless things that never change—whether you’ve got a million followers or not.
In this exclusive ISINA interview, Elijah Long opens up about the scheduling headaches, the fun-filled behind-the-scenes chaos, and the inspiring cultural differences that made Beyond The Likes both a challenge and a joy to bring to life.
— What inspired the creation of a comedy centered around social media influencers?
— I was brought onto this project by Don Benjamin, a good friend of mine who is the lead actor and a social media influencer. I was recently coming off of my film, Rambo: Last Blood, and was looking to get involved in something lighter. This project fit the bill—it’s light, funny, relatable, and speaks to the younger generation.
One of the reasons I wanted to be a part of it is that movie making has changed significantly in terms of the kinds of movies that are made. I remember growing up watching films like The Best Man and The Wood, which inspired me and made me reflect on what I wanted to be. They were relatable and resonated with my experiences during my teens in high school. I wanted to make something that relates to today’s youth, who are all about influencing and doing different things.
— Why was 2008 chosen as the starting point?
— Well, because this whole thing started to boom around 2008. The people in the film were actually among the very first influencers—this is literally art imitating life. DeStorm Power, the leader of the original Vines, brought in King Bach, Adam Waheed, Amanda Cerny, and other big influencers who really started in the game.
When Instagram came about, offering a new platform with 30 seconds of content, DeStorm and others decided to move from Vine after its refusal to extend content duration beyond six seconds. This shift caused Vine to crash, and they became the pioneers on Instagram, literally having the power to boost and elevate a new platform, essentially creating what we now call influencers.
That’s the very special part of why I wanted to do this and why I wanted to push it globally because social media influencing is a global phenomenon. If you look up the year that Instagram was created, you’ll find we’re right on the mark with the idea starting around 2008 before it actually happened. Instagram didn’t take off until 2010, but the idea was conceived in 2008.
— As a producer, what were some of the biggest challenges you faced during production?
— Oh, you are opening up a can of worms here. [laughs] One of the biggest challenges was scheduling. I haven’t spoken about this publicly yet, so I will give you some gems in this interview.
For instance, we had to schedule Matt Rife’s scenes in such a way that nearly 95% of his dialogue was shot in just one day due to his commitments to a comedy special he was funding himself. No one really knew who he was, and now when you see Matt, it’s like, “Oh, I see why you had to leave set early to go shoot this special because you’re the biggest comedian in the world right now!”
Matt Rife is just as crazy in person as he is on stage. I remember we told him we needed him to send us a picture for his work visa in Abu Dhabi. Matt sends the picture; great, we get to the airport. Everybody’s ready; we’re about to leave for Abu Dhabi. Matt, where the hell is your passport? “Well, I sent you guys a picture. I didn’t think I needed it.” Matt left his passport at home!
— So did he have to stay? Obviously, he couldn’t fly…
— No, no, he couldn’t fly out with us and had to catch the next available flight. But the thing is, when you’re flying 16 hours, you need a day to catch up to the time zone. Due to the time lost, Matt had to go straight to work upon arrival.
Then when he gets to Abu Dhabi, we give Matt his per diem in an envelope, and he accidentally drops it in a water tray! It was a running joke the entire shoot. So wherever Matt went, he would just do something, and it was just… Matt being Matt. It was a non-stop joke that just went through the whole set to where it’s like, “Hey guys, can you check and make sure Matt has his bags and his shoes and his clothes?” He was the baby boy on set. So I’m really, really proud of him right now with where he is in his career and how he’s grown and the maturity level that he’s taken with the new fame that he has acquired.
Back to the challenges. So, wrangling cast and their schedules, because think about it: you had King Bach… I had Bach for four hours on one day, and I had to split four hours on another day. That’s how I got King Bach shot in and shot out.
With Adam Waheed, I had the same thing. Adam was not playing the character he was originally supposed to play. Adam was supposed to play the brother. However, when Adam was headed to the airport to take his PCR test, he tested COVID positive. So we quickly had to put Liane V into the movie, who is Don Benjamin’s wife and also a major influencer. We had to fly in Ahmed Mawas. He flew in that morning, was on set by lunchtime, and it was right to work—no time, no nothing, just right to work. He learned his lines on the plane headed to Abu Dhabi, and then we got back in LA, and we gave Adam the agent role. Since I didn’t have Bach for a full shoot, we had Adam and Bach split the same role.
— With scheduling in Abu Dhabi, how did shooting during COVID add to the challenges?
— The problem with that is there was a border that was put up between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. There’s seven Emirates that make up the UAE. However, when it came to COVID, everybody said, “Hey, you’re on your own. You keep your people over there. We keep our people over here so we can try to fight this disease virus that is going on.” So if you didn’t have a PCR test that was within 12 hours old, you had to take another one.
The amount of PCR tests that the production had to pay for was absolutely ridiculous because we would ship certain equipment that we needed. They didn’t have a port in Abu Dhabi, so they had to drive to Dubai. Drive to Dubai — boom, now we had to have other PCR tests!
So it was hell trying to get people to answer the phone, get help, something, the doors weren’t open to a certain location, we weren’t getting access. You can’t call the film commission because no one’s in the office.
Those type of things were the issues that we were having. Flying 125 people across the globe to a country that they’ve never been to, in the middle of COVID while they’re at their biggest holiday that’s similar to Christmas. Ta-da!
— But at the end of the day, you never gave up…
— If we gave up, that means we would lose $5.5 million. That’s called a fail. We had a movie to produce, so looking back in hindsight, you see how stupid it was, but when you’re in it, it’s a journey of filmmaking. It doesn’t matter how many productions I do, you learn something on every set, and with each set, you literally learn tenacity because behind every door was a problem. It was either fix it or fail. And we just decided to fix it. So I’m really grateful for my crew, and Qais Qandil here in the UAE, who’s been my partner, and Chris Jennings, who is my partner in Chicago, that helped me produce this movie.
— After watching the trailer, it seems the film offers a mix of humor and heart. What emotions do you hope audiences experience after seeing it?
— I want people to do exactly what the logline says: dream big, love bigger. Those are the two themes of this movie.
You have five guys that were dreaming as big as they possibly could, but it just wasn’t happening. But sometimes, as Jay-Z once said—quoting someone else—“Things don’t happen to you. They happen for you.” And because things were actually happening for these guys, in real life, they felt like, “Damn, this is happening to me. Bad things are happening to me.” This was pushing them to step outside of their box to a level of creativity that allowed them to just be their authentic selves. And they ended up creating something that changed the whole world.
I’m cautious about revealing too much of the story, but essentially, it’s about a rich heiress who falls in love with a model. It doesn’t matter that she has more or that he’s just a model; she gives up her wealth to be with him. This is the complete opposite of what the world tells us, which usually goes, “Oh, you need to give me this, you need to do that.” She had all the money in the world but lacked something genuine. All Don Benjamin’s character had to do was be real—the authentic him—and he had everything: the world, the girl, everything.
What I think is happening today is that no one is authentic. I really want people to watch this film. It’s a very light-hearted movie, but ultimately, the message is simple: “Just be you.” People suffer from anxiety over not having enough money. Young people in their 20s are expected to have millions—that’s not real life. At 25, I was rapping, making music, just trying to figure it all out. But I followed my heart and dreamed big.
— The music is a crucial element of Beyond the Likes. Could you share more about your collaboration with Davix Foreman and the other musicians involved?
— I’ve known Davix for 20 years. I needed a producer who could articulate my thoughts because sometimes my thoughts are fragmented, like any other artist. And I knew that he and I spoke the same language.
It came so naturally to work with Davix again because I know his skill level, and he also makes me better. I learned pitch when I was recording with Davix. He used to tell me, don’t be afraid to use my vocal ability. I’m no singer, but I have a bit of vocal ability. And with that being said, I was able to even guide the sound composer as to how I needed this to feel.
There was this one song in particular that’s really special in the film now. It is called “Run”, performed by Amalyn, written by Starrz. It comes at a moment where the actress delivers a brilliant performance as she conjures up this devious plan. The track we originally planned to use, one of my own, wasn’t working despite our efforts to manipulate it. But what I realized in creativity is that when something doesn’t work, it’s another example of ‘some things don’t happen to you, they happen for you.’
So I asked Davix if he had another track that could fit the scene, noting the absence of dialogue. I recalled vividly how effectively the series ‘Power’ by 50 Cent used music to enhance emotion and asked him to find a song whose lyrics would resonate with the scene’s feeling and emotion. All he did was flip through his mind, his entire catalog, and boom, it was this track called “Run”. I listened to it for 30 seconds and I’m like, “Bro, this is the track. Why didn’t you tell me this before?” It was just one of those aha moments where that glue came together seamlessly and put the scene together. It’s one of my favorite scenes in a movie now.
— How did you ensure that the film was culturally respectful and suited to the local audience in the UAE?
— I had to get the movie approved by both the Abu Dhabi and Dubai governments because it features their country. Surrounded by officials in white kandoras, I was hoping they would appreciate it. Looking over and seeing them pleased and actually coming out to shake my hand, saying they liked the way I represented the country and respected the culture, was truly beautiful. It felt amazing, especially since the film is lighthearted. It’s not as dramatic as I would have liked, but being my first film in this region, I had to play it safe.
The American version of this drama would have the rich heiress come to America, meet a model, hit it off, and then discover she’s pregnant. That version would never have been greenlit here. Having the support of the government, local newspapers, and being able to appear on the Virgin Radio show with Kris Fade (who also produced this and is the “Ryan Seacrest of the Middle East”), was incredible. We reached ten million ears over the last two days.
And with a storyline too racy for their standards, you wouldn’t get that support or be invited back. The rules are always changing, and the people are evolving. I appreciate the ministers they have in place—Minister for Artificial Intelligence, Minister of Culture and Youth, Minister for Women Affairs, and the film commission—each playing a vital role. They focus on the youth under 35, which is great. That’s why we toned down the film, to make it more suitable for younger audiences and less dramatic than the typical American version.
— Who would have thought a modern comedy featuring social media stars could carry such deep messages…
— I’m giving you depth, but I sprinkled it with humor. The film is very light, but you know how you watch a film and each time—like the second, third, or fourth time—you notice something a little bit different? I watched The Matrix as a teenager, then at 25, and then at 35. I’ll be 45 in four days. You see things differently as you experience more life.
Beyond the Likes has some deep undertones; however, it’s presented in a very light, fluffy cake with icing on top. It’s a feel-good movie. The music makes you feel good, the story flows and it’s relatable—it’s just five guys dealing with the perils of life, you know, when things aren’t going right. How many people can relate to just things not going right, which pushes you in another direction, but also toward your destiny?
I really feel that, in today’s world climate, people will be able to relate. You have to pivot because what you planned isn’t working, so you figure out something else and it just happens to work out. And in that process, you may fall in love, or get your heart broken, but you’re just getting a section of these guys’ lives as it unfolds. They happened to take a portion of life that unfolded in a beautiful direction. They didn’t know they were just going to end up on a plane to another country, but they were going to support their friend.
It’s a journey of loyalty, camaraderie, friendship, and a lot of different things. So, we gave you the in-depth meaning, but like I said, it’s sprinkled with a lot of light-hearted moments, so you’re going to laugh. And I hope every time someone sits down and the lights dim on their screen, they see something different.
