Pandemic lockdown — remember when? COVID-19 kept us indoors for a then-unforeseen length of time, leaving us questioning the future and perhaps our livelihood. The virus is sadly still around, but at least we’ve been out seeing the world for quite some time at this point. Most of us hadn’t used Zoom before the coronavirus, but many of us turned to the app and VR-type technology back in 2020 and 2021 to help pass the time and help us feel somewhat like the social butterflies we once were.

This sort of digital Metaverse is explored in satirical fashion with Love Virtually, a new ensemble comedy feature from director L.E. Staiman that stars Cheri Oteri (Scary Movie), Stephen Tobolowsky (Silicon Valley), Tom Virtue (Even Stevens), and more. We recently caught up with Staiman to learn more about the unique new project that he also co-wrote, co-produced, and co-starred in.

Bringing Love Virtually to Life ‘Was a Blast’

Staiman certainly had his hands full wearing multiple hats for Love Virtually, but that’s not all that kept him busy. “It was not only a difficult movie to execute, just writing, directing, producing, acting in it,” he told MovieWeb. “The medium of live-action integrated with VR, and then the amount of VFX that had to go into all the screen replacements and merging those two worlds, it was a massive undertaking. It took way longer than we thought when it went to edit. But it was a blast.”

Starring in the movie you’re directing — would one ever decide to do it a second time? “Acting and directing is fun and really challenging. And you really need a great support system, ghost directors and people to watch your back when doing it,” said Staiman. “But yeah, I would love to do more of it.”

Related: 21 Movies That Wouldn’t Have Flopped if They Weren’t Released During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Shades of pandemic restrictions and the various controversies surrounding its initial spread are all over Love Virtually. Remember when basketball player Rudy Gobert tested positive and shut down the entire NBA? But these sort of references in Staiman’s film are all in good fun here, making for a comedic satire that might give you lighthearted PTSD from the virus’ early days. Staiman detailed how it all started in getting his pertinent script off the ground:

“We started writing this in April 2020, right as the pandemic was starting. There was another project that I was planning on shooting, and then that all got scrapped because of COVID, for obvious reasons. And the pivot point was, ‘OK, let’s figure out if there’s something that we can shoot safely and inexpensively in this timeframe.’ And so my buddy Cheston who produced the movie, and I put our heads together, and we’re like, ‘Alright, well, what can we shoot under these circumstances?'”
“And this is also as we’re seeing people really migrating to Zoom. I don’t think anyone knew what Zoom was before the pandemic. And so the original idea was going to be relationships over Zoom. We were going to shoot it all over Zoom, really shoot it for no money, no-name actors. And then we got more and more ambitious. And the idea kept growing. And we’re like, ‘Well, what if they all meet up in virtual reality? And then the movie kind of grew from there. But it was exploring digital relationships and where we saw the world kind of migrating to.”

And when Staiman says “the idea kept growing,” he’s being modest. There is a seemingly endless stream of characters seeking affection and companionship throughout Love Virtually, and film buffs who gravitate toward ensemble comedies should certainly experience this latest effort, which brings together a wide variety of delightful comedians and character actors.

“Initially, we had these kinds of really disjointed ideas,” Staiman told us. “And then at a certain point, my little sort of magic trick was: I graphed it all out and made this sort of visual graph that looked kind of like I was trying to solve a murder or something. Just like connected yarn, from relationship to relationship. And once we had that figured out, it made the rest of the process much more streamlined once I had a better overall understanding of the story and the connections. But without that, it would have been impossible to write this script. So it just required a lot of bird’s-eye view of the situation in order to really build out that world.”

Animating a Film with No Prior Experience
Premiere Digital

Among the sea of characters are two standouts played by household names: Cheri Oteri and Stephen Tobolowsky. They play a disgruntled couple in the digital age, with a twist that we won’t spoil here. “It was honestly a dream come true,” said Staiman in describing working with the pair. “We spent a lot of time casting the movie and auditioned a lot of people for those roles. And were really unhappy with what we were finding.” He continued:

“And as kind of like a Hail Mary, I had my casting director reach out and see if this is something Stephen and Cheri would even read. And miraculously, they loved the characters. They loved the script and came on board. So it was amazing. They were just so much fun and so like loose and pleasant to be around and just brought such a level of professionalism. And you’re like, ‘Oh, this is why they’re both icons.’ So we had just an absolute blast shooting the movie with them.”

Related: 20 Animated Movies With an Ensemble Voice Cast

Right as the film kicks off, you’ll sense that much of Love Virtually takes place in a world that’s…well, virtual. From behind the scenes, that means Staiman and his writing-producing partner Cheston Mizel had to figure out how to animate a big chunk of the movie essentially on their own dime. Says Staiman, “Cheston has never animated anything in his life. That’s just not his background at all. But he took it upon himself. He’s like, ‘Let’s figure this out.’ I think there’s 40 animated scenes, I think we animated 35 scenes ourselves. And by ourselves, I mean, Cheston did it and I was in a mocap suit, and he was telling me what to do.

“But he learned how to use enough software to be really dangerous. And so by the end of that process of doing all the recording, the animation, we had most of the scenes done, and then we sent it out to a company that polished it and did the cinematics and stuff, and was able to take it to the level that it is now. But yeah, he animated almost the entire movie himself first and then passed it off.”

Then there’s the colorful character that Staiman had to play, a menacing Metaverse celebrity who wins large sums of crypto by fist-fighting other avatars. And when I say it’s a role he “had to play,” I mean that he wasn’t exactly his own first choice for the part. “I didn’t write that role for myself at all,” Staiman told us. “It was one of those things where we had our shortlist of people who I wanted to play that role. And slowly but surely, either they were unavailable or they didn’t want to be typecast as that character.”

It got down to the wire, it’s like a week or two before we started filming, and we had not cast that character yet. And Cheston essentially told me, ‘I’m not spending more time or money finding someone to play that role. You’re doing it.’

And it’s a relief Staiman agreed to play the part, because it will surely be a favorite for viewers — in addition to the Cheri Oteri and Stephen Tobolowsky roles, of course.

Love Virtually is now on digital and on demand.