Zero Charisma Celebrates 10th Anniversary at AFS Cinema

Sam Eidson as alpha nerd Scott in Zero Charisma

Microbudget indie comedies have the life expectancy of a level one druid bumbling into Castle Ravenloft. Yet 2013 Austin-made fantasy role-playing comedy Zero Charisma has somehow not only evaded all those critical blows, but added hit points, becoming a true cult success.

A decade after it debuted at South by Southwest and as the film receives a 10th anniversary screening at AFS Cinema, writer/director duo Katie Graham and Andrew Matthews are still pleasantly surprised that their little story about gamers, social awkwardness, and tabletop politics has proven so resilient and resonant. "Occasionally," Graham said, "we'll tell people that we made it, and they're like, 'Oh, yeah, I've seen it!' 'Really? Are you sure you've got the right one?'"

Matthews explained that the original impetus for the movie stemmed from the urge to focus on "a super-strong character archetype that rarely gets his own film." Here it's Scott (Sam Eidson), dungeon master for all his friends in their regular Dungeons & Dragons sessions: But rather than the stereotypical dorky nerd of gamer comedies, he's a rampaging narcissist. After all, Graham and Matthews didn't want to make another example of what he called "nerd movies made by nerds for nerds. They're very insular, and there are so many of them, like Lord of the Rings fan films, just made so for that audience. But we didn't want that. We wanted that subject matter for everybody."

However, it was also an opportunity to make a movie about role-playing that role-players themselves would recognize. Instead of the skinny, Cheeto-stained, glasses-wearing, LARPing dork of most sitcoms, Scott's big, loud, smart, creative – and a metalhead. "All the groups of guys that I played with, there were guys who were into metal," said Matthews, "and I did not see that ever depicted in a film."

"It was always that übernerdy stereotype," said Graham, "and we're like, 'But there's that other one. The tough nerd ... the alpha nerd.'"

It's not just the duo's success in making what Matthews called "a crossover between indie comedies and character studies, and full-out nerd movies" that has made Zero Charisma a fan favorite. There's also been a shift in the culture, where role-playing games have become part of the mainstream. Graham said that, during production, "we had to explain [role-playing] a lot, but in recent years it's exploded. There are multiple homes in our neighborhood that play D&D."

Even the metal gamer has seeped into popular culture, as evidenced by Barley, Chris Pratt's gaming-and-thrashing character in Pixar's Onward. Matthews recalled, "We saw that and were like, 'I think he's wearing exactly what Sam was wearing.'"

The 10th anniversary screening will not only celebrate the film and reunite Graham and Matthews with their cast and crew, but also allow the filmmakers to say thank you to the Austinites and local businesses, like the now-closed and much-mourned Great Hall Games, and the bands and board game companies who sent them materials for set dressing, who helped make Zero Charisma mightier than they hoped. Matthews said, "Even though it's only a handful of locations and it's not that much action, it feels like it's life or death."