Explains the similarities between the films I Love Boosters and Sorry to Bother You by writing Boots Riley, as well as details the challenges Riley faced in creating I Love Boosters.
If you noticed a connection between I Love Boosters and Sorry to Bother You, you're not the only one. I Love Boosters , the latest from Boots Riley , is an anti-capitalist crime-comedy that follows a young, aspiring fashion designer named Corvette, played by Keke Palmer , who puts together a crew of like-minded Oakland women who form a group called the Velvet Gang , otherwise known as"boosters.
" Frustrated by the world of fast fashion, its culture of excess, and lack of inclusion, the Velvet Gang makes its way across the city, becoming Oakland's modern-day Robin Hoods, stealing high-end clothing from upscale boutiques and selling it at a discount to the local community. It's not long before the group catches the attention of fashion mogul Christine Smith, played by Demi Moore, who ends up stealing one of Corvette's designs, leading the crew to shift from petty boosting to executing a massive plan to take her empire down.
While the film, Riley's first since 2018's Sorry to Bother You, is a standalone story, it shares a host of similarities with the director's last effort, with both films set in Oakland and utilizing heightened, dreamlike sci-fi elements to disguise the heavier, political messages at their core. Many audiences also noticed the signature satire Riley employs in both films, as the pair each aggressively critiques capitalism, race, and the exploitation of the working class.
ScreenRant's Ash Crosan spoke to Riley and LaKeith Stanfield, who stars in both I Love Boosters and Sorry to Bother You, ahead of the film's premiere, where they set the record straight on the connection — or lack thereof — between the projects. There Is A Sorry To Bother You Reference In I Love Boosters There's a subtle nod to Riley's 2018 film in I Love Boosters, but the connection doesn't go much further than that, with Riley clarifying that Boosters "is not" part of the Sorry to Bother You world.
Boots Riley: I'll say this, it shows up on a marquee. This is not part of the Sorry to Bother You world, because the movie is playing in the movie. There is also a line that sees Stanfield, who plays Pinky Ring Guy, make a subtle apology that seems to reference Riley's debut feature. When asked, Stanfield kept coy, telling ScreenRant simply that he "might" have snuck a little throwback in the mix.
LaKeith Stanfield: There might have been something I threw in there. I don't know. I Love Boosters Was A Real Challenge For Riley While audiences seem steadfast on the connection between the films, I Love Boosters, at least behind the scenes, was a much heavier lift, with Riley incorporating stop-motion, a few sex scenes, and complicated, intricate scenes that required multiple takes and the building of a special set to pull off. Boots Riley: There were so many hard things.
We've got miniatures, we've got stop-motion. A lot of that is challenging in how long it takes, because we were shooting those things for a long time. There are things that were hard to pull off in the moment. We have a couple of sex scenes.
As you know, we don't like to make it easy on ourselves. I'm trying to think what's hard. There's so many hard things. There's a part where, without giving it up, Keke is running very fast in place, and that took not only building a special set — it wasn't only for the one thing — and her being on wires, and then a pinwheel deal going on.
So that took a lot. Still, Riley said, a lot of the techniques employed in the film were easy, compared to his surrealist television series, I'm a Virgo, which tells the story of Cootie, a 13-foot-tall Black teenager who escapes his sheltered life in Oakland to experience the real world. Boots Riley: After doing I'm a Virgo, a lot of things are easy in comparison to that.
I think this is my best work, but every shot in that was hard, because we were doing force perspective, and it just took a long time calculating every single thing. Riley found himself using that same methodical calculating in I Love Boosters during a specific scene with Palmer's Corvette, which required a dolly and a few racks of clothing.
Boots Riley: There's a part where — this is in a trailer — she gets her design stolen, Corvette, and we dolly back with her, and we have racks of clothes. That took a bunch of tries, and that was hard to figure out exactly how to do it. We had a slightly different idea about it, and had to rework it and figure that out.
As for Stanfield, Pink Ring Guy marks a major departure from his last Riley run, with the Atlanta alum playing a far more enigmatic and charming character than the struggling and anxious telemarketer he took on in Sorry to Bother You. When asked where he drew inspiration from for his I Love Boosters character, Stanfield said it was a "hodgepodge" of things.
LaKeith Stanfield: I think Dracula and Prince and a little bit of Johnny Depp in Cry Baby, that sort of vibe. It was a hodgepodge of a lot of different things.
Check out more of our I Love Boosters coverage below: I Love Boosters hits theaters May 22. 7/10 I Love Boosters Like Follow Followed R Comedy Crime Science Fiction Release Date May 22, 2026 Runtime 113 minutes Director Boots Riley Writers Boots Riley Producers Aaron Ryder, Allison Rose Carter, Jon Read, Andrew Swett, Boots Riley Cast See All Powered by Expand Collapse
I Love Boosters Sorry To Bother You Boots Riley Keke Palmer Velvet Gang Christine Smith Fast Fashion Oakland Robin Hoods High-End Clothing Discount Local Community Christine Smith Fashion Mogul Stealing Executing A Massive Plan Empire Mining Target Fast Fashion Culture Lack Of Inclusion Arnold Schwarzenegger Christopher Plummer
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