What if the Y2K scare wasn’t just an overhyped flop but a gateway to chaos? In their new film “Y2K,” Kyle Mooney and Evan Winter transform the infamous “millennium bug” into a wildly imaginative adventure. What started as a hungover New Year’s Day idea quickly snowballed into a collaboration that blends late-’90s nostalgia with absurdist comedy, delivering a fresh take on an era that’s as perplexing as it is unforgettable.
“Y2K” stars Rachel Zegler, Jaeden Martell, Julian Dennison, Tim Heidecker, Alicia Silverstone, Mason Gooding, and more. The film follows two teens caught in the chaos of a New Year’s Eve party as the Y2K bug sparks wild, unpredictable events. Full of nostalgia, humor, and excitement, “Y2K” offers a fresh take on the turn-of-the-millennium hysteria.
The Beacon sat down with Mooney and Winter to discuss their creative process, the inspiration behind “Y2K,” and how they brought the chaotic energy of the late ’90s to life.
Movie ideas can come from anywhere—sometimes even the most unexpected places. For Mooney and Winter, the spark for their film “Y2K” came from a hangover text and a shared fascination with the bizarre cultural moment surrounding the Y2K era.
“I’ve always had a minor obsession with Y2K because it was a letdown. It was this thing that was promised to be a massive event, and then nothing happened,” Mooney said. “For those of us who lived through that, it’s hard not to carry it on in the back of your mind. It’s like, what was that? It was what we call a nothing burger.”
The Y2K era’s strange mix of hype and anticlimax stuck with Mooney, lingering in his mind until one fateful New Year’s Day. “I think with that New Year’s Day, something hit me in my hangover, and I remembered I was just thinking about Y2K, and it was like, oh, there should be a movie about this,” he recalled.
Inspired by what could have been, Mooney shot a text to Winter, proposing the concept of “Y2K” unfolding with a monstrous twist. “Y2K happens with some sort of machine monster, something to that effect,” Mooney continued. From there, the two began brainstorming and quickly found themselves deep in discussion, with their vision coming together rapidly. “I feel like within a week, we had most of the major ideas for the movie.”
Mooney and Winter dove into the writing process as the idea took shape while balancing their SNL responsibilities. “We just started writing on SNL then,” Mooney said. They would collaborate remotely, with Mooney drafting pages and sending them to Winter in New York for feedback and rewrites. “Evan would work on them, rewrite them, send them back,” Mooney said.
Whenever Mooney returned to town for breaks or hiatus, the pair met in person to continue refining the script. “We just kept working on it together, through that rhythm, for about a year,” he said.
By the end of it, the script had evolved into something surprisingly close to what would become the final version.
“And it was never a nothing burger,” Mooney said. “It was a something burger, that’s it.”
Replicating the Y2K era on screen came with challenges, but it was also a nostalgic trip down memory lane for Mooney and Winter.
“It was fun because that was our high and middle school era,” Mooney said. The process involved carefully recreating the timeline of that period, immersing themselves in the cultural references they grew up with. When drawing inspiration for “Y2K,” Mooney and Winter tried to tap into every available resource. They didn’t rely on their memories; they also reached out to friends and dug through old yearbooks, immersing themselves in the era’s nostalgia.
“We went through all the yearbooks of the era. We went through YouTube, which has a pretty good collection of ’99, 2000 video yearbooks, too, so you can just scroll through some random high schools’ end-of-year videos and see all the styles,” Mooney said.
The process was more than just research; it was a chance to relive and represent an era that, in their eyes, had yet to be fully captured on screen.
“It felt like this era has not been fully represented on screen, so it was exciting,” he added.
Winter reflected on how specific eras are reinterpreted in film, especially for generations that didn’t experience them firsthand. “It’s interesting thinking about films that take place in a specific period,” he began, drawing from his own experiences. “I remember when I was maybe a little bit younger than you guys are now, “Dazed and Confused” was a huge movie for me, and that’s about the ’70s.”
Winter noted that when he and his peers were teenagers, the ’70s and ’80s were seen as the “cool retro eras” despite not having lived through them.
“It was big, coming back in fashion and music and style and everything,” he said. Winter pointed out that these eras were distilled into specific cultural touchstones for a generation looking back. “There’s a lot of truth to the things that people look back on and say, ‘Oh, this defines the era,’ but there’s so much more.”
Mooney explained how his experience at “Saturday Night Live” significantly shaped their film, particularly in writing and audience response.
“The great thing about SNL is that you’re having to put your piece in front of an audience that isn’t you or your friends,” Mooney said. He emphasized that feedback from a real, external audience is crucial to the show. “That’s also one of the show’s biggest challenges,” he continued. “How can you represent your voice while adhering to the SNL format?”
Mooney shared that working at SNL was essential to his artistic development because it helped him understand what resonates with people and what doesn’t.
“We were always conscious of that in writing this thing. You want it to hit broadly, but you also want to have that level of subversion that feels real to you, and that’s something I think I learned over the course of SNL,” he said.
As Mooney and Winter navigated the challenges of working together on their film, Winter reflected on how their long-standing friendship helped their collaboration.
“Kyle and I have been buddies for so long, but working in this capacity together was a new experience,” Winter said. He noted how Mooney’s openness to collaboration stood out, whether during the writing process or on set.
“The fact that he’s not precious and very open to collaboration, whether it was while we were writing or on set,” Winter said. “When someone has an idea they believe in, I think he’s very game to do it.”
For both Mooney and Winter, having a trusted collaborator by their side throughout the filmmaking process made all the difference. Mooney humorously shared that the best part of working together is “Having my boy by my side the whole time,” adding that having a friend to recap the day’s events, saying things like, “This went well, this was not good,” was incredibly valuable.
Winter expanded on this sentiment, explaining how having a partner is crucial when making countless decisions. “When you’re alone making all these decisions yourself, and you don’t have that sounding board, even if you’re confident, there’s always going to be a moment of second-guessing yourself,” he said. “Having another perspective or someone who can think of something you didn’t can spark what the eventual final idea will be.”
Mooney also acknowledged the challenges of spending so much time together, with a light-hearted mention of getting to know each other deeper, “I’m learning what he smells like.”
Marketing plays a crucial role in the success of any film, and for “Y2K,” the filmmakers were fortunate to work with A24, a studio known for its collaborative and creative approach. Mooney and Winter praised A24 for its commitment to working closely with filmmakers, especially during the marketing phase. “A24 has been so awesome, and I think that’s a strength of theirs—marketing,” Mooney said.
“They’re so committed to working with the filmmakers and the artists,” Winter added that they were free to incorporate their ideas into the marketing materials, something not all filmmakers are fortunate enough to experience. He mentioned the character posters designed by A24’s Daniel Rivera, which featured unique visuals like the Fisheye photos taken while on set.
“We could send them references like, ‘Go from 99,’ or ‘Here’s a 1998 Sony mini-disk player print ad,'” Winter said, explaining how A24 embraced their vision and brought it to life. “They got excited about that stuff, and it felt like a real collaboration.”
Mooney and Winter are down for another collaboration in the future with A24. The idea of Y3K has been a fun, joking possibility for the duo as they imagine what could come after “Y2K.” While it’s still just a playful thought, both have expressed excitement about the potential for continuing the story.
“That’s fully dependent on whether people see this movie. But we’d be down,” Mooney said.
Though nothing is confirmed yet, the duo has entertained the idea of further exploring the “Y2K” universe with a possible “Y3K.” However, they know whether this becomes a reality depends entirely on audience reception. If the film resonates, they’re all in for more adventures in this nostalgic world.
“Y2K” is out in theaters nationwide today.
