‘Edie Arnold Is a Loser’ Star Turned to a Video Game To Help Her Become a Punk Rock Drummer

Adi Madden Cabrera as Edie walks down a hallway with McKenna Tuckett as Frances in Edie Arnold Is a Loser

Published Oct 10, 2026, 5:00 AM EDT

Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Edie Arnold Is a Loser.

Summary

In 'Edie Arnold Is a Loser,' Edie and her Catholic school friends form a punk band called The NunDead.
Adi Madden Cabrera learned to play the drums through lessons, YouTube videos, and Rock Band.
Authentic teen dialogue, a sweet nun mentor, a gross-but-funny kiss, and honest coming-of-age growth make for a fun and funny movie.

In Edie Arnold Is a Loser, co-directed by Kade Atwood and Megan Rico (who also wrote the film), Catholic school best friends Edie (Adi Madden Cabrera) and Frances (McKenna Tuckett) form a band called The NunDead, attract the attention of popular alter boy Walter (Lucas Van Orden), and piss off the most popular girl in school (Alana Mei Kern), all in the name of punk rock. The coming-of-age tale shows that high school is difficult for everyone, especially when you’re considered a dork or a loser, but if you find others with similar interests, you can get a band going and find your voice. The foursome actually has potential on stage, ultimately winning them fans, including Edie’s mom, and a Battle of the Bands title.

Collider recently got the opportunity to chat with Cabrera about making such a splash with her first acting role and what’s been holding her back from pursuing a career in music. During the interview, she discussed the authenticity that drew her to Edie Arnold Is a Loser, her own love of music, what she did to pull off playing the drums for the movie, why one of the nuns ended up being one of her favorite characters, the best part of the entire shoot, the stand-out kiss between Edie and Walter, that fight with Kati, how the ending evolved, and what she’d like to do next with both acting and music.

Adi Madden Cabrera Was Drawn In by the Authenticity of ‘Edie Arnold Is a Loser’

"It felt like a real female friendship, and I think the dialogue is very accurate to real teens."

Adi Madden Cabrera as Edie with her mouth open next to McKenna Tuckett as Frances in Edie Arnold is a Loser

COLLIDER: One of the things that I really loved about this movie is how authentic it feels. Individually, the characters feel authentic, but how they talk to each other also felt very real. Did you get a sense of that from the beginning? Was that something that was always really apparent in the script?

ADI MADDEN CABRERA: Totally, and I think it was the thing that drew me in initially as well. It felt like a real female friendship, and I think the dialogue is very accurate to real teens. I know a lot of people joke about shows with teenagers, but you can tell it was written by an old guy because nobody talks like that. But the dialogue was very real to me and it was part of what drew me in, in the first place.

I’m such a huge music fan, but I had never actually learned an instrument before this film. Even now, I would not say that I’m a particularly great drummer. I learned enough drumming. But I just love listening to music. When I was a kid, for a little while, I was like, “I want to be a radio host so I can work on the radio and just be surrounded by music all the time without having to make my own and be that vulnerable.” But we’ll see now.

There are a lot of layers to this, from the Catholic school to the coming-of-age story to the forming of the band, to the friendships. What was it that you found yourself most drawn to? Was it the music side of it or was it something else?

CABRERA: It was probably the music for me. I love rock music. I always grew up on it. And then, I went through the classic teenage emo phase that I never really grew out of. I was mildly into true punk music too. I hesitate a little bit because I don’t want to offend the real punks of the world, but I really love punk music. I also think the style is really cool. I’m a big clothing girly. I love fashion, and punk and grungy fashion are among my favorites. It feels very cool to me. And the Catholic school is just a fun contrast to that. I didn’t go to Catholic school, but I watched Ladybird and Sing Street, and my dad went to Catholic school, so I was aware. It feels like a really perfect antithesis of the punk scene.

I actually loved the scenes in the church and with the nuns. It was really fun to see the characters get bored and not want to pay attention because who has not had those moments at some point. What did you think of that aspect of the lives of these characters? I especially loved the nun they essentially make friends with. I loved how developed that felt.

CABRERA: Yeah, me too. She is one of my favorite characters in the movie. She is less talked about than I would like. Luseane [Pasa], who plays Sister Sheena, did such a phenomenal job. That is another factor of the film that felt very relatable to me. My first year of high school, I didn’t really have any friends, and I didn’t have anywhere to sit for lunch, and I started sitting in my English teacher’s classroom at lunch. To me, my English teacher was my version of Sister Sheena, who helped me come into my own and feel more at ease with all the thoughts that were running through my head. As teenagers, you get so caught up in your own head that you can’t really take a step back very easily. Those older, sweet, very grounded, and empathetic adults are so necessary. I love Sister Sheena for that reason. I think she’s such a good character that really helps Edie come into herself. I just love her character.

I loved when she gave them permission to borrow the instruments. That was so unexpected and really fun.

CABRERA: The whole world that the movie is placed in is not a very accurate depiction of the world, but it is Edie’s depiction of the world. That’s why the evil nun is evil. In real life, she’s probably the disciplinary nun. She’s not a devil. But in Edie’s world, she is. Characters like Sister Sheena have the real world seep in. We can see that her school isn’t an evil, terrible place, and there are things there that are good and normal. Those parts of the story are really necessary, just so it doesn’t feel so outlandish and you can come back to the real world for a little bit.

You said that you didn’t play drums before doing this, but how did that work? Did they tell you that you’d have to figure it out? Was there a backup plan for it if it didn’t work out?

CABRERA: They asked if I played the drums, and I was like, “I don’t play the drums, but I grew up playing Rock Band with my dad.” And they were like, “Okay, that could work. What if we just have you start doing Rock Band again?” It is similar and you get in the habit of what it feels like to play drums. But then, I found out that one of my day job co-workers, her husband plays the drums. I asked if he would teach me and give me lessons, and he said yes. I feel so lucky because I just wanted an excuse to learn to play the drums. It’s awesome. I don’t know what more to say. Plus, you hear all the time about actors who learn a skill for a role. It feels like it’s just part of the job and it helps you relate to your character more, so I really wanted to do that.

I didn’t become a master drummer, but I did was intentional. I really wanted to learn all the songs and be able to play them right. I did several lessons with my drumming instructor. His name is Cameron Armstrong. He’s the coolest and the best. I just practiced all the time. And I did still play Rock Band too. I dusted off my Wii and I got my little brother so hooked that he was like, “All I want for my birthday is to play Rock Band.” It’s just fun. They need to make a newer version of that game. I’m ready for it, personally.

What sort of feedback did your teacher give you while he was teaching you?

CABRERA: The directors didn’t really put any pressure on me to actually learn the songs. They were like, “Just practice and watch videos of what drumming looks like and how they move when they’re at the kit.” My drumming instructor was like, “Okay, here are some videos that you can reference for that.” I was pretty particular in wanting to learn the songs, so he really helped me break down the songs. There’s this YouTube channel, called Drumeo, that’s pretty popular for taking a famous drummer and giving that drummer a song that they’ve never listened to before. And then, you get to watch them figure out how they would drum to a song they’ve never heard. I forget which video, but I watched one where a drummer got a piece of paper and a pencil and started breaking down the different parts of the song, with the verse, then the chorus, and then the bridge, and how many beats there were in each part of the song. Essentially, they were making notes for themselves to refer back to, to know the specific counts and beats.

That ended up being a really helpful tool for me to completely learn a song. I was able to do simple beats, but when it came to putting it together, it’s easy to get caught up in the moment and miss a beat. And so, I ended up just writing it all on little sticky notes and putting them on my little kick bass drum. And then, when we were filming, our director, Megan [Rico], was like, “I actually really like that touch.” Edie’s level of drumming is not professional, by any means. She’s a girl who is playing for fun, and it was a fun little nod and a way that a piece of myself got to slip into her. We left the sticky notes on the kit when we were filming, so my little cheat sheet notes for the drums ended up being Edie’s too. It’s such a fun little detail that I love. My instructor was so sweet about it. He’d be like, “Okay, we’re going to film you right now so you can see what you look like drumming this part.” Another thing is that punk drumming is extremely fast. I would start every song at 0.5 speed and then gradually work my way up to full speed.

Adi Madden Cabrera Worked Through Some of Her Stage Fright While Making ‘Edie Arnold Is a Loser’

"That's a big part of why I've never tried to pursue music before."

What was the best part of this whole shoot? Was it getting to at least pretend to be in a band and getting to do the live performance scenes?

CABRERA: Yeah. It was nerve-wracking for me at first. I’ve had bad stage fright my entire life, and that’s a big part of why I’ve never tried to pursue music before. But it was so fun. We had band rehearsal before filming and that was so fun, just to get to hang out with the girls and act like we were practicing for the band. This whole experience was my first time acting. I felt like I was living in my four-year-old self’s dream, and that was the best part. If my younger self saw me now, I think she’d be so proud and she’d think that I was so cool. That’s the best, most fulfilling part.

Was it hard to leave the band behind and not get to keep going with it at the end of this?

CABRERA: Totally. I will say that Niki [Rahimi], who plays Judith, never learned guitar. We didn’t sound exactly like that when we were on stage together, but it was fun. A part of me was like, “I should start a real band.” Getting to be on stage, even though we had a crowd of actors who were pretending to be our crowd, it did put me at ease with being on a stage. Now, doing our [press] tour, I go up on stage every single night and I do Q&As and I answer questions from people. I’m practicing it more and more, and it doesn’t feel so impossible for me to get on a stage one day. It just doesn’t scare me as much as it used to, and I think that’s really good for me, especially because I love music and I would love to pursue it, at some point in my life. I don’t know if I would be a drummer professionally, but I would love to make music and ideally be in a band setting. That is just the style of music that I like the best.

If The NunDead were a real band and they stayed together and eventually really got to go out on a tour, what do you think their dream music tour would be?

CABRERA: That’s a good question. It’s funny because the Sex Pistols are actually touring right now and they’ve been in certain cities at the same time as us, and we have that joke at the end of the movie, opening for the Sex Pistols. It would be fun if they did actually open for the Sex Pistols and then followed them on tour. That would be funny. I am also a gigantic Green Day fan. A little fun fact is that when they were making the shooting schedule, they asked me if I had any conflicts during the time the movie would be filming, and I was like, “Yeah, I have a Green Day concert, so, I just can’t be on set. It’s a Green Day concert that I have to travel for, so I can’t be on set for two days.” And they were like, “Okay, we’ll just do other parts that you’re not in.”

But then, when they made the schedule, they were like, “You need to be here,” so they just moved the schedule around my Green Day concert. In the middle of filming, I left to go see a Green Day concert and then came back. It was awesome because it was Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, the Linda Lindas, and Rancid. It was the 20th anniversary of American Idiot and the 30th anniversary of Dookie, so they performed both albums in their entirety, and I truly was on cloud nine. It was one of the best shows I’ve gone to. I honestly think Green Day would like our film. And so, my answer would be Green Day, for sure.

It was funny to learn that your directors didn’t know how they were going to end this movie until the last minute. When you read the script, did they tell you they didn’t know how it was going to end? How did it originally end?

CABRERA: Yeah, there was an original ending. That was the script that I like mostly worked with until they sent us an updated one a couple of days before we started shooting. The original ending was basically just like, “Oh, they play for a band,” which is inspiring, but it’s not funny, necessarily. I think the new ending just fits the tone of the movie better. While it would have been cool to meet a cool, real band and get to be on stage with them, even in a fake way, I do think the ending just works really well. Now that it’s done and I’ve seen it, I can’t even believe that wasn’t the original thought. It’s just so perfect.

Adi Madden Cabrera Says the Kiss Between Edi and Walter in 'Edie Arnold Is a Loser' Felt Like a Dog Lapping Her Face

"It's the only kiss in the movie, and it feels like a big deal."

Adi Madden Cabrera as Edie lying on the wood floor next to part of her drum set in Edie Arnold is a Loser

What was it like to shoot the kiss between Edie and Walter? Was it described that way in the script? Did you figure it out on the day?

CABRERA: It was written like that, for the most part. I forgot exactly how it was written, but I knew it’d be a gross kiss. It was described as, “He laps her face like a dog,” and it came across that way. That’s what happened to me. We actually shot that scene on two different days. We had an initial shoot date, and everyone was really taking the scene super seriously. It’s the only kiss in the movie, and it feels like a big deal. A lot of the auditions they got for the character of Walter Boyd were from much older guys, and the auditions they were getting for Edie were much younger girls, so they were like, “Okay, we don’t want this to be weird and uncomfortable.” They were very conscious of that, which I really appreciate. I felt fine about it, for the most part.

When we got on set the first day, we shot it, but the lighting was much too dark, so it was reading really serious and scary. They were like, “Okay, we need to do it again because it’s just not coming across the right way,” so we shot it a second day. That day, we rehearsed and they were like, “Okay, Lucas, do you have any ideas?” They asked Lucas [Van Orden], who plays Walter, if he had any stupid ideas to make Walter look like a huge loser. Honestly, it was mostly funny. I’m really good friends with Lucas, so we were both just laughing about how ridiculous it was. He was licking my face and it was so funny. That has become a favorite scene of mine, just because the audience reaction is so perfect. I love being able to get that response out of people. It’s like music to my ears. I feel so proud of what we did. The final product reads very ridiculous and silly. Edie’s emotion reads more like shock and like she’s grossed out, and not so much that she’s in danger. It serves the story better, as well.

Anyone who’s had a bad kiss remembers it that way, even if it wasn’t actually that extreme.

CABRERA: Truly. Myself included. When I read it, I was like, “Oh, man, I’ve lived this.”

Violence is never the answer, but I loved the scene when Edie hits Kati in the face with a drumstick, after Kati and her friends are being so awful to her. It was cool to see how The NunDead performance matched up with that scene with Edie. What did you think of that whole moment?

CABRERA: That’s my favorite song in the movie, “Edie is a Bitch.” I was initially bummed out that I didn’t get to perform that song, but I do think it’s such a catchy, good song. That was another scene that was so fun for me to shoot. I didn’t have that many scenes with Alana [Mei Kern], who plays Kati, the mean girl, and with that scene, we really got to play around. It doesn’t seem like it’d be fun, but it was so fun. While we were on set, someone made a compilation of all the times she shoves me to the ground. That was also stunt coordination, which was cool. We got to hate each other, but in real life, she’s so sweet and we had so much fun on set that day. Viewing the final product, it just looks so awesome, the way that they included different lyrics in the song with the situation that Edie was living through. I loved it. I think it plays really well. It was edited in such a cool way. Scenes like that show exactly what the movie is.

You talked about wanting to do music, but do you know what’s next for you? Do you want to keep doing this acting thing? Where do you want to go with all of this?

CABRERA: Yeah. Currently, the plan is sticking with acting. Because of this project, I got a manager when we went to SXSW. I signed with a management company, and then through that management company, I was able to get representation in L.A., which is huge. This was the first time I had ever acted. I’d never been on a set before. I’d never even filmed an audition before doing this movie. I just feel so lucky. The timing of everything felt so perfect for me. I feel like I have the best first project that an actor could ever have, so I feel so fortunate.

If it’s in the cards for me, I would love to try my hand at writing music. I love to sing, as well. If I can work more on my confidence, I would love to try my hand at that as well, even just for myself. I do think I’d like to stick with acting, probably forever. I just had the best, most magical time on our set and fell in love with it. It felt like I was doing the thing that I was meant to be doing, and I’ve never really felt that way before. I think it’d be a disservice to myself to not listen to the feeling.

At the very least, I want to give myself a real proper shot at this. If doesn’t work out, I’m not going to be bummed about it because I’m really, really proud of this thing that I did. I also feel really good about the fact that I think there’s something else out there for me, it’s just a matter of finding it. That’s what I’m chasing right now. That’s what’s next for me right now. We’ll see what happens, but that’s my plan.

Edie Arnold Is a Loser is now playing in theaters.