Academy (film)

"**Academy**" is a theatrical film written and directed by Melanie Martinez. It was released on December 1st, 2023.

## Background

Around late 2019-early 2020, Melanie teased her second album's concept through a Twitter post.

Melanie began writing the script in the spring of 2020 and finished it in winter of 2021. The script was then cut down and sent in during 2021, with filming taking place in Europe throughout late 2022. The film was edited in early 2023.

Melanie said that Atlantic was very supportive of the idea. At first, the budget was lower and closer to K-12 along with the length, but then Atlantic sent the idea to Warner Bros. and they agreed to the idea and gave the film a budget of $30-60 million.

On May 18th, 2023, Melanie released a 52-second teaser trailer, revealing the official title of the album and film, *Academy*.

The film portrays the story of Melanie's third album. It contains the music videos for all thirteen songs from *Academy* with dialogue and other scenes in between each one, making it almost three hours. The videos themselves were also individually released over time.

## Synopsis

Cry Baby, with the guilt and sorrow of her betrayal to her friends, she looses her eyebrows due to Lilith taking them to give her a form of "punishment". Despite this, she still wants to lives further more, she wants to experience college. So, she starts applying for colleges all over the country, and she gets into one. The college seems to have a delightful appearance, hence its name *Delight College Academy*. Although it's sweet appearance is a cover-up for the tragedies that happen within the hell of the college, but she still manages to survive inside the hell. As she walks up to the portal alone, she feels peace within herself, as she travels through the portal.

## Plot

As a analepsis happens, Cry Baby contemplaints if she should go in the portal or not, so she just runs away in paranoia. As the analepsis ends, Cry Baby is seen in her room with new tattoos, searching up something in her computer, presumably colleges. Then, Hudson, an ex-boyfriend of hers, tries to get romantic with her but she refuses and hands him a notebook with all his abnormalities. As she is doing this, her college accepts her and has to attend interviews to make them agree to let her study at the college. *("Notebook")* Cry Baby eventually has to do manual labour, so she picks up a job at a doll factory to sustain her tuition and fees, materialistic things she wants and her daily basic needs.

Cry Baby prepares for college, like attending discipline classes, buying essential college items and uniform, saving up money etc. As she does interviews, the colleges see her not trying too hard to get in but she begs for them to "test her" into a way that is difficult, and a knowledge level of a senior. She gets into the college easily due to her brilliant academic knowledge. On the ride to the college gates, she unexpectedly encounters a thunderstorm. She also meets up with a student going to the same college, Abigail, which she befriends. Together, they survive the ride to the college safely. *("Test Me")*

She enjoys the college's sweet and victorian inspired façade. Cry Baby is excited to attend her first ever class in this college, chemistry. The class is really difficult and the chemistry professor isn't thorough with his words and it's hard to understand him, so she notices a cute boy, Isaac and she start talking to him, despite the loud conversation they have, the professor never catched them. They seem to have a lot in common and seem to very much like each other. But, somewhere in the middle of their conversation, Anthony, snitched them and they were forced to go into "the discipline room" where they got physically and sexually assaulted. Evidently, they both were traumatized and they still were together, but it had a big impact on their relationship. They tried to repair their relationship by "absorbing all the love". *("Absorb")* The repair successfully works but not for long, as they stress about absolutely everything and they eventually break up. Cry Baby starts developing depression and starts to use way too much emotion in things that need logic, and way way too much logic in things that need emotion. i because of the break up. Her psychology and anatomy teacher helped her by giving her a mindset, "Balance logic and emotion so your brain and heart are connected". *("Brain & Heart")* The mindset doesn't work for long as she still suffers severe depression. The additional sadness may be caused by difficultly in math. It got so severe at one point, she needed to question her purpose to function properly on a daily basis. *("Function")* but little did she know something else was going to be eradicated.

After math class (which was easier than Cry Baby expected it to be) she was sent back to the doll factory with Abigail, and they informed them that they were going have to work more hours for a salary smaller than the previous one. They were fed up with working in the toxic environment at the factory, so they blew up the doll factory and quit the job at the doll factory and started working together at the same house as a housemaid. *("Numbers")*. Cry Baby decided to make a speech about manual labour and how we aren't paid enough for the work we put into it. After the speech, the principal sends Cry Baby to the "discipline" room.

The start of the second semester, Cry Baby's life was really focused on history because it had a lot of projects that she was forced to do. While all of this is going on, Isaac still tries to get sexual and romantic with Cry Baby, although she hesitated negatively at first, but then she remembered all the pleasant sexual interactions they had, and she agrees to date once more. *("History")*. During Astronomy class, she noticed Abigail getting uncomfortable as the astronomy teacher talked inappropriately with her.

Cry Baby notices how many cases that were given up because the victim was black. Cry Baby started to learned more about racism and how it is detaching the world and making it a war between races. Cry Baby sees this in action during astronomy the astronomy teacher was talking inappropriately with Abigail., and the campus police didn't even do anything, they just gave her moral support. But when a white student falls and slightly bruises their ankle, the campus police call an ambulance for no good motive. Expect for one kind campus police. *("Erase Her")*. At this point, the relationship between her and Isaac felt toxic for Cry Baby. It got so bad sometimes, that she would had to sacrifice shame in order to hide under the desks to not see Isaac, she had chewing gum got in her hair, she would be bullied by students, but she still did it in order to not see him. Although, she had to stop at some point because Isaac threatened her with a knife to stop because it was giving him "shame". Evidently, she dumped him after the knife incident. *("Under the Desk")* Cry Baby falls in love with a boy during lunch, which she meets again in sociology.

Cry Baby then ends up falling in love with him more in the sociology. She fell in love with Anthony, a gang member. Even though Cry Baby knew it was dangerous to be with him, and potentially life-threatening. But, Cry Baby didn't care, she adored his affection, so she still was attached to him. They had sexual interactions in the bathroom stalls, which was dangerous because they risked damaging the toilets, but they still did it. But after a while, Cry Baby eventually broke up with him because she was getting worried that she was going to transform into a gang member, but after that break up, she didn't feel loved at all despite having much love around her. *("Glued")* Cry Baby and Abigail both spent their recess crying in the bathroom stalls about all their problems before P.E. When P.E. starts, they play basketball. During the game, Cry Baby notices a handsome guy, named Dominic. She asks him after P.E. if they want to date, and he pleasantly agrees.

Although, their relationship didn't work out. Since they didn't knew each other that well, they broke up a few days after their first rendezvous.

Cry Baby start feeling even less loved because of that break up. She genuinely loved him. Cry Baby started to find a lot of school supplies with Dominics name on Lost & Found boxes, someone was careless enough to not give them back. So she gave them back to Dominic, every time she found his school supplies. They agreed to be friends temporarily, to let go of what is lost and find their motivation to continue their relationship. *("Lost & Found")* When they were on the long field trip, they started to connect more. They learned about their personal information, although they still didn't have a great time because some "bitches" ruined their conversations, as boys thirsted over Cry Baby, and girls over Dominic. *("Field Trip")*

College was over and Cry Baby felt like time went by so fast. A graduation party was made, and they gave trophies and accolades in ranks instead of degrees because it felt more "honouring" than just a piece of paper. Their parents were forced to partake in this party so they understood what their kid was doing during the college years. Since Cry Baby's mother and father are dead, her aunt and uncle showed up. They scolded her after she got 3rd place. Cry Baby explains to them that she has decent education and to stop comparing education to these useless accolades. Out of frustration, the aunt and uncle leave the college. Cry Baby ends up dancing with Dominic all night long. She was peer pressured to drink tons of alcohol, she did it thinking Lilith would be there for her in the morning. *("Trophy")* Lilith did show up, but she was very disappointed that Cry Baby let her classmates to that to her, although she did let her in the portal. The scene goes black almost the second she goes in the portal, hinting a third film.

## Cast

* Cry Baby: Melanie Martinez
* Abigail: Zolee Griggs
* Aurora: Michelle Ang
* Iris: Miranda Cosgrove
* Lily: Phoebe Tonkin
* Evelyn: Lovie Simone Oppong
* Anthony: Jason Genao
* Dominic: Brett Johnson
* Delilah: Janel Parrish
* Quinn: Natalia Dyer
* Florence: Isabelle Fuhrman
* Ophelia: Jennifer Soo
* Isaac: Bill Skarsgård
* Hudson: Ngô Quốc Huy
* Robert: Lucky Blue Smith
* Henry: Aurélien Wiik
* Aunt: Isabelle Adjani
* Uncle: Jean-Hugues Anglade
* Lilith: Kimesha Campbell
* Ms. Leah: Vanessa Redgrave
* Ms. Claire: Julie Walters
* Ms. Audrey: Imelda Staunton
* Mr. Kyle: Vincent Cassel
* Mr. Smith: François Cluzet
* Chemistry Professor: Robert De Niro
* Math Professor: Isabelle Huppert
* Astronomy Professor: Romain Duris
* Medicine Professor: Louis De Funès
* Philosophy Professor: Jean Dujardin
* Law Professor: Daniel Auteuil
* Psychology Professor: Mame-Anna Diop
* Linguistics Professor: Sierra McClain
* The Principal: Dustin Hoffman
* Janitor: Morgan Freeman
* Police 1: Andrew Garfield
* Police 2: Jake Gyllenhaal
* Police 3: Gerard Butler
* Police 4: James Marsden
* Police 5: Stefano Accorsi
* Kind Police: Darryl Stephens
* Student 1: Nat Wolff
* Student 2: Algee Smith

### Dancers

* Diarra Sylla
* Emmanuelle Bouaziz
* Sofia Boutella
* Vanessa Cailhol
* Bintou Dembélé
* Fauve Hautot
* Marie-Claude Pietragalla
* Olivia-Mai Barrett
* Kelly Beckett
* Bilinda Butcher
* Doris D
* Layla El
* Scarlette Douglas
* Elena Gibson
* Olivia Lewis

## Errors

* At the beginning of "Notebook", her zipper isn't pulled up, but when she dances around the house, her zipper is slightly zipped.
* When Cry Baby is in the pink glittery pink curtain room during "Notebook", a small eyelash can be seen in her eye during a few shots, although it isn't noticeable.
* In "Test Me", when Cry Baby is getting struck by lightning, we can see her skeleton which doesn't have half of her pelvis, although this may be caused by blurring.
* During "Absorb", when Cry Baby is getting melted, the liquid seems to be darker than her actual skin tone.
* Cry Baby's cranium headpiece seems to be bigger than it's supposed to be, in "Brain & Heart".
* During "Function" and "Numbers", the chalkboard misspelled Tor functor to Tor functur.
* In "History" during a scene, all of the books are supposed to be closed, but a book is opened, however this might've been on purpose.
* One of the glues in the art classroom during "Glued" has it's cap open.
* During "Trophy", the trophy room has a trophy that has tape on it.

### Deleted Scenes

On May 5th, 2024, a snippet of the scrapped "Classroom Madness" music video was leaked with no audio.

## Trivia

* Despite it's name, the school is a college academy and not an academy.
* On October 5th, 2023, K-12 got nominated for Top Soundtrack by Spotify Music Awards and Billboard Music Awards.
* The film trended at #1 on YouTube Worldwide after one day.
* The film is inspired by pop surrealism.
* Melanie helped edit and film the movie.
* The movie was filmed at the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France.
* According to Melanie, she had to be on set at 2:00 am. She started the day with hair, clothes and makeup.
* Melanie's tattoos were uncovered up unlike the K-12 and Cry Baby era because Melanie claimed Cry Baby was becoming rebellious.
* Melanie confirmed that the film will have a final sequel to end the Cry Baby film trilogy.
* Most of the students of Academy have tattoos and/or painted nails and jewelry.
* Melanie wanted the film the give the K-12 essence but more mature and dark.
* The "Trophy" version that was used in the official trailer was copyrighted as "Accolade" by Melanie Martinez to prevent the song title from spreading prior to an official announcement.
* While shooting, the film was registered as "Cheese" so that its content wouldn't leak.
	+ All of the behind the scenes and cut scenes of the film have "Cheese" in their filenames.
* A DVD of the film was sold alongside all of the CD's.
* The song played during the credits is "Stitches"
	+ Melanie announced that Stitches is a deluxe track.
* Melanie said in an interview that all the characters in the film were based on astrology like K-12.
* "History" was the last music video that was filmed for Academy.
* The film was finished recording on December 30th, 2022.
* In an interview with *Billboard*, Melanie shared the attentive process of the film.
	+ *"I am so enlightened that my fans still like to watch my films and music. It was a painful time but i still very much enjoyed it. I had to wake up at 2 AM to continue/finish shooting scenes for a very long time. But, the new cast was so incredibly kind and idiosyncratic, and even the cast for K-12 helped with the props, and generally motivated the entire cast. I applied everything i learned from K-12 and it worked out perfectly."*

 Tour | Academy Tour • Academy Tour Part 2