Lauren Tsai and My Chemical Romance extend The Dying World

By Marcus Bennett

My Chemical Romance will screen Lauren Tsai’s Prelude to the End before its Hollywood Bowl concerts on Oct. 30 and 31, according to the project’s press release. The short extends Tsai’s The Dying World with new voices, characters and settings.

According to the project history, Tsai introduced the uncanny dreamscape of The Dying World with a short film at the Annecy Film Festival last year. The work then appeared as part of a larger solo exhibition at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, which ended last November.

The announcement also records that Tsai made animated fan videos for My Chemical Romance songs as a child. The collaboration is a full-circle move for the self-taught artist.

Tsai said in a statement:

“It was an absolute dream to work on this project for The Black Parade and The Dying World,”

“I deeply respect MCR and Gerard’s creative legacy. It has been an honor for him to find inspiration in a world that I’ve created, in the same way I have always admired the worlds that he has built throughout his career.”

Prelude to the End arrives after last Friday’s release of The Black Parade (20th Anniversary). The project materials describe the album as a landmark rock opera by the Jersey pop-punk band and place it among the most influential works in the ever-evolving emo genre. The short uses the album’s first song, “The End,” as its soundtrack.

What does the collaboration change for The Dying World?

According to the press materials, the short continues Astrid’s story and deepens the narrative through new voices, additional characters and settings. Astrid moves through a peculiar New England boarding school overrun by trash. School authorities toss her cherished sketchbook down a chute, and she follows it into a world inhabited by forgotten ideas.

She encounters an old friend who appeared in the previous film, The Dying World Part One: Forgetting. The return connects the new short to Tsai’s established fictional world while expanding the relationships around Astrid.

A press release gives the film’s central concern directly: it “explores the relationships we all hold with our creations, youth and the unwavering determination to become and express our truth, the latter of which in particular is a key, recurring theme throughout My Chemical Romance’s catalog.”

According to the production details, Tsai provides Astrid’s vocals. Billie Eilish voices Astrid’s friend, Phoebe Bridgers voices her sister, Hideo Kojima voices “The Teacher,” and John C. McGinley voices “The Dean.” The additions fulfill the project’s promise of new voices while retaining Astrid at its center.

The supplied production details also list a live recording of Flying River, Violin Concerto by Pascal Dusapin. Utopia Orchestra performed the work at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, with Giuseppe Mengoli conducting and Daniel Lozakovich as solo violinist.

On Oct. 30 and 31, Prelude to the End will screen ahead of the final dates of My Chemical Romance’s five-night Hollywood Bowl run. The project has moved from an Annecy short and a Hollywood Forever exhibition into the band’s live orbit, now carrying a classical recording and an expanded cast.

The screenings will place Tsai’s film and its soundtrack inside the band’s live Hollywood Bowl program, making the move from fan-made animation to formal collaboration visible to a concert audience.