If you appreciated the offbeat humor of a film like Meet the Parents and anything that stand-up superstar Sebastian Maniscalco has brought to his popular Netflix specials, best to make About My Father your next must-watch movie. The engaging new comedy, written by Maniscalco and longtime collaborator Austen Earl, hits theaters Memorial Day Weekend. Cultures clash in this wild outing when Maniscalco’s “Sebastian” brings his outspoken Italian immigrant pop, Salvo (Robert De Niro), to his girlfriend’s family home for a holiday celebration. What can go wrong?
Well, nearly everything. Hilarity ensues. The film also stars Kim Cattrall and Leslie Bibb, who recently told MovieWeb how much they appreciated Maniscalco’s humor and “vulnerability.” The story feels like a bona fide tribute to his real-life father, Salvo, who immigrated to Chicago from Sicily, and went on to make a new life for himself and his family as a hair stylist.
Ahead of the film’s premiere, stars David Rasche (Succession), Anders Holm (Workaholics, Inventing Anna), Brett Dier (Jane the Virgin), and director Laura Terruso shared more about the film, its two leading men, and why audiences will resonate with the comedy. Read on.
It’s an Immigrant Story, Folks
At its core, About My Father is an immigrant tale. Mirroring Maniscalco’s real-life father’s story, “Salvo” left Sicily for America. Chances are, most Americans have relatives and ancestors who’ve sought out the American Dream.
“I wanted to make a film that was family-friendly, which you could take three generations to — you know, grandparents, parents, kids, and everybody would still have a good time at the movies,” shared director Laura Terruso. “It’s a very personal film for me, and it’s rare that a studio film gets to be this personal. Because for me, it’s about my relationship with my mother, who was an immigrant from Sicily. And this is Sebastian’s love letter to his father. This film is my love letter to my mother.
“I want everybody to walk away from the theater just holding their family a little tighter afterward, and feeling like, ‘You know, we’ve gone through a lot, but you’re the reason I am who I am,’” she added.
Deep? You bet. And that’s what’s unique in About My Father. Between the uproarious comedy, the screenwriters manage to evoke a sense of universality with the feelings everybody experiences with their own family members.
Succession’s David Rasche was candid on film’s appeal: “It’s an immigrant story, right? Instead, the white people are so screwed up, and the immigrants come in and teach them what’s really going on.”
That plays out to winning ends in About My Father. When Sebastian agrees to take opinionated Salvo for a Fourth of July gathering at the family home of his girlfriend, Ellie (Leslie Bibb), mayhem ensues. Ellie’s parents, Tigger and Bill (Kim Cattrall and David Rasche), are wealthy. Tigger is a politician, Bill a successful business who dines at “the club.” Their sons are a mixed bag. Lucky (Anders Holm) is a spoiled rich boy with a helicopter handy. Doug (Brett Dier) plays crystal singing bowls and serenades the family peacock with a ritual flute. How the heck is Salvo going to keep his mouth shut about all that?
Camaraderie Among the Cast
In conversation, David Rasche, Anders Holm, Brett Dier play well off each other. It’s fitting they were cast as father and sons. In one of the quirkiest, or perhaps most serendipitous twists, Dier, whose character could be dubbed “woo woo” (but it’s not really woo woo if you think about it), was about to head into a ‘spiritual’ retreat when news came about the project.
“The night before this audition came in, I was going to a meditation retreat, and I wasn’t even going to audition for anything because my mind was, ‘I’m going to this retreat,’” Dier shared. “Then I read it, and the first thing [the character of] Doug says was about meditation. I was like, ‘Oh, this is a sign.’ So within literally 10 minutes, I taped [an audition tape] and sent it off. Then I went on this retreat, and found out when I got back that I was going to meet with the director. So crazy.”
“They definitely picked the right guy for the role, for sure,” Rasch chimed in before Holm added: “A friend of mine was up for the same role, and he didn’t get it. I was like, ‘Who’s this guy going to be?’ Then my heart was like, ‘Alright, this guy’s pretty cool.’”
Rasche went on to say that there was plenty of camaraderie among the cast. In that respect, it was a blast making About My Father. “Part of it was just watching how funny these guys are. Because I didn’t know these guys in the beginning. I never met them before. I never heard of them,” he kidded. “I mean, I didn’t know they existed, but even with the very first scene, I could see these guys got the crazy thing going on. You could see that there was a lot of lunacy afoot. So, you just sit and watch these guys be lunatics, and that was fun.”
Director Laura Terruso, who’s own father once told her, “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life,” brings a refreshing sense of levity here. She went on to credit Maniscalco and De Niro’s talents.
“Their chemistry was just immediately apparent,” she said of the duo. “They had so much fun working together. We did a table read of the script, and afterward, Sebastian was showing Bob how he does his [spritzing] cologne moment, which he learned as a child, and there was just such an immediate good chemistry between them.
“They’re both just lovely, kind, funny people,” she went on. “And this is the perfect time for this film, especially now, after quarantine, where we all need to come together and be in a theater and laugh together. I mean, there’s just nothing better than being in a packed movie theater and laughing with a group of people.”
About My Father, from Lionsgate, opens May 26.