DirectorHaroula Roseand screenwriterCoburn Gossput an endearing and relatable spin on family dysfunction inAll Happy Families,which recently premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival. The coming-of-age tale is unique in that most of the “coming of age” characters featured are well into middle-age and beyond. The film suggests that anybody can come to terms with life when “shift” happens. And inAll Happy Families,there’s a lot of shift.
“I hope people see some of themselves in the film, for better or worse,” said Haroula Rose, who also co-wrote the movie with Coburn Goss. “I like making stories about people and real things, and just staying grounded and authentic. I hope people see something and can empathize with it.”
Nothing like a family gathering to provoke thought on that front, eh? InAll Happy Families,the Landry family are forced to come to terms with just how much their individual lives have changed or are, in fact, changing. The films stars Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother, Hunters), Chandra Russell (South Side), Becky Ann Baker (Ted Lasso,Freaks and Geeks, Girls), John Ashton (Beverly Hills Copfilms), and Rob Huebel (Transparent, Arrested Development). The filmmakers shared more about the film in this exclusive MovieWeb interview.
The Genesis of the Film
InAll Happy Families,everybody in the Landry family is at crossroads, even if they don’t realize it. Graham (Radnor) is an actor/writer who feels like he’s circling the drain. There’s a spark between him and his college crush, Dana (Chandra Russell), who may want to rent out the main floor ofhis family home in Chicago,but all too soon, Graham freezes up. Tensions mount when Graham’s famous actor brother Will (Huebel) returns to town, bringing with him his own angst and an ever-growing scandal from his television show.
“Coburn had an idea about writing about brothers, and I had also had this instinct that we should write something together,” Rose said of working with Goss, whom she previously worked with on her first film,Once Upon a River. Goss was cast as a villain in that movie, and the duo clicked creatively. “I had this instinct that we could write something together. I wanted to write something about masculinity and gender, and it seemed we could frame it through these brothers.”
“The brothers were the origin,” Goss added. “I’ve been an actor in Chicago for many years and I’ve had lean years where I didn’t make much, and I’ve had years where I’ve done better. So, it always made me feel like I was two different people. That’s sort of where the origins of these two brothers came from. One is successful, one is not. One has moved to L.A. and has a television show and the other one kind of just auditions every once in a while. Haroula and I both agreed that there was a lot of good stuff to be mined from that relationship.”
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There’s more beyond the brothers. The siblings’ mother, Sue (Becky Ann Baker), has just retired and is pondering an incident at her retirement party, which forces her to question everything, including her marriage to Roy (John Ashton), who’s grown complacent. Things come to a slow boil during a family weekend, where everybody has gathered to fix up the family home. The film’s title links back to Leo Tolstoy’sAnna Karenina, which Rose favored, no doubt appreciating the first line in the book: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
Fine-Tuning the Story
About the family dynamics inAll Happy Familiesandthe coming-of-age element, Haroula Rose said:
I’m always drawn to that, and it’s usually referring to young adults. I loved the idea that we can come of age at any point in time, whether it’s middle age or later in life on our life timelines, because I think that’s true to what really happens.
“Coburn and I are both inspired by those kinds of stories,” she added. “Not that they need to be inspirational because we also didn’t want to tie this all up into a neat bow of resolution, but just the idea that something can actually begin your arc of change is enough. Or enough at least for this story. I relate to being a late bloomer. I’m always like, ‘Am I there yet? What isthere?’ Maybe that’s what a lot of people relate to.”
Ultimately, the filmmakers create a wonderfully relatable portrait of family dysfunction. “It’s this not always wonderful juggle that we have as people,” Goss noted. “We’re part of a family, we’re part of a group, but how do we still maintain our individuality? That shows up in this film.”
Josh Radnor and the Rest of the Cast
Rose and Goss bothcredit the stellar cast here. Radnor and Baker, in particularly, deliver memorable turns here. “I had worked with John Ashton in the first film I directed, and he was always on top of our minds for Roy. He’s just so wonderful, and that man can do anything,” Rose said, adding:
“And Becky Ann Baker was top of mind for us as well — she’s another person who could do no wrong. And I’ve known Josh [Radnor] for many years and was thrilled when he said yes because we always wanted to work together. Josh has never really played this kind of character before, somebody whose life is going nowhere. He’s always very sort of put together, and I think he had fun with that.”
“It was such an early boost of confidence to get someone like Rob Huebel, too,” Goss added. “The character of Will is kind of the pivotal one in terms of causing others around him to change. It was really important we got the casting of that right from the beginning. Because if he was too annoying, I think it would have shut the audience down.”
“Everyone has families and everyone’s coming of age,” Rose went on to say about the film. “I hope people can relate it.”
All Happy Familiesdebuted at the Chicago International Film Festival and will continue screening at film festivals around the country.
