Synopsis
Ariel Winter, Vivica A. Fox, Mayim Bialik, and Dermot Mulroney star in Like Father Like Son, an emotional thriller about how far one man will go to end a brutal cycle of violence. Eli is a young man whose father waits on death row for the crime of murder in the first degree. As Eli’s life begins to fall apart, he discovers similar terrifying triggers in himself and takes extreme measures to ensure that the family’s string of savagery comes to an end.
Interview
Cinema Scholars’ own Glen Dower sat down with Barry Jay and Dylan Flashner, writer/director and star of the new emotional thriller Like Father Like Son. They discuss the genesis from which Barry came up with the idea for the screenplay, the dark places that Dylan had to explore when preparing for the role, and how important preparation and collaboration is between director and star, among other topics.
(Edited for content and clarity)
Glen Dower:
Thank you so much. Hi gents, how are we doing?
Barry Jay:
Hi, how are you Glen?
Glen Dower:
I’m really well. Thank you so much for your time. So talking like father, like son, a very much nature versus nurture tale and not an easy watch, but a very rewarding one. So Mr. Jay, I’ll start with you first as writer and director. Why was this story so important for you to tell?
Barry Jay:
Well, there was a few reasons. It started with something that stuck in my head when a therapist told my husband it’s after what he’s been through growing up, it’s amazing he turned out a nice person and that just kind of stayed with me. And then you know how, you know, you do things like your parents without even thinking about it, you know, just little things. It could be the way I tie my shoes, you know, the way I get out, get into the car, like, oh my father needs to get in and out this way. So those little things thought like, where does that end? Where is the boundary on that?
And Mayim Bialik is a friend, one of the producers, and she’s in it. And she actually plays a psychiatrist and she is a neuroscientist. So I asked her if there could be a possible connection aside from the well-known factor of an abused child could, you know, get off on the wrong path. If it’s just a look at the draw, I guess, because not every abused person turns into a killer, but usually all killers have been abused. So there must be an additional factor. And she said, no, it’s absolutely possible.
She gave me some, what she wrote me in a text about the frontal lobe and everything. I’m not going to pretend to be that kind of smart. So I looked at her text and I put it in when Eli asked her the question, she actually answers with her own words. So that’s, all of that was like enough to make me want to sit down and dive in. Oh, and I did read an article about a father on Skid Row who had an infant at home. The father was put to death. The infant grows up and becomes a serial killer. And I was like, okay, sign me up. I need to do this. This is calling me.
Glen Dower:
Wow. And so it did. Mr. Flashner, how are you, sir?
Dylan Flashner:
Good. How are you doing?
Glen Dower:
I’m really good. Now, your director takes you to some very dark places with this film, for sure. It’s definitely a descent, down the dark path. And obviously some of the deeds you do are unquestionably dark. How did Barry take you there? Also on that descent as well, because it triggers. And one of the scenes I remember you played so well, just on the phone to the person and just said, why can’t people be decent human beings? Just a bad day. And then off you go down the dark path. So how did Barry as your director and writer guide you down that path?
Dylan Flashner:
You know, me and Barry from the very beginning, really collaborated on this character and went through every single scene. And we were like, you know, what what point are we at in this descent? So we were always aware of where we’re at, how we wanted the character to be played off. And, you know, Barry’s really great at the horror space and he’s really good at getting you to get to a certain place. So for me, it was it was fairly easy to get there. You know, and I think that’s a testament to Barry prepping so much and being so prepared.
Glen Dower:
And Eli, did you just sit back sometimes and go, this poor guy?
Dylan Flashner:
Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, everywhere he turns, something bad happens. And I think that’s just something that the audience can kind of relate to a little bit. And it’s just it’s you start feeling for him for a little bit of the movie. You know, anything and everything just kind of goes wrong. And, you know, we really watch that throughout the movie and see how that affects him in his personal life. Yeah. And there are moments when we don’t want to spoil too much, of course, but you can see when he starts to get a kick out of it, get start to enjoy it.
Glen Dower:
And at the start of the movie, these incidents are by accident or he has no other choice. But then later in the movie, he pursues it. Is that how you wanted to portray it, Barry, that there is a tipping point where Eli has just gone fully dark side and this is how he’s going to solve problems from now on?
Barry Jay:
Oh, yeah. And I got to say, doing as Eli really carried that message that it starts out with the smallest things like the alarm clock won’t stop or the water in the shower is cold. You know, it’s just one thing after another. And they mount and they mount. And then when he is left seemingly with no choice, you know, he had good intentions. Life keeps getting the small things become bigger things, you know, and he’s just boiling inside. And that’s I love when I watch when I watch the film, you see the anger grow and the dissent goes deeper and deeper and deeper. And so that was very intentional, but also needed to be really carried off. So I do credit Dylan for that because it wasn’t easy.
Glen Dower:
Oh, for sure. And also in the movie, there’s your father, played Dermot Mulroney. It took me a while to realize it was him after the first scene, then, boom, you get it. He disappears into that role. And again, you take him to some dark places, Mr. Jay, dark and close enough to The Green Mile! How did you prep for those scenes, especially that, again, we don’t want to spoil anything, but that particular scene where he says goodbye to the world?
Barry Jay:
Well, I mean, Dermot is obviously incredible at what he does. And he loved the script. He loved the role. He loved the chance to do something like this because it’s, you know, he was in Scream 6…
Glen Dower:
Yeah, I was going to say, he’s on a roll, but a little more grounded this time…
Barry Jay:
He’s on a path! You know, when Luke Daniels, the producer, called and said, we got Dermot Mulroney. I mean, I’m a kid in a candy store! You heard me scream for miles around! I knew right away he would be absolutely perfect, the two of them had chemistry, like really great chemistry. He knew what to do with Gabe. He just really knew what to do to make him very real and he was human. I really believe this was a guy who does what he does and did what he did and somehow managed to somewhat normal life amongst it all. And also pretty a piece of, you know, where he is in the price, you know, but he’s also creepy as hell.
Glen Dower:
And also, of course, Dylan, how do you find playing opposite him? Because like we said, your chemistry is that you do believe they’re father and son. What was it like being on the other side of the glass?
Dylan Flashner:
Oh, yeah. And often, you know, one thing about Dermot is you think he plays method because of how into the character he is, you know what I mean? But then you realize he’s just so talented and he’s able to just get there. And, you know, my first project ever, I played his son in a pilot. So we worked together before.
So that definitely helped the chemistry a little bit. But I think the one thing about Dermot is just he’s so good at what he does and he makes it so easy to work, you know, opposite of him that, you know, it really just brings out the best in you. And yeah, it’s it was really weird. I watched the movie back and I was watching and I’m like, who is that? You know, because it doesn’t doesn’t seem like Dermot. But yeah, he really really brings the game character out.
Glen Dower:
Sure. An just one more thing I noticed, that I picked up on my second viewing. We hear the date: June 6th, 1990. So it turns out the film is a period piece, shall we say. It’s very significant. When you look back to film, there’s no cell phones for example, and there’s no this and no that. So its set in the 1990s, what was the significance of that time period for you?
Barry Jay:
Yes. Obviously, as convenient as no cell phones is in a horror movie, that was not the motivator. It was the death sentence when in Richmond, California, where it was legal at that time. So that was an important factor to the entire plot. Plus, that was a really high peak of serial killers. And there was so many killers that weren’t identified and weren’t caught. You know, we hear about Bundy and Dahmer and, you know, and all that kind of stuff. But there’s also a big handful that we don’t hear about. And I wanted to kind of slide Eli and Gabe into that mix of that time period, where like they’re the ones who went undiscovered.
Glen Dower:
That’s a great detail if you’re looking for it. I love it. Well, gents, thank you so much for your time and best of luck with the release of your film! Have a great day.
Barry Jay:
Thank you, Glen. You too.
Dylan Flashner:
I appreciate it.
