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WHEN American Beauty’s Academy Award-winning screenwriter Alan Ball told his mom he was gay, he was stunned when she told him she believed her dad was too.
It was a story that stayed with him for a long time, until it ultimately inspired his latest film, Uncle Frank’s coming-of-age tale, about a teenage girl who leaves her hometown in the rural south of the United States to study. in New York, where his beloved uncle is a professor.
She soon discovers that Frank is gay and lives with his longtime partner in a deal he has kept a secret for years. But when his father dies, the couple return home to deal with his long-buried trauma.
“When I came out of my mom, she surprised me by saying ‘Well, I blame your dad for that, because I think he was too,'” recalls Ball, a native of Georgia, 63.
“I don’t know if that’s true, he was already dead at the time so I could never tell him about it. But then the next day we walked past a lake and she said “That’s where Sam Lassiter drowned” and I said “I don’t know who he is” and she said “He was your real, real real, good friend dad. ‘.
“And then I later found out that my dad had accompanied Sam’s body on a train back to their hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, and I’ve had this big ‘and if’ in the back of my mind for years. and years and finally my Tennessee Williams took over and I just wrote it.
“It’s a story, it’s not true, it’s not autobiographical, I made it up, but it was triggered by something I was told that made me ask the question.”
Set in 1973, Sophia Lillis (the star of the horror film It and its sequel) plays Beth Bledsoe, who escapes the claustrophobic clutches of her southern family to find herself in the big city.
Paul Bettany plays his uncle, the revered literature professor, who secretly lives with his longtime partner Walid (Peter Macdissi), known as Wally.
When the two reluctantly return home for the funeral, Wally follows him too.
“One of my all-time favorite movies is To Kill A Mockingbird,” says Ball, who also created the television shows Six Feet Under and True Blood, as he reflects on the decision to tell the story through Beth’s eyes.
“It is very different but has a similar dynamic in that it is seen through the eyes of a girl and is part of her majority. This definitely influenced me, but it’s just the way the movie came out, my process is very unconscious, I don’t plan things, I sit and see where it takes me. “
Ball also directed the film, which turned out to be a different experience in handing his writings over to another director.
“I know what the scenes are supposed to do and I know exactly which beats need to be there, but it’s also a collaborative endeavor and you’re always surprised.
“Actors always surprise me by doing something different than I imagined, but better, so I love the collaboration. I was very very lucky to hand over my job to other people for directing, for example Sam Mendes in American Beauty, so I also had mostly positive experiences. “
The writer is also aware of the comparisons that can be made between Uncle Frank and American Beauty, and of how the male characters in both films cope with their sexuality and sense of masculinity.
“It’s not a conscious line but it’s something that is very meaningful to me,” he says. “And it’s representative of my struggles in terms of being gay and living in a culture that just wants to completely define me with this and nothing else.”
He stops for a moment. “But I did a movie called Towelhead a few years ago and there was nothing gay about that!”
For Macdissi, who is Ball’s long-term partner, it was surprising when the director wanted to cast him for the role of Wally. Macdissi has appeared in a number of Ball projects, including Six Feet Under, True Blood, and Towelhead, but this time the part was a surprise.
“I just told him ‘Are you sure I’m the right actor for this role?’ because I am usually chosen as troubled guys and edgy, intense guys.
“So I was really surprised, it was like ‘Oh wow, that’s great, it’s a change,’ so I was very grateful.
“I’m the outsider in the movie, if you want to call it that, the outsider who wants to live his partner’s life indirectly because he left his life behind and this is one of the reasons why he pushes Frank to reconcile with his family. and wants to go back to South Carolina to meet his family.
“He wants to have a family of his own in America because the family he has in Saudi Arabia is not attainable at that level, so I thought it was cleverly written and not quite what I expected.”
That long drive back to South Carolina from New York provided the actors with long rides in classic cars and a chance to form a natural bond.
“The scenes in the car gave us the opportunity to get to know each other,” recalls the actor, “So the flow was really natural between Sophia and me, we didn’t have to work hard to get the scenes and it was a blessing. “
“I liked it a lot at first,” adds Lillis, “because they are great vintage cars and fun to be in together and it really feels like we’re on the road.
“But at the same time it’s very hot and very hot outside, with not great air conditioning, so after a few hours it became difficult.”
:: Uncle Frank is available on Amazon Prime Video.
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