The film has been gaining word-of-mouth acclaim since its premiere at Cannes last spring.
There’s an incredible karaoke scene at the end, where Frankie’s character, Sophie, sings REM’s “Losing My Religion” to a crowd of people in the resort’s amphitheater. How did Frankie pull that off?in that amphitheater. During rehearsals I would sing on stage and dance and make as much of an idiot of myself as possible. I am not a karaoke person. It’s my worst nightmare, which is why the scene is in the film. But she wouldn’t do it. She just wouldn’t do it.
She was in front of a real audience, and we were able to film it one and half times through before we ran out of time. And so thank goodness it was a perfect performance. She starts out, and it’s fun and silly, and then Calum doesn’t come, and it becomes so despondent and sad and awkward. And she was so good. How she was able to do it in the end I just don’t know.
The film is very kind to the idea of parenting and to being a child. Were you determined to strike that balance of sympathy? Frankie says she thinks she’d be friends with Sophie. And Paul has said how much he loves Calum. I think I love them both. I have a lot of compassion for them both—for Sophie, for this coming-of-age moment and idolization of her father, and for Calum, who is doing his best, which is what we all try to do every day, parent or not. I think in writing it’s hard not bring yourself to the characters. I think there is as much of me in Calum as there is of my dad.