Available on VOD at Umbrella Entertainment from April 1 2020
Google Play and iTunes from mid-April 2020
Blu-Ray & DVD from June 2020
Norval (Elijah Wood) is a Los Angeles DJ who receives an invitation to visit his father Brian (Stephen McHattie) after a lifetime of estrangement. Once Norval arrives at Brian’s isolated seaside home, he discovers that reconnecting with the cynical old man – and fitting himself into his dad’s messy life – won’t be easy.
With featuring performances by Michael Smiley, Madeleine Sami and Martin Donovan, COME TO DADDY is a thoughtful, character-driven thriller spiked with uncommonly dark comedy and more than a few outrageous turns. The film is the directorial debut of acclaimed producer Ant Timpson (THE GREASY STRANGLER, TURBO KID, HOUSEBOUND, THE ABCs OF DEATH).
The production of COME TO DADDY was filmed in a mainly in a stilted house overlooking the sea and backdropped by forest and beach in the tiny town of Tofino, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. “It was perfect,” Timpson says. “I can’t imagine the film working elsewhere now.”
But it almost had to, as shifting production schedules had COME TO DADDY shooting during Tofino’s busy tourism season. The home and adjacent hotel, the Wickannish Inn, are owned by the McDiarmid family, “and because the film got bumped, as films often do in terms of shooting schedules, there was a real fear that the family would be like, ‘Oh God, enough of these film people, let’s just bail on them,’” Timpson laughs. “But they hung in there, mainly thanks to Mette-Marie’s amazing charm.”
Like the best stories, COME TO DADDY sprung from a deeply personal place. First- time director Ant Timpson, after a dozen years producing smart, dark, irreverent films, had a story he needed to tell. “I don’t think I would have jumped into the [director’s] seat on any other project,” he says, “because it was kind of initiated from my father’s passing. So it wasn’t like I was sitting around reading a bunch of scripts, deciding on which one to pursue. It was really driven by an epiphany after Dad dying, and just thinking, ‘Oh my God, life’s short. Get your act together.’”
Ratting *** half stars
Caroline Russo
