"Cold Turkey" Writer-Director Will Slocombe Interview

"Cold Turkey" is an independent comedy about a fractured family uncovering secrets during an explosive Thanksgiving.  It stars Peter Bogdanovich as the professor patriarch, Cheryl Hines as the mom, with Alicia Witt, Sonya Walger, and Ashton Holmes as the grown children.  It is now available on-demand at iTunes, Amazon and Xbox, and comes out in select theaters Friday, November 15th.

It's a very realistic, detailed peek into the modern family.  This dark comedy is the personal vision of writer-director Will Slocombe.  I spoke with him about this fictionalized, semi-autobiographical story:

Michael Carvaines:  Aside from your own family, what were some of your influences?
Will Slocombe:  "12 Angry Men" because of the single, tense location.  "The Graduate" because of the funny-sad Southern California feel.  And Whit Stillman's "Metropolitan" which is also a cheap movie about expensive people.

Peter Bogdanovich and Will Slocombe

MC:  Describe your writing process.
WS:  It's a personal story, but the situation is made up.  Initially, it took me only 10 days to write, but then another year to improve.  Of course, in many ways it's a story that took 29 years to write.  I always knew we wouldn't have a lot money to make this movie, so I had to find creative ways to tell the story with so many characters.  It turned out that keeping it all in one location was the best way.

MC:  How did you assemble such a great cast?
WS:  I had a brilliant casting director:  Paul Ruddy.  He knew agents and managers, and actors I did not.  I never would have foreseen in the writing process that Peter Bogdanovich and Cheryl Hines would play the parents but it worked out great.  Better than expected.

Cheryl Hines and Peter Bogdanovich

MC:  Is Peter Bogdanovich's character based on a real person?
WS:  Elements of my own father.  They're both foreign policy experts.  But we lived in Washington DC, not Pasadena.  And my dad was not a Stanford professor.  The facts are different, but I was going for an emotional truth.

MC:  Peter Bogdanovich, of course, started as a film critic and has written several books on movie history.  Did he offer any advice?
WS:  He actually started as an actor when he was 15 with Stella Adler.  Then he became a critic, and then a director.  So he's come full circle.  But he was great.  He showed up everyday wearing his ascot.  Occasionally, after a take he would lean over and say in his serious, knowing voice:  "You're not going to use that." 

MC:  He's terrific in this role, and it's definitely worth checking out.  Thanks again, and good luck with the opening.
WS:  Thank you, and best of luck with your films. 

"Cold Turkey" opens in Los Angeles theaters this weekend, then rolls out across the country in coming weeks.  For more information visit the official website:  http://www.coldturkeymovie.com/