Molly Shannon is proud to embrace both the drama and comedy of especially tragic times, as in Other People.
“Life can be so much that way, where there are really funny things that happen during very sad times,” she told THR at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, praising writer-director Chris Kelly for the film’s tonal balance.
From husband-and-wife producers Adam Scott and Naomi Scott (The Overnight), the Sundance-premiering title stars Jesse Plemons as a struggling comedy writer who returns to Sacramento to care for his dying mother (Shannon). He tries to convince everyone (including himself) he’s “doing OK,” despite being fresh off a breakup and feeling out-of-place while living with his conservative father (Bradley Whitford) in his childhood home.
The cast also includes June Squibb, Madisen Beaty, John Early, Retta and Zach Woods. Kelly, a supervising writer on Saturday Night Live and consulting producer on Broad City, makes his feature directorial debut with the title.
Though they have a strong bond onscreen, that cast only “had one dinner, and then we jumped right into it,” said Plemons, adding that they started production with one of the most serious scenes of the film.
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