Proud parents and kids rising to the occasion: Keeping it all in the family at South by Southwest

AUSTIN, Texas — It is often said that the people who come together to make a movie end up feeling like family. At this year’s SXSW there are a number of movies where some of those people actually are family.

Starring husband and wife Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, “Family Movie” also features their two adult children, Sosie Bacon and Travis Bacon. (Sosie’s partner, the actor Scoot McNairy, has a small role as well.) The story is about a family that makes low-budget horror movies together, touching on the growing tensions their lack of success creates among them and the lengths they will go to for their latest project.

“Their Town,” about two high school students connecting after they are thrown together for a school play, is directed by Katie Aselton, written by her husband Mark Duplass and stars their 18-year-old daughter Ora Duplass in her first feature.

There are several other films at SXSW with family ties: Jonás Cuarón’s literary adaptation “Campeón Gabacho” is produced by his father, Alfonso Cuarón, and features music by his cousin Mateo Cuarón. Dempsey Bryk directs his brother Billy Bryk in the comedy “Crash Land.” And Maude Apatow directs her mother Leslie Mann in the dramedy “Poetic License.”

On a video call from a Santa Monica post-production facility where they were finishing their movie shortly before the festival, both Bacon and Sedgwick acknowledge that they co-directed “Family Movie” together but because of DGA rules, only one of them could be credited. They decided on Bacon.

“It was actually a really good one for us to direct together because we’re both acting in it,” says Bacon. “So if we had a scene where Kyra was in hair and makeup and wardrobe, I could be by the monitor. And my technique for directing her is usually just staying out of her way and making sure that the camera’s in the right spot. If we were both in the scene, it would become a little bit more of a collaboration.”

The project’s origins go back to when they made a short together during the pandemic on their farm in Connecticut. (“We’re workaholics and you can say that loud and clear in the L.A. Times so that we get more work,” cracks Sedgwick, maybe only half-kidding.) They had an idea for a feature about a filmmaking family. After they brought on screenwriter Dan Beers, he separately interviewed Sedgwick, Bacon and their children while developing the script into more of a comedy.

“So there’s some meta stuff going on in the movie,” says Sedgwick. “But it was always made for our family to do together.”

“And honestly, we didn’t know that the kids were going to say yes,” notes Bacon.

“We were so excited about the idea and we were like: Hope the kids want to do this,” continues Sedgwick. “I was like, I’m sure they’re not going to want to do it. And they were like, ‘We’d love to.’ I couldn’t believe it. It made me very happy.”

Kevin Bacon, from left, Sosie Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick and Travis Bacon in “Family Movie.”

(SXSW)

The Bacon-Sedgwick clan shot on a ranch near Round Top, Texas, having first scouted the location when Bacon was at SXSW last year with the series “The Bondsman.” Though Sosie is an established performer with roles in movies such as “Smile” and the current series “Scarpetta,” Travis, a musician, had never acted before. (He also did the music for “Family Movie.”)

One possible concern heading into the project was whether the family’s off-screen dynamics translated into something legitimately special on-screen or merely a lot “Ugh, mom” or “Whatever, dad” moments of behind-the-scenes tension.

But that didn’t prove to be an issue. Much.

“I would say that the family dynamics were pretty evident on set,” said Bacon, dryly. “But I will also say that our kids remain just wonders to us in terms of their level of hard work and professionalism and kindness. We’re not really surprised, but to actually see it was very touching and really kind of magical.”

Sedgwick noted that all four of them lived on one property with three small houses during the shoot so they were able to spend even more time than usual together during production, often having coffee together in the mornings.

“As a parent, you don’t really get to watch your kids navigating their way in the world as adults,” she says. “So having a window into that and also to be like, ‘Phew, they’re such good people,’ it was just such a gift. Because it could have been, ‘Geez, they’re a nightmare.’”

Ora Duplass, right, and Chosen Jacobs in the movie “Their Town.”

(SXSW)

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That feeling of a parent’s pleasant astonishment at how their children carried themselves became a part of the making of the Aselton-Duplass family’s “Their Town” as well. Mark Duplass wrote the project specifically with his daughter Ora in mind, his script a reflection of how platonic friendships among Gen Z often seemed as important as romantic relationships. That wasn’t being reflected in the young adult projects he saw. He quickly realized the perfect director was right there in Ora’s mother Aselton.

On a three-way call shortly before the start of SXSW, Mark Duplass is at his production company’s office in Highland Park, Katie Aselton is at their home in Los Angeles and Ora Duplass is in Vancouver finishing shooting on the upcoming Disney+ series “Coven Academy.”

“Just speaking candidly, you have all these ideas when you raise kids about how you want things to go,” says Mark Duplass. “When Katie and I had Ora all we could think of was that we’re going to show her all our favorite movies and she’s going to love all of our favorite movies. And it’s just not that way. She’s not as interested in our stuff and we’re not always as interested in her stuff. And it’s made this unexpected but actually quite beautiful blend, which is we actually come at these things from different angles.

“She is squarely her own person and fought kicking tooth and nail to become that through ages 14, 15 and 16 and has come out the other side,” he continues. “And in a lot of ways, this movie was a part of that process. And I think the movie is better for it. It’s different than I thought it would be. And richer.”

“There were a lot of wild family dynamics to sift through,” says Aselton, whose previous films as director include “The Freebie” and “Magic Hour.” “But then that’s also what a film set is like. Once you’re on a great film set, you’re all family anyways, you’re all interconnected and leaning on each other. And with similar emotional pitfalls.”

Ora Duplass admits she was nervous about how their mother-daughter dynamic would play out on set, but she soon found it to be much more of a bonus than a problem.

“I think we were really great at separating it, but I also feel like we didn’t need to,” she says. “It was just kind of one in that moment: She’s my mother and also my director that’s comforting me, helping me through the scene. It worked really well.”

“It is a gift as a director to know what the true emotional depth of your lead actor is,” adds Aselton. “I know what she’s capable of, which is so cool because when you are working with someone that you met a couple weeks prior, you don’t always know.”

Mark Duplass echoes the sentiments of Bacon and Sedgwick, seeing his daughter as a working adult and being moved.

“Not to get corny, but I’m the dad here and I’ve got to say just this one thing,” he adds, a growing swell of emotion in his voice. “As parents, we were watching Ora, who was in that COVID generation that had it really tough. And so we wanted to set this challenge for her, but we weren’t sure exactly how it was going to go. And when you watch Ora show up and do these 12-hour days out in the cold at night and just sort of rise up, it was one of the most incredible moments I’ve had as a parent, when you’re watching your child find that thing that they love and are good at. And it did happen on this movie.”

As to whether these family units will work together again, Sedgwick and Bacon acknowledge it is not entirely up to them.

“I’m sure they’ve had it with us,” Sedgwick says with a laugh. “For me it was heavenly from the beginning till the end. That doesn’t mean that it was always easy, but it was kind of beyond my wildest dreams.”

Duplass and Aselton say their younger daughter Molly has no interest in show business. And Ora’s career already seems well underway on its own.

“My goal: I’m 49, I’m ready to get to that part of my career where I’ve lost my creative center,” the “Morning Show” star jokes, “I go into the big fade, Ora becomes immensely popular and successful and I ride her coattails all the way into the sunset. I would love that so much.”

Asks Aselton, “Can we be nepo-parents?”