The hottest comic in America, Sebastian Maniscalco joins forces with legendary Italian-American and two-time Oscar® winner, Robert De Niro (Best Actor, Raging Bull, 1980), in the new comedy About My Father.
The film centers around Sebastian (Maniscalco) who is encouraged by his fiancée (Leslie Bibb) to bring his immigrant, hairdresser father, Salvo (De Niro), to a weekend get-together with her super-rich and exceedingly eccentric family (Kim Cattrall, Anders Holm, Brett Dier, David Rasche).
According to About My Father star and co-screenwriter, Sebastian Maniscalco, “the film is about two different families, from very different socioeconomic backgrounds, colliding during a holiday weekend, before they realize that those differences are what make them unique.”
Maniscalco, a celebrated stand-up comedian, adds that his onscreen persona “is trying to walk a tightrope with his father in bringing him into an environment that is unfamiliar to him.”
When asked about the script, De Niro says, “I saw that it had a personal element from Sebastian's experience, obviously. And, after getting to know Laura Terruso a little bit, I realized her background too. They [Sebastian and Laura] knew the world. They're from the world. So that was an important part of it [the story],” says De Niro.
Early on, De Niro, famed for his immersion in his roles, requested a special read-through of the script with a group of fellow actors. “So, we flew to New York, during the height of the pandemic, and did a table read with him,” Maniscalco describes. “We were all wearing masks, and it was a little weird, but we were glad to do it.”
It also seemed pre-destined for Laura Terruso to direct. The award-winning director, screenwriter and producer had completed a feature film for Netflix, Work It, when the script for About My Father came her way. Her reaction was immediate and unsubtle: “This script made me jump and say, ‘I must direct this movie’ because it felt so personal and universal.”
Terruso’s personal connection to the project comes from her background, which parallel’s Maniscalco’s in significant ways. As she explains, “Sebastian’s father emigrated from Sicily in the 1960s, as did my mother, and we’ve both found our way into comedy.”
“Sebastian wrote the movie as a love letter to his father, and for me, it was clearly a love letter to my mother. We really bonded on that level and felt like, okay, we know who and what this is about and that guided all the decision making moving forward.”
About My Father is directed by Laura Terruso and written by Austen Earl & Sebastian Maniscalco.
Prorom will release About My Father this weekend in: Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and in June in Czech Republic and Slovakia.
