UNCLE FRANK - PAUL BETTANY, SOPHIA LILLIS, PETER MACDISSI and ALAN BALL INTERVIEWS

Just in time for the American Thanksgiving, Uncle Frank puts a spin on the crazy uncle stereotype. In this version, he is in fact the only educated, thoughtful, progressive, and empowering one in his backwoods family!

Set in In 1973, Uncle Frank follows teenaged Beth Bledsoe (Sophia Lillis) who leaves her rural Southern hometown to study at New York University. There, her beloved Uncle Frank (Paul Bettany) is a revered literature professor. She soon discovers that Frank is gay, and living with his longtime partner Walid “Wally” Nadeem (Peter Macdissi). It’s an arrangement that he has kept secret for years.

After the sudden death of Frank’s father – Beth’s grandfather – Frank is forced to reluctantly return home for the funeral with Beth in tow. And he must finally face a long-buried trauma that he has spent his entire adult life running away from.

Alan Ball (American Beauty, Six Feet Under, True Blood) wrote and directed Uncle Frank. And the writing beautifully unfolds a story about acceptance and how it shapes who we are and who we become.  The dialogue is beyond brilliant  and deserves a best screenplay nomination. Bettany is fantastic in the title role of Uncle Frank, a closeted gay man from the 1970s looking for acceptance from his southerner family.  Playing this role made him think a lot about his own family and  relationship with his own father. 

The film boasts a stellar cast which also includes the marvelous Margo Martindale, Judy Greer, Steve Zahn and Stephen Root.

Amazon Studios will release Uncle Frank on Prime Video November 25th, 2020

I spoke with Alan Ball, Paul Bettany, Sophia Lillis and Peter Macdissi about working on the film and how they connected with it on a personal level.  ( see playlist below)

 Uncle Frank, premieres November 25 on Amazon Prime Video.