CALL ME BROTHER, starring Andrew Dismukes and Christina Parrish, is a coming-of-age romantic comedy about a brother and sister in their late teens who are reunited after years of separation only to discover intimate feelings they struggle to confront. Between immature friends and dysfunctional parents, they find comfort in each other over a wistful and awkward summer weekend. We spoke to director David Howe about what’s unarguably one of the most unique comedies of 2020.
David, what part of the country do you call home?
I live in Austin, Texas. Been making films and performing comedy here for years.
Have you always been based there?
Yes, I’ve lived in Austin for 13 years now, and the comedy and film scene are incredible and collaborative in nature, its hard to want to make a movie anywhere else.
Was the goal always to direct movies or did you start out doing something else?
As a child I wanted to be an actor, but that changed once I was in high school, when I started making movies. From then that’s been my passion, but I haven’t abandoned performing either, I host a live comedy show weekly in Austin.
Did you start out as a filmmaker? Or cross over later?
I went to school to study film and began my filmmaking career just afterwards with my short film UNIPSYCHO: A Documentary. From then I’ve jumped around the industry in Austin, often working as an editor and freelance director and sound designer, all while developing my own projects. I currently work at Powerhouse Animation Studios, as an editor for Castlevania and Masters of the Universe: Revelation.
Tell us about the inspiration for the script?
Christina wrote the script with influences from her own personal childhood experienced, but with everything pushed out to an absurd degree and with some slight incest sprinkled in. We worked together to work the story from a short to a feature, and I helped with lots of character background and justification for actions in the script. We made for a great creative team.
How closely does the finished film resemble that initial script?
Pretty damn close. I think we ended up cutting a scene, and adding an additional flashback with some reshoots, but otherwise Christina’s script is all there. We allowed for some improvising on set too, but the actors respected the text for the most part.
They don’t make movies like these anymore do they? They’re almost from a different time – a time when story was everything.
We tried to make the movie feel out of time, sort of in its own little world. The way the script is written, it allows us to have time with each character and really get to know them, which was one of the joys of bringing the whole movie together.
Did you sit down with similar films, and rewatch them as part of your research into the script?
Yes, we ended up watching Happiness by Todd Solandz for a lot of inspiration for the intense black comedy themes, it influenced the script quite a bit.
You’ve a huge breakout star in the film! Did you have any idea he was trying out for Saturday Night Live at the time!?
No! He moved out of Austin soon after shooting and almost immediately got a job as a writer on SNL. It has all kind of lined up for the film to be releasing now after Andrew Dismukes has been added to the cast, and we couldn’t be happier for him. Andrew is one of the best standup comics I’ve ever seen and I’m so glad more people will get to experience his unique brand of humor.
And what do you hope the film does for your career?
I truly hope that people are affected by Call Me Brother, and if successful I hope that people will trust me with their money to develop more bold, fearless feature films. I would love to work with Christina again and have several films of my own that I would love to make if I can find the financing! Mainly though, I want people to feel something from my work.
LIST OF PARTICIPATING THEATERS :
- Los Angeles/New York/San Fran/Chicago/Atlanta/Detroit and more – LAEMMLE THEATERS VIRTUAL
- Texas/Austin – BLUELITE STARLITE DRIVE-IN (with sneaks on November 5)
- Texas/Austin – GALAXY HIGHLAND-10 TheaterTexas/Austin – VIOLET CROWN
- Louisana/New Orleans – THE BROAD THEATER
- Mississippi/Oxford – Oxford Film Fest (VIRTUAL RELEASE)
- Texas/Austin : AUSTIN FILM SOCIETY CINEMA (from 11/13)