Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick and their children Sosie Bacon and Travis Bacon may have made a “Family Movie,” but “it’s not a reality show.”
“What was cool from the very first read was that it wasn’t us. We didn’t want to play ourselves. There’s enough of us and of our family dynamics, but we’re not making a documentary about our lives,” says Kevin Bacon.
This may be for the best, as “Family Movie” – shown at Karlovy Vary – follows the Smiths: a loving family that makes much-derided, low-budget horror films. They’re in the middle of shooting another one when a real murder occurs.
“We were really interested in a family that makes horror movies together. After the pandemic was over and the strikes were over, we met some writers and gave them that pitch,” says Sedgwick.
Despite the ongoing “nepo baby” discourse, they found value in working together.
“Kevin’s a really good actor. That’s always a surprise,” jokes Sedgwick, while he explains: “We didn’t encourage our children to become artists. It’s not that we said no, and we were happy to give them music lessons and be there for school plays or whatever. But we also knew that being an artist, or a creative person, means a lot of rejection. Nobody wants that for their children.”
“They never watched our movies growing up and were on sets only when they were very little. That being said, in the old days, if your dad was a blacksmith, you were probably going to be a blacksmith too. We’re people who make creative stuff, but if one of them was a doctor and another a lawyer or a plumber, we’d still love them just as much.”
It was screenwriter Dan Beers who suggested making a slasher, recalls Kevin Bacon, who also directed the film.
“We got zombies, an alien invasion and ghosts, but his pitch was the funniest. Maybe we’re just really fucking weird. We’re really twisted people.”
Sedgwick agrees: “We are DEFINITELY twisted people. But there’s a certain kind of catharsis that comes with watching someone get stabbed, and that catharsis can very quickly turn into laughter.”
After all, Travis Bacon’s favorite film of all time is “Halloween.”
“I don’t like ‘Friday the 13th’ all that much… Except the first one,” he laughs. Kevin Bacon famously played in the 1980s classic.
“The appeal of slasher films is that they feel very real, you know? A masked figure could actually break into your home and chase you with a knife, and that’s pretty terrifying. Also, violence can be hysterical. Recently, I was watching ‘Terrifier 2’ and I couldn’t help but laugh hysterically at the absolutely ridiculous nature of what was happening.”
The film – sold by The Gersh Agency – is full of inside jokes.
“There’s a dog called Valentine, which was the character Kevin played in ‘Tremors,’ and Phil the goat is named after Black Phillip in [Robert Eggers’ folk horror] ‘The Witch’,” lists Sedgwick. Horror fans will surely appreciate it – and they are the ones still buying cinema tickets.
“I think horror fans are just film fans in general, and film fans like to see a movie the way it’s supposed to be seen: in the theater,” says Travis Bacon.
“There’s some kind of collective experience people enjoy in being scared together. You would think that would transfer to comedy, but it’s just not the case right now. Us horror fans, we are there on the opening night, getting that special popcorn bucket.”
“The communal experience of horror is the greatest,” agrees his father.
“If there’s a big scare and everybody screams, the next thing they do is laugh. You will only get that in a theater. Hopefully, everyone’s ready tonight – and drunk.”
