How does a man handle being thrust unexpectedly into the role of protector and father figure?
That is one of the issues addressed in the movie Gifted, opening in select theaters April 7 and nationwide April 21. Frank Adler (Captain America actor Chris Evans) is a single man, whose attempting to give a “normal” life to his 7-year-old, math-prodigy niece (Mckenna Grace) who he is raising. His plans are threatened by his mother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan) who wants to separate them and put the girl’s skills to work.
City Dads Group members sat down with Gifted producer and director Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer, The Amazing Spider-Man series) at the recent Dad 2.0 Summit to discuss to this new family drama.
Here are some of the highlights:
City Dads Group: “You’re not a father but you are an uncle. So you can associate with the movie. “
Marc Webb: “I have two nieces and they wanted me to make them a movie for a long time. … It was a way to connect with them. There is a very specific type of uncle in this relationship, but you know the hard stuff goes to dad. In this case he inherited this child. He really struggled with if whether or not he was worthy, the right guy to raise this child. … It’s really a non-traditional type of family; it’s brilliant at the heart of the movie.”
CDG: “What do you hope the audience is going to get from seeing this? “
Webb: “I think there are a million different ways of raising a kid correctly. Every family looks different, not all of us are lucky enough to be born into a traditional or the way we are trained to think of traditional conventional family is, you can create a family if you are not born into the right one. “
CDG: “What were you most proud of about making this movie?”
Webb: “I think we have a really good time in the movie and that’s important I wanted to have fun, ’cause making Spider-Man was really hard. This movie was fun and I think the relationship between Frank and Mary in the movie is touching and real and funny and light and happy all the same time.”
CDG: “One of the things with him (Chris Evans) being the dad, I love the aspect that he comes across as an awesome guy and I know one of these lines he talked about was that he wasn’t ready to be a dad. … One of the great things with people watching this movie is that every single dad is never really ready to be a dad. It’s a great thing for others to relate to. “
MW: “I was a sensitive kid and Chris was a sensitive kid… It’s very easy to feel ashamed of that… what I have found is that keeping in touch with that sensitivity, has given me everything in my career. I think that everything that connects with people comes from that. I think it can be painful…. I think it is easier for women to explore than it is for men.”
CDG: “Or much more accepting for women … “
Webb: “Yes, yes exactly. I thought about that in making this kind of movie. “
CDG: “Anything you’re looking forward to doing?”
Webb: “I wouldn’t mind doing an animated movie one day…more of a family movie.”
CDG: “With that, is there a chance of fatherhood (for you) in the future?”
Webb: “I would love that. It would be very nice. “
On our City Dads Group Facebook, you can watch the whole interview with Gifted director Marc Webb .
Editor’s Note: This is a sponsored post. The author wrote more about Gifted and Marc Webb on our L.A. Dads Group blog.
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