“I grew up with the nickname Turkey Baster,” Ro (Lauren Caster) tells a group of friends that have assembled at a couples’ dinner in “Rhythm is a Dancer,” the only one sitting alone at the table, but as she explains her mother Susan (Amy Aquino) didn’t need a man to have her, opting for a sperm donor instead. Giving birth to a child of her own is the furthest thing from her mind, but she has been preoccupied with her own biological father on the eve of her thirties when it feels like moving on without that knowledge seems impossible, though to ask observers, fixating on such things may be a way of procrastinating when her plans for a career in dance have stalled and personal connections have become more transactional than romantic.
It is to everyone’s surprise that the man of her dreams doesn’t disappoint in Caster’s effervescent directorial debut when a lead about the man who donated the sperm to conceive her pans out and Ro is led back home to California where it feels like she can be reborn. Pitched as a light comedy, the film has an impressive amount of weight to it as Ro moves back in with her mother and takes a seasonal gig as an activities director at a seniors center as she takes baby steps towards meeting Gregory (Tate Donovan), who confesses he thought he might be able to score a date with an employee at a reproductive clinic in college and ended up becoming a father to a child he never knew. Between the example of the well-adjusted husband and father of two other kids and the feisty octogenarians that look a bit more ready to dance than she does at her day job, Ro starts to see what growing up looks like, yet in neglecting to tell her mom that she even reached out to Gregory in the first place, it’s clear there is still some maturing to go.
In that respect, one shouldn’t confuse Caster with her onscreen alter ego when “Rhythm is a Dancer” exudes gravitas, but it is based on the filmmaker’s real-life discovery of her Biodad a few years back and while the comedy does have some wild moments, it never feels as if it strays too far from reality with its most winning moments coming as Ro forges a meaningful relationship with Gregory as she starts to have a new appreciation for how Susan raised her. Caster’s belief that wisdom can be gleaned from just about anywhere shines through in a generosity towards a broad ensemble who all play a part in Ro’s understanding of who she is and what she’s capable of as she enters the next chapter of her life. It was a thrill to catch up with Caster as she begins an exciting new one herself professionally with the premiere of her first feature at the Austin Film Festival where she was joined by Aquino, Donovan and Marianne Mullerleile, who steals scenes as a particularly enthusiastic member of the Leisure World Seniors Center where Ro works, to talk about the film where art felt as if it were imitated life when a family came together on the set and ensuring there was always as much heart as humor in what they were making.
How did this film come about?
Lauren Caster: It is loosely inspired by my life. I am donor-conceived and my mom is a lesbian who was inseminated as an anonymous sperm donor who I met and then just started writing [this film] to grapple with how confused I was with everything.
Amy, what got you excited about this?
Amy Aquino: I loved the script and the fierceness of this character and how bad she wanted to be a mom and to have this child and protect this child, but dealing with her own toughness and having to learn how to let go and let herself be a little bit vulnerable to this kid. I loved the complexity of the writing and all the relationships when [the mother had to confront] suddenly this person who had nothing to do but everything to do with her child and [wonder] where where do you put that? And she has all her friends who helped her raise [this daughter] and then has this connection eventually with this person that she didn’t know, the total stranger who couldn’t be more important to her and her kid. I just found it a great combination of funny and deep without being saccharine on any level. Just really real.
Tate, was that complexity something that appealed to you as well?
Tate Donovan: It’s funny you say that — complexity — because when I first read the script, I [thought] “Okay, I’m playing the biological father,” but as I kept reading it, I expected the biological father to be like the bad guy or she meets him and she’s totally disappointed. He turns out to be an idiot [or something like that], and I felt like most movies would go in that direction. But I kept reading it and [thought] “This guy’s great. He’s a sweetheart.” And these days I’m so interested in movies where people behave well and [where] they do the right thing. They’re compassionate. They’re curious. I’ve had enough of people behaving terribly, so I was really excited by the simplicity of the script. This is how real people are — they want the best for each other, and it was complicated emotionally and interesting and it was super funny. Then when I met Lauren, I felt so lucky to be a part of it.
Marianne, you’re the one who gets to be a little bit naughty as one of the residents at the senior center who thinks outside the box when it comes to the activities there. What was it like for you to get involved and interested in it?
Marianne Mullerleile: Well, it was a pretty good fit. [laughs] I knew I was going to have a lot of fun and to be honest, that’s the reason I became an actor. I love the fun of it and I loved that this character had an arc and there was a chance for people to understand her in a deeper level. And the story — I’d never even heard the term bio dad when I read it — and I knew it happened, but when I met [Lauren] and I found that it was her story, it takes on a whole other meaning, so the whole experience was wonderful.
Lauren, when you have this personal basis for a story like this, how much you want to give to the other actors versus letting them create their own characters or performances?
Lauren Caster: What’s great about hiring these very talented people is I remember when I first met Amy and Tate, I said, “This is yours. You do with it what you want.” I just knew that they’re fantastic people and so talented that it was going to be great. And it was.
Tate Donovan: I think I said when I met [Lauren], “Is it okay if I don’t do anything?” Because the script was so good, I felt like I didn’t have to come up with something. It was all there on the page.
Amy Aquino: I got to meet Lauren and her mom Colleen and she actually gave us a pickleball lesson and then we all went out drinking. I found that hugely helpful because I could just play it as it was, but I really wanted to understand who this particular woman was because it’s coming from this really personal space. So I wanted to make sure that I was honoring her and hopefully I did. I haven’t heard anything about what your mom thinks about that…
Lauren Caster: Yeah, my mom is such a specific character too, so for Amy to spend the day with her and watch her pick up the mannerisms so quickly was very cool to see. And my mom loves it.
Amy Aquino: She’s okay with me?
We’re getting exclusives here.
Amy Aquino: That’s right. You’re hearing it here first.
Marianne Mullerleile: Even though my character didn’t represent somebody specific, my personal take on acting is I’m going to do what I’m going to do and if the director doesn’t like it or wants me to go to a different way, they’ll tell me. For this character, I did think if anything, they’ll ask me to pull down, make it smaller because I do tend to do things in a large way.
Lauren Caster: Which is what we wanted, so it was perfect. Everyone was great. And I feel I just got very lucky. I did a lot of prep work and I had a hundred-page book that I shared with every department. Everyone knew what we were making from the crew to the cast, and it really kept the entire vision from script to screen. It was really beautiful to see everyone bring it, have it come alive exactly how I pictured it in my head.
I suspect where it might’ve been slightly unpredictable was the day spent filming around the Santa Monica Pier for a bonding day with Biodad. Tate, what was that like for you?
Tate Donovan: It was super fun, and it was like guerrilla filmmaking a little bit. My wife came down, my sister was in town, and they all watched the filming, which is always a treat, and the crew was just really young and fun. And to get into those arcades for free, you know what I’m saying? Somebody else was paying. It was brilliant.
Lauren Caster: Well, it was so funny. Because I knew we were going to steal that shot if we had time because we had permits for the boardwalk in Santa Monica, but I wanted to add the pier and there was time, [so I thought] “Let’s go steal the shot.” And I think it worked better than if it was a whole production [that was planned out] because it felt really intimate for me. [Tate and I] took pictures in a photo booth [as father and daughter] and it felt like a real experience because our [cinematographer] had a smaller third camera, and even to this day, but for a while when I was filming, I had the little photo booth pictures on my nightstand because I felt like, “Wow, I feel like I really spent time with my dad.” [laughs] I was really in my feels about it because it felt so intimate because we did it in a guerrilla way, which I personally really loved.
Tate Donovan: I loved it too. It just took me back and it was really fun.
Lauren, I was moved to find out afterwards that your real biological father is an executive producer on the movie. What was it like to actually be able to spend time with him and work on something together in that respect?
Lauren Caster: It’s been really fun and interesting. This was his first thing he’s been an EP on.
Amy Aquino: He’s an accountant.
Lauren Caster: He’s an accountant and he’s incredibly smart, but he’s also is really creative, even as an accountant…
Amy Aquino: In a really good way, not in an illegal way. [laughs]
Lauren Caster: Yeah, thank you. [laughs] So he put all the trust in me and it’s been a really great working relationship. I wrote another movie already and I sent it to him and we were already talking about that…
Amy Aquino: You wrote another movie?
Lauren Caster: Yeah, I wrote another movie and I wrote another outline. Almost two movies.
Tate Donovan: Is it the story of the biological dad and his point of view and all of a sudden this young girl comes into his life? And then he goes on vacation in Bali and they were there for three weeks shooting? Is that the plot? [laughs]
Lauren Caster: You know, a few people last night [at the premiere said] “This should be a series on HBO” and I was like, “Actually, you’re not wrong, like a single-cam…”
Amy Aquino: To really dig into those relationships would be fantastic.
Lauren Caster: And I was like, “Oh cool, now I have to write something else.” [laughs] “Let me just add that to the list.”
“Rhythm is a Dancer” does not yet have U.S. distribution.