Is it professional to have a family member(s) in your film?

H

HeyAndy

Active member
Is it unprofessional to have a family member or members of your family (parents, etc) act in your film if you intend to submit it to a film festival?

For my case I've just come up with an idea for a short film but only have a few days to film it. So asked my dad to act.
 
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HeyAndy said:
Is it unprofessional to have a family member or members of your family (parents, etc) act in your film if you intend to submit it to a film festival?
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Quite a few big time directors have their spouses, children, third cousin who just won't go away... in their movies. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't... Sophia Coppola 'worked' well in the "Godfather"(1972), when she 'played' an infant... didn't work out so well in "Godfather III'(1990) as a major character (what did 'work' in that film...).

I just watched "Blow Out"(1981) and the lead female role was played by Nancy Allen, then married to director Brian de Palma. She had gotten a Goldgen Globe nomination for her role in another de Palma film, "Dressed To Kill"(1980), but to me her performance in "Blow Out" was not particularly good... could have been the script mostly, as the roles was that of a 'blonde ditz'...

More recently Will Smith, although not the director, has had his son, Jaden Smith in the son's role of "The Pursuit of Happiness"(2006).
 
And Ron Howard always finds a role for his brother Clint Howard in pretty much anything he does.

Difference is, though, all of them are actors. If your dad's an actor, then sure, cast him. If he's not an actor -- well, yeah, you pretty much know how that's gonna turn out.
 
Barry_Green said:
And Ron Howard always finds a role for his brother Clint Howard in pretty much anything he does.

Difference is, though, all of them are actors. If your dad's an actor, then sure, cast him. If he's not an actor -- well, yeah, you pretty much know how that's gonna turn out.
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The character my dad played is supposed to be an unhappy and miserable widower. He kind of cracked the role even though he was just being himself.
 
Barry_Green said:
Gentle Ben? That was way into his career. He was slingin' Tranya three years before Gentle Ben... :thumbsup:
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HeyAndy said:
The character my dad played is supposed to be an unhappy and miserable widower. He kind of cracked the role even though he was just being himself.
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Well that's the other way to go. Non-actors can work out very well, as long as they're not trying to act. If your dad's persona fit the role, and he just "was" himself on screen, then that can work out great.
 
It would be pretty damn hard to have an unbiased eye (or two) that can see if it is working IMO. As said above, Coppola couldn't even do so...

Granted, his sister worked out fine; but he couldn't see that his baby girl's acting chops stunk worse than Michael's retrieved gun in Louis' Italian American Restaurant.


I don't think it is worth the risk, especially if a director is just starting out.
 
Barry_Green said:
Gentle Ben? That was way into his career. He was slingin' Tranya three years before Gentle Ben... :thumbsup:
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One weird clip ya found there, Barry...yikes...

I recall Clint also playing a kid role on the TV version of "The Odd Couple". He was a pretty good child actor. Strange as an adult though; he was reportedly referred to as "the brother from another planet" on some of Ron's films.

This clip would not put the lie to that...
 
I feel your pain. I have shot so many low budget local TV commercials where the business owners or their family are the talent, that you are required to stop at the pub after the shoot to kill the aftertaste.
 
j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
Quite a few big time directors have their spouses, children, third cousin who just won't go away... in their movies. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't... Sophia Coppola 'worked' well in the "Godfather"(1972), when she 'played' an infant... didn't work out so well in "Godfather III'(1990) as a major character (what did 'work' in that film...).

I just watched "Blow Out"(1981) and the lead female role was played by Nancy Allen, then married to director Brian de Palma. She had gotten a Goldgen Globe nomination for her role in another de Palma film, "Dressed To Kill"(1980), but to me her performance in "Blow Out" was not particularly good... could have been the script mostly, as the roles was that of a 'blonde ditz'...

More recently Will Smith, although not the director, has had his son, Jaden Smith in the son's role of "The Pursuit of Happiness"(2006).
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Great point....and don't forget Morgan Freeman's son having a cameo in Shawshank Redemption!
 
The film I am working on , seems forever.. anyway.. the guy playing the dad(bad guy) has been with the project for some time.. and has been waiting eagerly for his chance.. but he lives a good 3 hours away.. once we got the house to shoot in. he suddenly wasnt available for 4 more weeks.. I jsut didnt have have amount of time.. sooo.. I sat and thought for a minute and it hit me. my brother in law is a great guy, but... has a bad drinking problem.. (he was sober on set LOL).. so I called and asked him if he would like to stand in. and believe it or not. the scenes with him worked out 10 times better than I would have ever hoped for.. he just FIT that role like it was wrote for him.. he's never seen the script and was going off of just what I gave him to read and told him the emotions in the scenes and worked well in my case.. I am a firm believer that anyone that is not intimidated by the camera can act, and do it well, depending on if the role they are playing fits them well.. A "GOOD" actor can fit any role given to them though..
 
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Sofia coppola was the best thing in godfather 3 - look at it again. They tore heavens gate apart at the time also - show me a better film. Anyway - i use family and friends all the time - real faces - not the apple pie faces of so many actors - who look like actors - it's nice having a mix - I just finished a feature with about 20 parts - maybe five of the people had acting backgrounds. Of course they can be stiff too - just like all actors aren't the same - regardless of how much training nor are all folks from family/friends the same in regards to talent in being relaxed in front of the camera. Scorsese's mother steals every scene in Goodfellas and in Casino too. Good luck....
 
By defnition it's "unprofessional" to use non-professionals. So what? Go ahead and shoot your project with the resources you have available to you. The quality of talent you use really depends on the challenges to the actor. If you need them to get choked up about a loss that's one thing but if they are in small expositional roles, slinging hot dogs, your in ok shape with non-actors. It also depends on your aspirations for the project. I have lots of relatives in my films, all doing extra work not speaking roles.

You know, you can get pretty good actors willing to work for copy for their reels. Just make sure it doesn't cost them anything to do it by feeding them and paying their transportation. You can post a breakdown on actorsaccess, or mandy or craigslist. Lots of students do this and lots of good actors participate.
 
Just a thought: might it not be more appropriate to ask them to serve as "extras" for crowd scenes and the like?
 
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