A super successful standup whose 5th Netflix special aired in December, Sebastian Maniscalco now births a passion project, the comedy “About My Father,” inspired by – yes! – his Italian immigrant dad with no less than Robert De Niro cast as his parent.
“The most comfortable I am anywhere in life is doing standup on stage,” Maniscalco, 49, said in a phone interview last week. “I feel at home there. But I love stepping out of the box and thought this would be a nice departure.
“It’s a love letter to my father,” who turns 77 June 17th. “I’m very proud of it. Not everybody gets to give their father a movie. The fact that he’s still alive and loving every minute of it. He did a press tour with me — Gayle King, Mario Lopez.
“Never would I have thought in my entire life that my father would be next to Robert De Niro doing an interview.”
This “Father” began six years ago when Maniscalco and his writing partner Austin Earl decided to write about “loosely based events in my life, primarily with not only my father but my wife’s family. It came out of the passion that Austin and I have for comedy.
“We come from the same cloth — working class family guy married into an upper-class environment. That’s how we bonded. Like I had almost a partner in crime to relate to because here are two working class guys going on these extravagant trips. Like ‘What ski trip did you go on this year?’ ‘I went to Vail. Are you going?’ ‘Oh, we took a Disney cruise.’
“We were comparing notes and just had a really fun relationship with it.”
First, they thought of a TV series, then a movie, thanks to the Hollywood heavyweights, writer-director-producers and brothers, Chris and Paul Weitz who knew De Niro.
“Basically, Paul gave Bob the script, who wanted to hear it read out loud.”
De Niro, with “8 or 9 different actors,” did a table reading. “Four days later, he committed to it and we were off and running.”
While Maniscalco was Joey Gallo in Scorsese’s “The Irishman” and was featured in the Oscar-winning “Green Book,” it’s quite a jump to co-star opposite a legend.
“It was an acting lesson, watching him work. Emotionally he helped me, telling me to think about my father for a big scene. All the stuff that he’s been through coming into the United States when he was 15, not knowing the language, creating a business and a family. He got me thinking about things that would definitely help me.
“I was there to give my best performance and also learn while doing so.”
“About My Father” (Lionsgate) opens in theaters Friday.
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May 24, 2023 at 04:37PM
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A love letter ‘About My Father’ - Boston Herald
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