What would you do if you discovered that your dad had catfished you? Instead of the pretty girl you thought you were talking to via Facebook message, it was actually your estranged father desperately trying to get back into your life by any means necessary. For writer/director James Morosini, he wrote a screenplay, starring himself, about his truly bizarre real-life experience.
Cinemacy watched I Love My Dad at this year’s SXSW Film Festival, and we weren’t surprised when it won both the Grand Jury Award and the Audience Award. The film is a delicate mix of charming and cringe-worthy, the performances by Patton Oswalt and Morosini are authentically tight, and all of this is amplified by the percussion-driven, cheeky score by composer Jeremy W. Bullock.
Jeremy plays with the “cat and mouse” theme of the film by creating a score that feels both mischievous and forward-moving. It’s often light and playful but also isn’t afraid to get chaotic during some of the film’s more uncomfortable moments, which there are plenty of! Bullock strikes all the right notes as he delicately finds the balance between the comedic and the awkward moments, and brings James’ real-life experience to the big screen in such a thoughtful and charming way.
Cinemacy is excited to premiere “Hey Frankie”, from Magnolia Pictures’ I Love My Dad, below:
“During the pandemic, as a way of escaping from the chaos that was going on in the world, I found myself heavily inspired by electronic ambient music that was coming out of Japan in the mid to late ’80s,” says Jeremy. “A lot of that music was made with Japanese synthesizers at the time that had a bunch of modeled percussion sounds on them (mallets, wood blocks, etc.) Playing around with sounds that were familiar yet artificial ended up being a huge part of the score for us”.
Director James Morosini comments, “This was a tricky film to score because we were aiming to create a very specific tonal blend. Playful and harrowing. Sincere and sarcastic. We spent hour after hour talking through the story and then finding sounds that reflected the emotional nuances of each moment. I hope folks who watch this film take a moment to appreciate the tremendous efforts of my good friend and collaborator Jeremy’s wonderful work.”
A songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Jeremy is also a founding member of the indie rock band Wild Cub, which started in Nashville, TN alongside fellow composer Keegan DeWitt. In 2016, he relocated to Los Angeles in order to fully dedicate himself to working in music for film and TV, and has since gone on to score the upcoming docuseries for Hulu Who Is Private Dulaney, the HBO docuseries Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children, the Netflix docuseries 7 Days Out, and more.
Saltwater music is releasing the ‘I Love My Dad’ Original Motion Picture Score on Friday, August 19th. Listen to the album here.
‘I Love My Dad’ is now playing at the Alamo Drafthouse in LA, the Laemmle Monica Film Center, and Laemmle Claremont 5.
