A dozen years ago, James Morosini, now 32, fell in love online with a charming female ghost created by his father. Claudio Lichtenthal, who had divorced Morosini’s mother and is a ski instructor in Colorado, had his reasons for fishing his son. And his son, who wrote, directed and starred in ‘I Love My Dad,’ had his reasons for forgiving his father, interpreted onscreen by Patton Oswalt.
The film, which won the Grand Jury and Audience Awards for Narrative Feature when it premiered at the South by Southwest festival in Austin last March, is now in theaters and on demand. It’ll make you cringe, but it might also make you give your parents a break. Morosini, Lichtenthal and Oswalt reunited in a video call to discuss the film and its inspiration. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Thank you, gentlemen, for zooming in on this possibly awkward father-son-actor-writer-director group encounter. At the very top of the film, there is a title that says, “The following actually happened. My father asked me to tell you no. True?
CLAUDIO LICHTENTAL True.
JAMES MOROSINI My dad and I had a fight and I decided to cut him off. So I blocked him on social media and put him on the do not answer option on my phone. But I was going through a tough time and he was worried about me. I came home one day and this very pretty girl sent me a friend request on Facebook and she liked all the same things I did and had all these amazing photos. I started to feel better about myself, then I found out it was my dad.
How long did it take to find out?
MOROSINI Longer than I would have liked.
The real question is what were you thinking, Claudio?
LICHTENTAL I wanted to know what was going on with him. I wanted to know if he was safe. I felt very helpless and useless because we weren’t talking. So, I had my brilliant idea. This was when Facebook was in its infancy. I guess I almost invented the idea of catfishing because no one was doing it back then.
Do you take credit for inventing catfishing?
MOROSINI But he called him James Peach. So it wasn’t the same thing.
Patton, you are a producer of the film and play the role of frantic father, Chuck. Did you find it exhausting playing such a lying, emotional manipulator who has to have cybersex with his own son?
PATTON OSWALT I was playing someone who was spinning a lot of plates for what he thought were good reasons. I’ve recounted those times when you kind of trick yourself into thinking you’re actually the hero even though your motivations may be based more on self-interest, greed, fear, or just not being the bad guy. I remember all those times in my life when I asked myself, “Don’t I have the merit of wanting to do the right thing? I think that’s what made this role so universal for me. It wasn’t specifically about parenthood, it was about life. And also, about reading what you want to read in social media conversations.
You have over four million Twitter followers. And you have a teenage daughter. Are you worried about her and the internet?
OSWALT She’s not on it yet. Seems like social media is a new drug that hasn’t been tested enough in the lab. I think its effects will eventually be felt in a few decades.
LICHTENTAL I was in the Internet at the start at IBM. Now everyone is talking about the negative. But social media doesn’t always mean bad things.
Well, in a weird way, it brought a father and son together in real life and in this movie. And that ultimately forces them to grow. For a twisted comedy, it’s very moving.
MOROSINI You know, every character in this movie is part of me because I wrote them all. Franklin, the son I play, is my anxiety and depression personified.
What if you created a version of your father?
MOROSINI My dad was there for me more than Chuck was there for Franklin. But for a film, you have to simplify and exaggerate certain things. The real excitement of writing Chuck was to better understand my own father. And it was very healing overall. And I think we have a much stronger relationship because of that.
Patton, did you learn anything about being a dad while playing this one?
OSWALT I learned what not to do.
Your father was in the military, right?
OSWALT He was a Marine, did three tours in Vietnam. But like most veterans, the last place he wanted me to be was in the military or at war.
Did you enjoy it?
OSWALT Not until later. All my friends had nice parents who let them smoke weed and throw parties. I found out when I was much older that they wanted to have boring, stable parents because their parents were all getting divorced and it was chaos at home. I talk a bit on my debut album about giving your kids the gift of being boring.
I don’t think it was you, Claudio.
MOROSINI My dad is one of the funniest people I know. Patton is another.
But Claudio, how was it having to deal with the screwed up character your son created out of you?
LICHTENTAL During one of the first screenings, I had to be part of a question and answer panel. So I had two tracks going on in my brain as I watched. One was “How am I going to defend myself?” The other was “It’s a great movie and I’m proud of my son.”
MOROSINI Dad, how was it to see the home videos you shot of me that I used in the movie?
LICHTENTAL It made me want to go back in time and see my kids when they were little. Time flies. You see your children as adults, but you never see them as children again. I always tell people who have children to take advantage of this time because it is so precious.
This appears as the father’s idea in the movie, even though it’s texted by the fake girlfriend he created. James, what do you want people to take away from your film?
MOROSINI What matters most is when people come up after screenings and tell me they haven’t spoken to their dad in years and they’re going to call. I would love for this movie to make people a little more forgiving.
OSWALT And it would be interesting if it made people rethink some encounters they’ve had online. In the midst of all the laughter and gnashing of teeth, it can fix some things.
LICHTENTAL Before leaving, can I take the opportunity to ask Pat if he would like to play James in my film? I call it “I love my son”.
OSWALT I should be on keto weight loss for about three weeks. But yes, I would gladly do that. And would you be willing to play James in my film?
LICHTENTAL All for glory, Pat. All for glory.
Bob Morris, a frequent New York Times contributor, explored father-son relationships in two memoirs: “Assisted Living: True Tales of Double Dating With My Dad” and “Bobby Wonderful: An Imperfect Son Says Good-Bye.”
