Pasadena Sets Scene for Dysfunctional Family Film 'Pasadena'

Pasadena and its landmarks have set the scene for many films—Back to the Future and Father of the Bride to name a couple—but now the city has a film named after it.

Pasadena, starring Peter Bogdanovich, Cheryl Hines and Alicia Witt, takes place over Thanksgiving and other meals at which conflict ensues after the black sheep of the Turner family (Witt) comes home for the first time in 15 years and siblings compete for their father Poppy’s (Bogdanovich) money, love and respect. Meanwhile, “Poppy,” seen as the rock of the family, has an important announcement of his own.

The currently unrated film is working the festival circuit after a worldwide debut at the Sarasota Film Festival that spawned a positive review in the Hollywood Reporter.

Pasadena does not have an exact theatrical release date yet but writer-director Will Slocombe is hoping ideally for some time around Thanksgiving—the national holiday for family conflict.

Slocombe, who hails from Washington D.C. and now lives in Venice Beach, took time to speak with Patch about the film and its Pasadena ties. Here’s what he had to say.

Why is the film set in Pasadena and why is it titled Pasadena?

I’m originally from the east coast and it wasn’t completely based on my family but it has semi-autobiographical details and I wanted to set it on the east coast and my producer said it’s going to cost way too much money to fly everyone out there. It cost one-fifth of the budget to reset it so I rewrote it for Pasadena and that’s why it’s set there.

I shot it in Pasadena because I thought it was the most east coast place in LA. Even though the family is upper middle class, it’s not Beverly Hills. The dad is a professor; he’s not a crazy investment banker or anything. It was the most east coast place in LA and also the most NorCal place in SoCal. He’s a professor at Stanford and the two girls grew up in Palo Alto. So I think he’d feel more comfortable in a place like Pasadena as opposed to Bel Air. Also he’s an intellectual and there’s a real California intellectual bend in Pasadena.

As for titling, it’s about a sense of place. It all takes place in this one house, which is a pretty powerful place for all the characters and kind of representative place of this father. It’s his house with his second marriage. The family is basically about these two marriages colliding. So I liked that there was a sense of place inherent in the title even if there aren’t establishing shots of Pasadena.

Do we see any shots of Pasadena in the film? Is the house actually in Pasadena or was it filmed elsewhere in LA?

It was indeed filmed in Pasadena and that actually was not a prerequisite. I was going to title it Pasadena no matter where we filmed it. We found this great home in Pasadena for a great price because it was between someone selling the house and someone buying the house.

We heard Pasadena could be a tough place to shoot as far as the city and stuff but we did not have that experience at all. They were wonderful to work with and they knew we were there the whole time.

We shot this one scene downtown [in Pasadena] in a park; there’s a couple scenes of them driving; there’s a scene of them running in Pasadena. So hopefully, though it’s not on the nose or over the head, I think that there is a sense of place in Pasadena.

Did you learn anything new about Pasadena or explore any areas you haven’t seen before?

I really love the Norton Simon Museum; I think that’s really cool. I learned you can film a movie there and they’re receptive of that. I learned that The Graduate the book was originally set in Pasadena.

You mentioned that the film is somewhat inspired by your life. How so?

I have two older half sisters. In the script the father is a foreign policy expert; my dad is a foreign policy expert. I think it’s funny. I think it’s a really horrible version of my family. I love my family; they’re great. They’ve been very supportive throughout this whole process.

I read this Quentin Tarantino quote that said if your friends are watching your movie and they’re not cringing at certain points because it’s way too honest then you haven’t done your job, so it’s definitely semi-autobiographical for sure.

Did you write any of the parts with anyone in mind?

Not really. I’ve gotten in situations before where I’ve written with someone in mind but I think when you’re an indie film you always have to be flexible. You hear all these stories like Sofia Coppola writing Lost in Translation for Bill Murray and wouldn’t do it if he didn’t say yes and I thought, ‘That’s cool if you’re Sofia Coppola.’ I think generally I just want to write good characters. And from there what’s exciting is seeing an actor like Peter Bagdonavich take a character in places you never would have thought he would have gone and … just make something totally their own. That’s what’s really exciting about working with good actors.

What would you say is the ultimate message or takeaway from the film?

It’s about a family that’s gone through a tough time but they ultimately love each other and it’s about a family who has a lot of crap in their past and is trying to get over it. I think that’s universal. It’s about seeing your dad as a human, about seeing your family as human and it’s about loving everyone in spite of that or because of that really.

Anything else you want to add?

I’m in touch with someone at the Pasadena Film Festival. Hopefully it’ll be playing at a festival in their city very soon.