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Houston's Michael Huffington breaks into film and gives a rare interview

Michael Huffington, producer of "Father vs. Son"

Houston's Michael Huffington is a scion of one of the city's most prominent oil families and a former Republican congressman from California. He's back in Houston after a long Hollywood hiatus, but not straying far — his latest incarnation is as movie producer, most recently for Joe Ballarini's Father vs. Son. Huffington even makes a cameo appearance in the movie (drawing enthusiastic applause at the AMC 30 debut), which also stars Modern Family's Eric Stonestreet.

Father vs. Son premiered at Worldfest Friday and won the first-ever Houston Film Critics Association Critic’s Choice Award for Best World Premiere of a Feature Film. Director Joe Ballarini sat down with his producer to recap the experience and provided the interview exclusively to CultureMap.

Joe Ballarini: What got you excited about making Father vs. Son?

Michael Huffington: As we all know 2009 was a very tough year financially for most people in this country. So I was eager for us to make a comedy so that people could go to the theater and have a good laugh.

JB: Does it help to finance a movie in order to secure a role in it?

MH: Let me say this. It certainly doesn’t hurt.

JB: Honestly, I always imagined you in the role. The character’s name you play is Mr. Harrington That should tell you right there that (co-writer) Paul Wolff and I were thinking of you when we wrote the movie.

MH: I figured I was cast because you got me for free! Also I have to think you saw untapped acting talent that was just waiting to explode on the big screen.

JB: I made you grow a mustache for the role. What was that like to have a mustache for so long? Did it help you get into character?

MH: It took me two months to grow that mustache, and it was commented on by everyone. My straight friends thought it looked cool. My gay friends thought the opposite. And my kids wished I had never grown it. But it definitely helped me to play the no-nonsense New Yorker.

JB: The stache made you very stately. Which is harder: Politics or acting?

MH: Both require skill. In politics I loved giving live interviews in front of the camera. However you aren’t allowed second takes. At least in film we get a second chance and a third and a fourth. I don’t plan to run for office again, but if anyone has an acting job for me I am definitely available.

JB: Did you always want to make movies?

MH: No. I always wanted to be a Senator. But we know how that turned out. So after my political career I decided to actively engage in the movie business. It took awhile to find my niche but I now feel I am on a roll and loving it. I have two documentaries and two feature films in the works and a few others in development.

JB: Talk a little bit about our rehearsal process.

MH: Since you generously gave me a role with no spoken lines, I had to figure out a way to speak through my facial expressions. So I spent hours trying out different looks in front of the mirror until I got the expressions I wanted to deliver in front of the camera. Next movie I want a speaking role…

JB: You got it. The movie is about the trials and tribulations of love, no matter the age range. What are your thoughts on this?

MH: Well I have always dated younger people my entire life. Sometimes the age difference has been a few months and other times a few decades. All I know is that love has no age boundaries. But it certainly has trials and tribulations.

JB: What was it like sharing the stage with Modern Family's Eric Stonestreet?

MH: Who can’t laugh watching Eric in action. He is bigger than life. I haven’t laughed so hard in years. It was an honor sharing the stage with him. And off stage he is one intelligent and informed guy. We had some great conversations. And I now watch Modern Family every Wednesday night. He is a real star.

JB: I remember he did one take that was so funny that the crew literally broke out into applause. And, I have to mention that Stonestreet is the reason we found Josh Dean who plays Grant. When Stonestreet read the script, he said, I have the perfect guy for you — Josh Dean.

MH: Josh is one funny dude. I am sure he goes to sleep at night with a smile on his face, and his dreams are probably hilarious. He was great to work with on set.

JB: And for ego-boosting reasons, I must ask: What was it like being directed by Joe Ballarini?

MH: Since I first met you back in 1998 when we were working on a student movie at USC I have known that you were a very talented and creative guy. But I had never seen you direct a feature film until Father vs. Son. What impressed me the most was your sincerity in working with everyone on the production from the top actors to the lowest paid crew. You respected each one of us for what we could contribute to the film. You brought us all together, and made the production a successful and fun team effort.

JB: So. He’s a genius, right? Can we just put that down? I think audiences will be very impressed with your acting debut, Mike. You turned in a hilarious performance. And I greatly appreciate you cutting your fee to be in the movie.

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Movie Review

Star TV producer James L. Brooks stumbles with meandering movie Ella McCay

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Emma Mackey in Ella McCay.

The impact that writer/director/producer James L. Brooks has made on Hollywood cannot be understated. The 85-year-old created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, personally won three Oscars for Terms of Endearment, and was one of the driving forces behind The Simpsons, among many other credits. Now, 15 years after his last movie, he’s back in the directing chair with Ella McCay.

The similarly-named Emma Mackey plays Ella, a 34-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state in 2008 who’s on the verge of becoming governor when Governor Bill (Albert Brooks) gets picked to be a member of the president’s Cabinet. What should be a happy time is sullied by her needy husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), her agoraphobic brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), and her perpetually-cheating father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson).

Despite the trio of men competing to bring her down, Ella remains an unapologetic optimist, an attitude bolstered by her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her assistant Estelle (Julie Kavner), and her police escort, Trooper Nash (Kumail Nanjiani). The film follows her over a few days as she navigates the perils of governing, the distractions her family brings, and the expectations being thrust upon her by many different people.

Brooks, who wrote and directed the film, is all over the place with his storytelling. What at first seems to be a straightforward story about Ella and her various issues soon starts meandering into areas that, while related to Ella, don’t make the film better. Prime among them are her brother and father, who are given a relatively small amount of screentime in comparison to the importance they have in her life. This is compounded by a confounding subplot in which Casey tries to win back his girlfriend, Susan (Ayo Edebiri).

Then there’s the whole political side of the story, which never finds its focus and is stuck in the past. Though it’s never stated explicitly, Ella and Governor Bill appear to be Democrats, especially given a signature program Ella pushes to help mothers in need. But if Brooks was trying to provide an antidote to the current real world politics, he doesn’t succeed, as Ella’s full goals are never clear. He also inexplicably shows her boring her fellow lawmakers to tears, a strange trait to give the person for whom the audience is supposed to be rooting.

What saves the movie from being an all-out train wreck is the performances of Mackey and Curtis. Mackey, best known for the Netflix show Sex Education, has an assured confidence to her that keeps the character interesting and likable even when the story goes downhill. Curtis, who has tended to go over-the-top with her roles in recent years, tones it down, offering a warm place of comfort for Ella to turn to when she needs it. The two complement each other very well and are the best parts of the movie by far.

Brooks puts much more effort into his female actors, including Kavner, who, even though she serves as an unnecessary narrator, gets most of the best laugh lines in the film. Harrelson is capable of playing a great cad, but his character here isn’t fleshed out enough. Fearn is super annoying in his role, and Lowden isn’t much better, although that could be mostly due to what his character is called to do. Were it not for the always-great Brooks and Nanjiani, the movie might be devoid of good male performances.

Brooks has made many great TV shows and movies in his 60+ year career, but Ella McCay is a far cry from his best. The only positive that comes out of it is the boosting of Mackey, who proves herself capable of not only leading a film, but also elevating one that would otherwise be a slog to get through.

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Ella McCay opens in theaters on December 12.

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