We love doing things as a family. The Bacons shared their love of horror at KVIFF Talk

On Friday, the Bacon family presented their delightfully unhinged horror comedy Family Movie in its international premiere. The film tells the story of a family who make schlocky films. On Saturday, they discussed the film in greater detail at KVIFF Talk, moderated by Marta Balaga, a Polish journalist from Variety magazine.

“We wanted to make a horror film, but also something with heart. We wanted to make fun of ourselves,” said Kevin Bacon. He made the film together with his wife Kyra Sedgwick, daughter Sosie and son Travis. Travis admitted that he had not needed much convincing. It helped that he was able to compose the music and, in his own words, pretend that he could act. He runs his own production company specialising in short films.

The family described their film as a celebration of horror cinema, packed with a wide range of references. “The film is brimming with our love of cinema and filmmaking. Although people know us for our blockbusters, my wife and I both made many independent, low-budget projects early in our careers. You really have to love it if you want to do it. All four of us love films. We love seeing them on the big screen. Is the main character of our film an artist? Absolutely. Is he successful? Definitely not. But he wants to keep going,” Kevin Bacon explained.

“Most artists never see their dreams come true. But deep down, we still know we have to carry on. In America, we have this mantra that our dreams must come true. We all fall for it. Europeans may be smart enough not to buy into it,” Kyra Sedgwick said while explaining the difference. She then described what it was like directing alongside her husband: “We had never worked together like this before. At home, we give each other feedback on our work and we talk about films all the time. We had the same vision of Family Movie from the very beginning. Our children contributed as well. Whenever Kevin and I disagreed about something, he eventually realised that I was right, even if it took him a little while.”

According to the family, it was important for Family Movie to establish a crazy foundation where absolutely anything could happen – including the dance sequence in the middle of the film. For Kyra, a major source of inspiration in this regard was the remarkable scene in the Oscar-winning film Sinners, where the vampire horror suddenly shifts into a transcendental sequence that captures the history of music. The family realised that they really could make a film together. “As adults, you rarely get to see your children at work and how they treat other people. I was happy and amazed,” Kyra said, before she and her husband added that they would definitely make another film together as a family. That being said, they simply cannot imagine the project being a serious one.