CASTING LOCATION: NY AREA

SHOOT LOCATION: FLORIDA

Logline: After her father’s sloppy divorce, Marina becomes his sole caretaker when he needs a dangerous heart surgery. She struggles with the notion that she may be more like her father than she’d like to believe, sharing his philosophies about what love is, and what it isn’t.

FRANCESCO (FATHER), 65-75, male, all ethnicities. 

A senior internationally acclaimed art critique who leaves his wife to find love only a couple of months before undergoing high-risk heart surgery. 

Elegant, delicate, sophisticated, charming. The salt & pepper-haired type.  

There isn't a man in the world who carries himself and handles his profession with more finesse, grace and timing. He’s also a bit full of himself.  

Fran (his nickname) is not only well-mannered but also a warm and charismatic friend and father. He knows how to enter the hearts of women, and he allows them to enter his as well. His accent makes it clear that either English is not his first language or that he is not American - he is British/ South African/French etc. He likes to dance and cook and is rather good at both. Francesco's hobbies and interests lie in art history, poetry, theatre, and wine.

Reference: Antonio Banderas in Pain & Glory, Christopher Plummer in Beginners, or M. Gustave in The Grand Budapest Hotel. 

MARINA (Daughter), 30s, female, all ethnicities. 

An outgoing woman with a strong, sarcastic personality who must deal with some serious father issues. She has been dating her boyfriend Tom for almost a decade and still fears marriage and commitment, worried that it may take something away from her identity as an independent woman.  

She does believe in true love and unconditional love, but battles with whether she should. She grew up watching the tumultuous relationship between her father and mother due to all her father’s affairs. After her father’s sloppy divorce,  Marina becomes his sole caretaker and healthcare proxy when he needs dangerous and risky heart surgery. She worries about what she may have inherited from her father, not only her tenacity, a love of French Cinema and snappy dialogue – but also his fears of commitment and philosophies about love and relationships. Marina is witty, funny and gets her deadpan humor from her mother. 

Reference: An older version of Lady Bird in Lady Bird, a younger Lorelai Gilmore in Gilmore Girls.