Just what do you do when your parents are performance artists and go missing? Are they crying wolf and trying to pull another stunt? Or rather, are they actually in trouble and need your help?
This is the dilemma Annie and Baxter Fang find themselves in, in The Family Fang. In Jason Bateman’s second directorial film since Bad Words, he stars as Baxter Fang, alongside Nicole Kidman as Annie Fang, the children of previously notorious performance artists Caleb (Christopher Walken) and Camille (Maryann Plunkett) now turned jokes.
Based on the novel of the same name by Kevin Wilson, The Family Fang turns to the unexpected, especially in terms of the pranks on screen as well as toying with the audience’s emotions. In a matter of seconds, you go from thinking “This is a normal family” to thinking “Wow, I can’t believe they got away with that.” Considering the very delicate line that the film plays with, one truly has to acclaim Bateman for his ability to portray that the acts are out of love and not actually at the expense of the children or bystanders in the film.
The film follows Annie, an actress who is slowly running out of the public lime light, as she tries to gain back good press, all the while her brother Baxter is writing a book and finds himself in the hospital after an incredibly hilarious but incredulously stupid series of events. After gaining a taste of their parents through various flashback scenes set in video cassette tapes, Camille and Caleb go missing, and now it’s up for their children to find them.
We got the chance to interview Jason Bateman and Nicole Kidman at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. Watch their interviews below and check out the trailer for the film– which comes out May 6 nationwide and on demand.
Jason Bateman:
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Nicole Kidman:
The Family Fang trailer:
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