PopHorror Let's Get Scared
The stress that comes with meeting a significant other’s parents — and, eventually, having both sets of parents meet each other — is certainly nothing new in film. But The Parenting, a Max original that’s available March 13, takes this time-honored trope in a fresh direction by incorporating an element that causes all (literal) hell to break loose: the supernatural.
This horror comedy, directed by Craig Johnson and written by Kent Sublette, follows young couple Josh (Brandon Flynn, 13 Reasons Why 2017) and Rohan (Nik Dodani, Twisters 2024) as they plan a perfect weekend getaway in the country to introduce their parents. Tensions flare between Josh’s easygoing parents, Liddy (Lisa Kudrow, Friends 1994) and Cliff (Dean Norris, Breaking Bad 2008), and Rohan’s uptight adoptive parents, Sharon (Edie Falco, The Sopranos 1999) and Frank (Brian Cox, Succession 2018). As if these competing personalities aren’t enough to create a hostile atmosphere, their rental house — managed by the eccentric Brenda (Parker Posey, Scream 3 2000) is haunted by a 400-year-old poltergeist and the spirits of a family who lost their lives in the home decades prior. Can these two families, along with Josh and Rohan’s endearingly meddlesome bestie Sara (Vivian Bang, White Rabbit 2018), put their differences aside to stop this evil entity?
PopHorror recently caught up with cast members Flynn, Dodani, Norris and Bang, as well as Johnson and Sublette, who discussed the unique twist on a classic meet-the-parents story, behind-the-scenes antics of this star-studded cast and more.
Dean Norris
PopHorror: I’d love to know what it was like being fake married to Lisa Kudrow! What was it like working with her? Do you guys have similar approaches to comedy?
Dean Norris: It was absolutely fantastic! We bonded the first day we met. Lisa, myself and Parker Posey all shared a house together, and Edie Falco was right next to us. But it was great. We had movie nights and game days, we cooked out, went out to eat a lot. It was like being in this cool little family because we were in a small town in Concord in Massachusetts and we all kind of just hung out together. With her, we would do a lot of improving off set just for fun, or whoever was there, Parker as well. I was learning about comedy off set just because we would riff and she’s so good at improv. I felt like I was in a comedy improv class of some sort, and it was just a lot of fun. It was great and we brought that sense of chemistry into the movie as well, and I think that helped.
PopHorror: Are you a personal fan of horror and horror comedy? If so, what are some of your favorites?
Dean Norris: I need to check them out, especially since this movie’s coming out. Sometimes that’s what I’ll do, if I’m in a new genre, I’ll go, “Oh, let’s look at the other stuff.” I’m a big fan of Shaun of the Dead, that whole thing, I’d watch the Scary Movie franchise. They’re a different kind of comedy than this, so I’ll have to look out and see if I can find some movies with this kind of comedy. I’m not a big strictly horror kind of guy. I like the classics. I like The Shining, things like that.
Brandon Flynn and Nik Dodani
PopHorror: As a Friends fan, as a Sopranos fan, this was just such a dynamic cast. What was the energy like on set? What was it like working with everyone?
Nik Dodani: It was like a comedy summer camp, honestly. We were all staying at a haunted hotel in Concord, Massachusetts. We’d shoot during the day and then at night we’d play board games or watch trashy reality TV, host a seance. And it was so surreal to watch the different comedy vibes of Friends, Succession, The Sopranos and Breaking Bad all come together to make this weird, freaky little gay demon baby. And getting to bring my own nonsense to that was just really, really special and surreal.
PopHorror: Are either of you fans of horror or horror comedy? If so, what are some of your favorites?
Brandon Flynn: Oh yeah, all the Scary Movies, I watched them until they got burnt out. Those were me and my friends’ favorites. It’s so quotable. And I also love horror movies, which most of the time are really funny as well.
Nik Dodani: Yeah, Scary Movie, Shaun of the Dead, there’s just so many fun, crazy movies that I think inspired parts of this.
PopHorror: I’m sure as actors, you’re not jumping to do every single project that comes across you desk. But what was it about The Parenting that made you want to be a part of it?
Nik Dodani: Everything about it, and that’s before I even knew who was gonna be in it. I think the script from Kent Sublette just so beautifully blends horror and comedy, and the demon possession is such a great metaphor for family conflict. To see a classic meet-the-parents story transformed into this demon possession romp, I was sold the minute I finished reading the script.
Brandon Flynn: Totally, same.
PopHorror: Brandon, you get pretty violently puked on at one point. Was that as disgusting as it looked?
Brandon Flynn: I can’t remember specifically what it was made out of right now, but it was yummy. It didn’t taste bad. It was fun until it was cold, but I would do it again. I think we cleaned up once, but it was at the end of the day and they were like, “We have 30 minutes, let’s get this.” That’s my favorite way to work.
Vivian Bang
PopHorror: What was it about The Parenting and the role of Sara that made you want to be part of this project?
Vivian Bang: Well, I love family. I mean, who doesn’t? Family of choice, at least. We don’t always get to choose our family, but we choose our friends. I thought this was such a heartfelt movie about so many different kinds of people who live in our country, so many different kinds of people who are forced to be in this small space, and to be family coming from all walks of life — multigenerational, multicultural. They’re humans and they have such different perspectives, even in the way that they’re parents and their different styles and the way that they show love is so different. Yeah, you have to kind of build this collective. They’re forced to fight this 400-year-old demon by coming together, and I think it’s such a beautiful, sort of hilarious ride about people trying to come together.
PopHorror: Without giving away any major plot points, what was your favorite Sara scene to film?
Vivian Bang: I have so many. This film, even just reading the script, there were so many moments. I think when Sara is finally vulnerable and she gets to the root of why she’s so pissed, why she’s so scared, just not feeling like she belongs or feeling invisible when she feels like she’s such an important part of this family, I think that was one of my favorites to play. And then with Nik too, our chemistry was just so fun. Also, really like the family in the movie, we really did have to come together because we were shooting in a small town, and we all stayed in one house together, so it was a lot of interactions, all of us kind of being family members and being annoying and being annoyed, but also having inside jokes. It was just an immediate sense of an ensemble that formed.
We became a little family for that short time. We were cooking together, sharing recipes, they taught me how to cook. I actually don’t cook, they were like, “You need to cook because that’s self care!” That’s Parker Posey, by the way. “Parker Posey, you’re gonna teach me how to air fry?” So it was like building family and building relationships that was really special to me. But then also being in that setting, it was kind of a horrifying setting. That place is haunted, just so you guys know.
PopHorror: Are you a personal fan or horror or horror comedy? And if so, do you have any favorites?
Vivian Bang: I love the horror genre in general. It’s an immediate, visceral impact. I think Possession is one of the best movies about marriages. It’s terrifying, I’m like, “I’m never getting married!” Just kidding. Suspiria of course, but then you have Poltergeist, The Exorcist, that was terrifying. I think we all love to be scared, you know? Because as if the real world is not horrifying enough, but it feels like the storytelling and being scared and sharing a sense of a horrifying story at the campfire or something is just very human and connecting.
I think this tone, this movie is so special that it captures both horror and comedy at the same time, which is really hard to do tonally for it to come together. I read it on the page, but I wasn’t sure they were gonna pull it off, and they did. I was just as scared as I was laughing my whatever off. One minute I’m laughing and the next I’m terrified, it puts me on edge maybe because it’s so true. I think Get Out does a good job of mixing genre. Triangle of Sadness I think is actually a horror film of sorts, maybe more of a fun social satire. And I think our film is like a social satire as well. There’s no room for hate, so I think it does a good job of encapsulating a bully that we all have to be aware of and fight collectively.
Craig Johnson and Kent Sublette
PopHorror: I have to compliment you on this cast, every actor is just so good in it. Can you talk about the casting process? Were these all of your top picks for this movie? And were they all on board relatively quickly?
Craig Johnson: This cast was a dream come true. Brian Cox came on first, and honestly, the producers really wanted him and I did too, but I said, “He’s never gonna do this, this is a weird demon horror comedy. He’s Brian Cox.” Brian was up for it and recognized Kent’s great writing. And as soon as Brian was in, then Edie and Lisa, we just started getting this dream cast, top shelf. They all, I think, were just excited to play in this kind of fun, freaky sandbox, and so I am very lucky and privileged.
PopHorror: I love when films primarily take place in one location and all hell breaks loose within one house. Can you talk about your vision for what the house should look like, and also how you found this location?
Craig Johnson: I kind of looked at the house as a character in and of itself, and so we were filming around Concord, Massachusetts, which has all these great old manors that are just sort of tucked away in the woods. When we found this one, it actually had two greenhouses, and there was a whole scene set in a greenhouse in the original script. So I was like, “OK, there we go, this is some kind of gift from God and we have to go with it.” We actually never shot inside that actual house though, it’s just the exterior. All of the house interiors were built on a set. But they sort of approximated the inside of that actual house.
PopHorror: Did you always know who was going to be possessed? Or did that shift as you got your cast together?
Kent Sublette: That’s the way it was written in the script. We did play around with, will he jump to another person? Will a mom get possessed? I tried it a couple times, it just didn’t seem like it was worth it in terms of how it played out, so it was kind of set that way. But was it Brian’s idea to put the double?
Craig Johnson: Yeah! So there’s a scene where Brian has a conversation with his possessed self in bed. That was Brian Cox’s idea actually to have that scene. The instant he said it, I was like, “Oh, absolutely!” It gives him, a wonderful actor, a delicious thing to play. And Kent, I remember you were pretty on board for that from the onset. So yeah, we credit Brian for that one.
Thanks for speaking with us, Dean, Brandon, Nik, Vivian, Craig and Kent! The Parenting is available March 13 for streaming on Max.
