(L to R) Bill Irwin stars as Bob, Sally Field as Marilyn, Ben Aldridge as Kit Cowan and Jim Parsons as Michael Ausiello in director Michael Showalter’s ‘Spoiler Alert,’ a Focus Features release. Photo: Linda Källérus / © 2022 Focus Features LLC.
Opening in theaters on December 2nd is the new romantic drama ‘Spoiler Alert,’ which is an adaption of the memoir “Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies” by Michael Ausiello, and was directed by Michael Showalter (‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’).
Based on a true story, the film follows the last year of New York photographer Kit Cowan’s (Ben Aldridge) life. From his diagnosis with terminal cancer to his death, Kit’s spouse, entertainment reporter Michael Ausiello (Jim Parsons), and Kit’s parents, Marilyn and Bob (Sally Field and Bill Irwin) do their best to comfort him in his final days.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Jim Parsons, Ben Aldridge, Sally Field, and Bill Irwin about their work on ‘Spoiler Alert,’ the true story it is based on, their characters, why they wanted to make the movie, and working with director Michael Showalter.
(L to R) Ben Aldridge, and Jim Parsons star in director Michael Showalter’s ‘Spoiler Alert,’ a Focus Features release.
Moviefone: To begin with, Jim, what was it about Michael and Kit’s story that really spoke to you both as a producer and an actor, and why was it important for you to make this movie?
Jim Parsons: I think that at a somewhat surface level, there was a lot of mirror between their relationship and my own relationship with my husband. Meeting around the same time, around the same year, in the same city. But I think that it was the really laid bare way in which Michael told the tale in all the gritty details that made it such an obvious love story and in a way that I don’t feel like I’ve necessarily read or seen a lot with a gay couple.
It’s got a real universality to it. The story has echoes of stories I’ve heard before, but with people that weren’t exactly like me. Both as an actor and as a producer, I was really hungry to get a shot at making that story a visual reality. It was more rewarding than I think I was even prepared for.
MF: Why was director Michael Showalter the right filmmaker to bring this story to the big screen?
Jim Parsons: Mike has a beautiful way of seeing stories that are so real to life in a way. We talked all through the shoot about why he was a good match for us, and it would vary day to day. But he was really good about letting us explore things at a very deep level. He would never let anything stay too long, which was very smart and wise.
He wasn’t sentimental and he was a perfect balance for us in a lot of ways. He made it a very safe space for us that we felt we could get in, do it, and not get stuck there. He would always help come pull you out of it and move on.
MF: Ben, Kit is an only child and has a very close relationship with his parents, can you talk about that and working with Sally Field and Bill Irwin?
Ben Aldridge: I think of course you’d hope in any good parent-child relationship that a parent would be there for someone, particularly in that moment in their suffering. But I think what we see in what I think the film chronicles nicely is something that I think a lot of queer people can relate to is that until your parents know about your authentic self, you kind of hold them at a slight distance. You hold them away from the truth and I think that can permeate adult life in a way that is actually unhelpful.
But I think what we see, and I think which was true to life, is that it really deepened their connection and they became much closer the more they knew about Kit, and the more they got to know Michael as well. So, that was really lovely to play something I recognize and relate to in my own life as well.
Then, with Sally and Bill, I definitely was intimidated. Sally was wonderfully generous, but knowing that I was going to have to look in her eyes and hope that she believed me was a tense moment. But it was so great to have them on set and it felt like such a gift that she was going to be playing my mom. I mean, I couldn’t believe it. It was really a “pinch myself” moment.
(L to R) Sally Field, and Bill Irwin star in Michael Showalter’s ‘Spoiler Alert,’ a Focus Features release.
MF: Sally, can you talk about Marilyn’s close relationship to her son and how she is able to be there for him when he really needs her?
Sally Field: I’m not sure how to talk about that. It just is right there, and it’s the film. You know, you can only come into a film and create what’s on the page. I mean, we weren’t doing historical characters that are well known in the public eye. So, Bill and I were just creating this husband and wife who has this wonderful son that they’re devoted to, and all that that means about loving that child, loving each other, and how hard it is, how hard it is to love anybody.
Ultimately, that’s what the movie is about, is loving someone, what it costs, how hard it is, and how that’s all there is, ultimately. As the world is full of hate, we need to remember that human beings are also meant to love each other.
MF: Finally, Bill, your character seems like the “Fun Dad,” can you talk about your approach to playing Bob and his relationship with his son?
Bill Irwin: When I got the call that there would be this part, and I would get to play husband to Sally, I was in. Telling stories is so tough. During rehearsals, Sally said some line to me, and I said, “Oh, it does not.” I just put in an argumentative response, and so I felt like we had something going.
But then it wasn’t until, for me anyway, we were really on camera that I realized this magnificent young man. I mean, Ben Aldridge is magnificent. This magnificent spirit whom he’s aligned himself to, Jim Parsons, they’re our family too. I was a little slow on the uptake, I guess.
Well, that part of the family, it wasn’t until we were actually on camera that I began to realize, “Oh, yeah.” So, I had to come up with a name for my son. Everybody else calls him Kit. I call him Kitty. Just these layers of family-ness that you’re looking for as storytellers, and if you’re going to work with a storyteller, Sally’s one that you can just nestle into and hold on to for dear life.
(L to R) Ben Aldridge stars as Kit Cowan, Jim Parsons as Michael Ausiello, Sally Field as Marilyn and Bill Irwin as Bob in director Michael Showalter’s ‘Spoiler Alert,’ a Focus Features release. Photo: Linda Källérus / © 2022 Focus Features LLC.
Spoiler Alert
“Love never stops surprising you. Even when you know how it ends.”
Based on Michael Ausiello’s best-selling memoir “Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies,” the film is a heartwarming, funny and life-affirming story of how Michael and… Read the Plot