Dave Franco and O’Shea Jackson Jr. lead road movie gone wrong, bringing comedy to Sundance

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PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Sundance movies might have a reputation for leaning into serious dramas, but this year the independent film festival has a slew of comedies on the slate, from quirky documentaries to more raucous fare.

One of the latter comes from filmmaker Macon Blair, a Sundance veteran and grand jury prize winner for “I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore,” whose new movie might best be described as a road movie gone wrong.

Dave Franco and O’Shea Jackson Jr. play two down on their luck guys and general screwups who are hired to transport a troubled teen (Mason Thames) to a treatment facility in “The S---heads,” which had its world premiere in Park City, Utah Friday night. It’s one of the films looking for distribution at the indie film festival.

Blair and Alex Orr started working on the script over 10 years ago. It almost got made in 2017, but financing fell apart when they were in pre-production.

“Over time it got a little darker, a little seedier, a little angrier. It’s still a comedy, it’s still meant to be fun and breezy and a good time,” Blair said. “But there was a current of something that became a little more pronounced.”

When they decided to try again, Franco was the one who helped get it across the finish line, joining as a producer, finding the money and suggesting Jackson and Thames for their roles. Blair loved watching Franco work, in particular.

“Every single thing he does, you’re like, ‘Oh that could go in the movie,’” Blair said. “He’s so prepared, so dialed in. It was impressive to watch.”

The film also features surprising supporting performances by Kiernan Shipka and Peter Dinklage, who Blair became friends with after getting a beer at Sundance not too long ago. His hope is to find a distributor who might be open to a theatrical release, citing a movie like “Friendship " as an example of a more unconventional movie that audiences turned out for.

“I hope someone gets the vibe of the movie on its own terms,” Blair said. “You don’t name a movie this because you want it to be a Merchant Ivory thing. But there’s other things in it. I think about O’Shea’s performance and how vulnerable he gets in this. I’m hoping people laugh, I’m hoping people have a good time. But I’m also hoping people see that he’s a great actor too.”

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