It's always the end of the world for somebody in Lorene Scafaria's movies. In Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, which has long been one of my go-to movies when I need a "pick-me-up", teens played by Michael Cera and Kat Dennings have a wild night on the town before heading into the uncertainty of adulthood. Her directorial debut Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is exactly how it sounds, two people (played by Steve Carell and Keira Knightley), finally find that someone special just as the apocalypse arrives.
In her latest film, the perfectly-timed comedy The Meddler, Scafaria injects some of her own life experiences into the story of a mother and daughter, played by Susan Sarandon and Rose Byrne respectively, dealing with the loss of a loved one in very different ways. While Byrne falls into a depression and buries herself in work as a TV writer, Sarandon moves to L.A. to be closer to her daughter and, yes, she begins to meddle in her life as well as others. It's the perfect film to take mom to for a Mother's Day excursion.I had a chance to talk with Scafaria about The Meddler, the personal tragedy that inspired the story, and some of what she's encountered trying to get small movies like this made today. You can check out that interview below, and read my review of The Meddler here.
