Summary
Mother of All Showsis an ambitiousmusicalmovie from Canadian filmmaker Melissa D’Agostino. Written by D’Agostino and David James Brock,Mother of All Showstakes place largely in the mind of its main character, Liza. Attempting to cope with the impending death of her estranged mother, Liza constructs a 1970’s-style variety show in her mind—one hosted by her mother, Rosa. Making the most of its variety show format,Mother of All Showshas singing, dancing, asides, ads, and more, all in service of its emotional mother-daughter story.
In addition to directing and co-writing both script and songs for the film, D’Agostino stars inMother of All Showsas Liza. Opposite her as Rosa is the versatile Wendie Malick, whose long list of screen credits includesBoJack Horseman(she played BoJack’s caustic mother, Beatrice),Night Court, andYoung Sheldon. Together, D’Agostino and Malick expose the fraught relationship between Liza and Rosa, occasionally interrupted only by other figures from Liza’s past.
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Screen Rantspoke with Melissa D’Agostino over Zoom, and Wendie Malick over e-mail, about their roles onMother of All Shows. D’Agostino detailed the amount of work (and collaboration) that went into wearing as many hats as she did throughout the production of the film, and Malick reflected on how the ambitious project fits into her storied career, which continues in fall 2024 withNight Courtseason 3. The pair also touched on the process of working together and merging their talents to bringMother of All Showsto life.
Melissa D’Agostino & Wendie Malick On Realizing An Emotional Mother/Daughter Story
Screen Rant: Melissa, I don’t know how autobiographical this is, but I feel like it’s always hard with personal stories to toe the line between sharing a personal experience and villainizing somebody. Then, there’s knowing that it’s going to be seen by people familiar with everyone involved. How much did that weigh on you as you were writing and making this?
Melissa D’Agostino: I like to say that it’s not autobiographical because so much of it is fictionalized by design and on purpose, but it was very much a personal situation and story. I am not in contact with my mother, but while my writing partner, David James Brock, and I worked on it, we were very deliberate about not making it about my family.
[That’s because] I think making a fictionalized version is far more interesting than just telling you about my life in a movie, but also because of sensitivity toward the people involved. I had no interest in outing people or denigrating people or their behavior, maybe even especially my mom. The interest for me was trying to take this very internal process of what it feels like to be no contact and then have to be confronted with your parent, or choose to go see them, and make it cinematic.
Also, I think there’s real value in telling these stories because shame lives in dark places. When you shine light on situations like this and de-stigmatize the idea of having a complicated relationship with a family member, more and more people can embrace complicated relationships. Maybe that helps them process those situations, and maybe that helps them be able to be in contact—or not—and make that choice freely.
So, I was very concerned with [that], and it weighed quite heavily on me. Having David there was very helpful, because he brought so much of his own experience and his own beautiful writing to the project, and he kept me in check. We didn’t want to make Rosa into a villain, and purely a villain, and so we were very careful to try and balance the story.
Wendie, I imagine this is an interesting role because you’re playing someone’s mental image of a person who is also the host of a show. Where did you find inspiration in how to play this version Rosa?
Wendie Malick: I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of public and private personas. Rosa was such a rich dichotomy of the disappointing mother she was, and the glamorous character she would have loved to be—a legend in her own mind, and that of her daughter.
What was your way into finding compassion for Rosa?
Wendie Malick: As an actor, I am drawn to somewhat damaged human beings, who often overcompensate just to get by. I have certainly been in that place where I had to act as if I knew what I was doing, when I didn’t have a clue… I think we all have those days, no matter how old we are, where it feels like the first day in a new school, and you have no one to have lunch with.
And how did this movie make you reflect on your own experience as a parent?
D’Agostino Discusses Creative Risks & The Unique Structure Of Mother Of All Shows
Melissa, I was constantly surprised by where the script went. There are ads, interludes, and even animation. You did so many cool things in service of this structure. How much of that were your and David’s first instincts, and how much were you constantly looking for ways to one-up what you were writing?
Melissa D’Agostino: That’s a really cool way to put it. In some ways, I think my writing partner and I were always trying to one-up what we were doing creatively just out of sheer joy and the pleasure of surprising each other and ourselves as we wrote and pitched ideas. But the way we came up with the types of sketches and storytelling was really… it was Covid, so we sat down in my backyard, socially distanced, and had a board, and wrote out all of the sketches on variety shows that we loved growing up. Then, we [thought about], “What are all the emotional beats we want this mother and daughter to go on? What are the places that they’re going to stop for a second and confront each other, and how will that go?” Then, we thought, “Well, what’s the best kind of sketch to accommodate that?”
Melissa D’Agostino: I always knew there would be animation in it because we grew up with so much animation integrated into everything. Saturday Night Live and kids’ shows had a mix of it. We knew that, and I think David always knew he wanted a country song in there. There were a couple of things where we were like, “These are things we want to do as artists,” and then we were like, “What significance would those have in this relationship?” It was always [about] connecting the dots that way, and then it just revealed itself to us. The structure built very organically.
Was there a specific part of it that felt like the biggest risk as you were writing it, or the scariest thing to pull off?
Melissa D’Agostino: The animation scene, for sure, was very scary. I kept doing drafts of that scene and writing around the themes of the film, and David, one day, was like, “I think we just have to say things. I think we have gone into this deeper part of this person’s psyche, and we just have to say things.” He said something that really cracked it open. He was like, “One version of you is asking questions to the other version, but they’re the wrong questions. So, what if the scene is about how that’s not the question, and you never really answer the questions?” It felt very risky to just lay it all out there, but it also felt very freeing to say, “You know what? We keep dancing around this. We’re just going to do it.” So, the creative risk of it was very satisfying.
Malick & D’Agostino Reflect On Taking On Unique Projects Like Mother Of All Shows
Wendie, one of my favorite shows is BoJack Horseman, which you were amazing in, because it feels like a series of creative risks. This movie does too, in the best way. Are you always looking for the opportunity to do something different in that way?
Wendie Malick: Obviously, I love comedy, but I especially love how “comedy” has evolved. I think, particularly with the intro of streaming, the continuum between comedy and drama has blurred. When you’re invested in characters, you’re more willing to sympathize with them when they stumble, and root for them when they persevere.
Melissa, I feel like this movie is bold, creatively, in a way that’s going to inspire people to make their own things. In that spirit, how hard was it to get this made? How did you push this through to the finish line?
Melissa D’Agostino: I hope it inspires people to make their thing, because it was hugely satisfying to do. For me, part of what made this possible [that] was my partner and I, Matt Campagna—who also co-directed the film, was one of the DOPs, and edited the film—had built a streaming site in Canada called Highball TV. Having that company enabled us to access some funding and use the tax credit in Canada, and so we were very lucky that we had the financial mechanism because we had built this entity. That’s one of the major hurdles—“How are you going to fund it?” So, we were very lucky that we were in an ecosystem where that was already happening for us and we could access it.
In terms of what it took creatively, getting a team together, and how much effort everyone put into it, it was such a marathon. I don’t think I was really prepared for the marathon that it would be. Making a movie in any configuration is a miracle, but when you’re making an indie project and it’s also deeply personal and emotional and everyone is very invested, it also means that everyone’s really pushing. It was four weeks we really pushed, but I had such a great team, and I was so energized by the process, and then post was just… I had to get ready for every new phase of it. It’s like [I’d] muster up new energy, [but] I don’t think people understand how many times you have to watch the movie you’ve made over and over again in post. When it’s very personal, there was a little bit of a time when I was like, “I don’t know how many more times I can watch this and be objective.”
It was a marathon, but it was also the most satisfying time of my life. I am exceedingly proud of it, and I really do hope it encourages people to mine the things in their lives that are exciting to them and try and put them on screen.
D’Agostino & Malick Enjoyed A “Seamless” Collaboration
Melissa, you’re working with Wendie Malick, who’s a legend. How do you approach working with somebody like that? Did you ever reference her own work back to her?
Melissa D’Agostino: We talked a lot about her previous roles because we’re all such fans. In the nineties I was such a fan of Dream On, it was one of my favorite shows on HBO. I was too young to be watching it, looking back on it, [but] I had watched it and I loved it. David and I talked about it a lot in the writing room because it’s a similar mechanism. [With] Brian Benben’s character, when he has an internal thought, it goes to something he saw on television or an old black and white movie. Then, we talked a lot about BoJack Horseman because I’m such a fan of that show. She voices his mother, and it’s devastating and such a character. She and I talked a lot about those two things. We talked about them the first phone call we ever had, and certainly on set they came up.
When we were working on set, we would sometimes talk about the references for the scenes. For instance, when we were shooting the monologue, we talked about Phyllis Diller and Johnny Carson. The Shame Flakes commercial, that’s Lynn Redgrave in every WeightWatchers commercial I grew up watching. We did talk about shared references, but mostly she came so ready to dive in with such a rich performance already there, so it was really just about listening to her and watching her play and then suggesting little things, and then giving her as much leeway and freedom to play and go as big or as niche as she wanted to. [We] just sort of let her go and watched her dazzle. And acting opposite her was the easiest, and so dreamy.
Wendie, you and Melissa obviously had to work incredibly closely, as both actor and director and as scene partners. What was the process like on set? Did it take you two a minute to find the right rhythm?
Wendie Malick: The experience was seamless. I initially wondered if Melissa could pull of the triple challenge of writer/director/star, but she had built such an amazing support team, who always had her back, I realized immediately I was in very good hands.
Wendie Malick Reveals Filmmakers Have “Toyed With The Possibility” Of A Just Shoot Me Reboot
You’ve been a part of so many well-known and long-running projects—Young Sheldon and BoJack just to name a few. Is there a world you’ve gotten to play in that you’d be most eager to return to, given the chance?
Wendie Malick: I am grateful for all of it. I learned something on every project I was privy to, even the gnarly ones. We’ve toyed with the possibility there could be a reboot of “Just Shoot Me”…but George Segal is gone, and we had such a sweet run, I think we all prefer to honor what we did together, and let that speak for itself. As for the rest, I have no plans to retire… bring it on!
About Mother Of All Shows
Written by Melissa D’Agostino and David James Brock, Mother of All Shows follows Liza (D’Agostino), coping with the impending death of her estranged mother, who retreats to a 70’s variety show in her mind where the all-powerful host is Liza’s own mother, Rosa (Wendie Malick), who leads an all-singing, all-dancing cast of players from Liza’s past and present. Scene by scene, song by song, Liza works through parts of their past during an attempt to visit her mother without losing herself in the process.
Mother of All Shows
Cast
Liza, grappling with the impending death of her estranged mother Rosa, escapes into a vivid fantasy where her mother hosts a 1970s-style variety show. As Rosa leads a colorful cast from Liza’s past and present, their tumultuous relationship is reimagined through song and sketch, blending humor and emotional depth.
