“There’s no detail that’s too small, and it starts with the script, ” says writer-director Hallie Meyers-Shyer, whose latest film Goodrich comes from the heart. “The script is the thing, so if that works, you’re starting off from a good place. Everybody knows what they need to do, and then you can explore and let some magic happen.”
Hallie Meyers-Shyer has been surrounded by the film world since she was born. Her parents are veteran writer/directors Nancy Meyers (Private Benjamin) and Charles Shyer (Father of the Bride) who divorced when Hallie was a young girl.
In 2017, she made her directorial debut in 2017 with Home Again. Meyers-Shyer grew up in Los Angeles and attended The New School in Manhattan and The University of Southern California’s Writing for Screen and Television Program.
“Taking note of the many forms families take in this day and age, I wanted to write about different
generations of children from different marriages coming together to form a modern family. Inspired by films like Kramer vs. Kramer and Terms Of Endearment, complex family dynamics have always been at the center of the funny and emotional films I love most and the kind of stories I have always wanted to tell. Goodrich is a movie about coming of age at any age, about sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, marriage and divorce, and about realizing what really matters in life is the ones you love.”
For Meyers-Shyer, Goodrich is a personal film. “It could only be a personal movie. My father had children when I was in college, and that was complicated for me. It was a lot to digest and process, and I love those kids. And it was just an interesting thing to watch your parent, parent a new set of kids. So I thought that it should be a movie. I combined all these different themes in my life and I wanted to write a movie for Michael Keaton because I could only see him taking on a role like this.”
“Michael’s very selective as to what roles he takes on, so I thought there was a very good chance he would say no. I really just wrote my heart out, and I wrote it to Michael, the way you write to great music.I watched all of his films, I watched interviews with him, and I felt like I got to know him a little bit, and I just wrote as honestly to his talents and his strengths as I could, and prayed that he would say yes, and he did and quite quickly actually.”
“A lot of the time, as a writer, you can understand your life better by writing about it, and I think it’s a very human story. It’s very relatable. For me, that’s worthy of spending a lot of time on because I think it’s important for smaller, more intimate stories to be kept alive in today’s world. It’s an odd time for filmmaking.”
Meyers-Shyer thought it would be interesting to explore the idea of the work-life balance for men on screen because it’s talked about a lot for women. She wanted him to be a man of a certain age, because when he parented his first generation of children, which is Mila Kunis, there was a different standard for men. They could go off to work all day and come home for dinner, and that was a little bit excused in the ‘80s and even.
“I would say, up until recently, really. Now, in 2024, there are different societal standards for men and for fathers and different expectations. So, I thought if he had to parent then and he had to parent now, that would be comedic and interesting to dive into,” says Meyers-Shyer.
“Because we shot in 25 days, I had done a lot of that chiselling to the script because there’s no time to shoot things that you think may or may not be in the film. So, I had tried to get that script down to what really had to be there. I know some directors kind of do in editing room, “What about if we put this scene here,” and something wacky. That’s not my style. I stick to the script, and the script is pretty much the movie.”
It started for Hallie in terms of writing. “I’ve always really wanted to be a writer, so if it wasn’t gonna be film, I would wanna be a journalist or something. I’m a writer in my heart, and cinema is something I learned a lot about growing up. It was a big part of our upbringing. They would educate us on Sturges movies and Lubitsch movies, all of the masters, Billy Wilder. I really took to it at a young age and my parents noticed that, so they really encouraged it, and then they would start explaining things to me. There’s a language to film. I’m a parent now, and I notice if my kid is into music, then I start playing him Paul Simon. You want to encourage your kid’s interests, and my parents have a vast knowledge of the history of film, so they imparted that wisdom to me. Then, when I’d be on sets, they would show me things and explain them, “This is why we’re doing it this way.” When we would watch something, they would say, “You see how he did that? Do you see how the blocking of that was a two-shot, and then it pushed in and now it’s a single?” They would explain things to me. I can’t remember a time before I wanted to do this.”
Melding comedy with drama, Goodrich tests and explores its lead character Andy Goodrich, played by the incomparable Michael Keaton, showcasing both his lovable qualities and his flaws. Andy’s world is quickly upended when he finds himself in the position of being the sole parent of his nine-year-old twins from his second marriage. His life has always largely been consumed by work, causing Andy to never really give his kids the father they deserve while leaning a little too heavily on his adult daughter Grace (Mila Kunis) from his first marriage. Grace, now pregnant with her first child, watches from the sidelines as Andy learns to give his next generation of kids the very thing Grace’s childhood lacked — him. As his work life comes to an end, Andy must grapple with the universe changing his course both personally and professionally, which may ultimately be just what he needs.