This Father’s Day, Netflix will be premiering Fatherhood, based on the book Two Kisses For Maddy: A Memoir of Loss and Love by Matthew Logelin. The movie follows Matt as he struggles after losing his wife and has to raise Maddy all on his own and learn how to start his life again.
One of the key things to starting again is having a strong support group and finding new love. This is where Lil Rel Howery and DeWanda Wise come in. We had an opportunity to speak with the cast about the importance of a film like this, and how each character represented something important to Matthew Logelin's life. Catch Fatherhood on June 18, 2021 on Netflix.
Rel, I love Jordan. I feel like I connect with him the most because he was a supportive friend that Matt really needed. What did Jordan represent for Matt, and was he able to accomplish what he had to do for him?
Lil Rel Howery: First of all, I appreciate you remembering the character's name, because I forget.
DeWanda Wise: It has been two years.
Lil Rel Howery: You know something? It felt good, once again, just showing friendship - legit friendships between men. This is a sensitive situation, and we don't see a lot of that, especially among black men. It was really cool to show that friendship and be there for Matt.
I remember talking to Matt in real life, and he was saying I represented all his friends that supported him in real life. It was real cool, and just playing [against] Kevin was fun. We had so much fun.
Paul's an amazing director, and he's very open. Because sometimes some directors are like, "Hey, man, look. This is what I wrote. This is what it is," but we had really great creative conversations, and I appreciate that too. I was able to add my own flavor into the character and into this amazing story.
DeWanda, one of the hardest things for a single parent to do is introduce their kid to a potential relationship. There's a lot of things that you have to deal with. What do you think the hardest thing for her was in order to get involved with Matt?
DeWanda Wise: Paul and I, early on, had two central conversations. There was the conversation about how true it had to be that Lizzie said and meant, “I'm good on my own.” That was one, and that was part of why I am here and was cast as the strong, independent woman I am.
And the other part was that the chemistry between Swan and Maddy was actually more important than the chemistry between Swan and Matt, because Maddy's his world. When you're dating someone and you're entering into their life, and they have a family - they're a small family unit – it’s being a part of her life and being open and learning how to be a part of her life. Not just injecting or immediately trying to fulfill the role of mother, but just getting to know who Maddy is as the little autonomous, precocious, brilliant, confident child that both the actress and the character is in this movie. That was so important, and it was a lot of fun. Melody is brilliant.
What one thing stood out to you that made it clear that you had to be a part of the project?
DeWanda Wise: I always go off the script. My process is very simple. It's hard for me when they’re like, “There's no script.” Then I don't know what I'm attaching to.
I read the script and cried. I read the script, and I appreciated that Paul clearly did some revisions to write it for Kevin in a sense; in his voice more. And when I met with Paul, to Rel's point, he was just like, “I have a sliding scale of nerdiness. If you want to be involved in our process, I can keep you up to date. But if that's not your thing, then show up on the day.” He was like, “I like to be surprised.”
He said it, and he meant it. And we had a lot of freedom to really bring what we wanted to and needed to bring to these roles. And you don't get that often.
Lil Rel Howery: You really don't. One of the things to me was just the story in general. Once again, I’m a dad, and I just love seeing dad stories. One of my favorite movies is the Father of the Bride movies. I remember watching it when I was young, and it was just funny to me because I love Steve Martin. I watched it on a plane recently. So, to make one of those movies was just like, “I’m in!”
