Laura Terruso: The Bold and Fierce Director of ‘About My Father’

For Laura Terruso, directing Lionsgate’s new film About My Father was much more than a milestone; it was a deeply personal project inspired by her own background.

Starring comedian Sebastian Maniscalco and Hollywood legend Robert De Niro, the film centers around Sebastian (Maniscalco), who is encouraged by his fiancée (Leslie Bibb) to bring his immigrant, hairdresser father, Salvo (DeNiro), to a weekend get-together with her wealthy and exceedingly eccentric family (Kim Cattrall, Anders Holm, Brett Dier, and David Rasche). The weekend develops into what can only be described as a culture clash, leaving Sebastian and Salvo to discover that the great thing about family is everything about family.

Thanks to Terruso’s unique vision as the daughter of an Italian immigrant, it’s no wonder that Vogue named the movie a top woman-directed film they couldn’t wait to see. Additionally, at age 40, Terruso made history as the youngest woman ever to direct De Niro, joining the ranks of only three other female directors who have achieved this feat.

Growing up in Brooklyn, Terruso graduated from NYU’s film school eight years ago and has had an impressive career that includes directing Sally Field and movies for Netflix and HBO. Being a woman as well as a member of the LGBTQ community, one might think Terruso has encountered several hurdles to break barriers in this male-dominated industry. On the contrary, being who she is has made her more determined to persevere.

Terruso took some time to talk more about her journey into film directing, About My Father, and upcoming projects with OFM.

Let me begin by asking, how excited are you that About My Father has finally released out into the world?

I am so happy that it is out in theaters! It’s all over the world, and it’s kind of crazy. I have a friend in Paris who sent me a picture of a bus with the poster on it. It’s sort of surreal. It’s been three years since I first pitched on the film, so it feels great to have it finally out and have people seeing it and appreciating it.

What was it about this script that made you want to be involved and direct?

When I first read the script, it was the first time in my career where I was like, “Oh my God, I have to direct this.” It’s about Sebastian’s relationship with his father, who’s a Sicilian immigrant, and my mother is a Sicilian immigrant. Both of our parents actually immigrated around the same time in the 1960s, so when I read it, I just felt such an immediate connection to this world, the characters, the story, and I knew I could bring a great deal of authenticity to the film because it was so true to my experience growing up.

You are now the youngest woman to ever direct Robert De Niro. What was it like working with him?

I mean, he’s a legend for a reason. He’s an absolute delight. He’s an incredible communicator, a brilliant collaborator. I just can’t say enough great things about him. I’m so, so grateful that I got to work with him on this film.

What do you ultimately hope audiences take away from About My Father?

Really, the goal was just to make a feel-good family comedy. For this, I took a lot of inspiration from early American cinema, like films from the 1940s, Billy Wilder, Preston Sturges, Frank Capra, and those films are very universal. They’re very funny and they lack cynicism, which was exactly what we were going for in telling this story. I wanted to make a film for my parents, especially for my mother. When I read the script, it was sort of like, wow, this is a story that I didn’t even know that I needed to tell. It’s been so personally fulfilling to tell it and write that love letter to my parents. I’m grateful for it.

Is there a scene that you are most excited for audiences to see?

There are so many scenes in the film that I’m very proud of. I think Kim Cattrall and Robert De Niro have incredible chemistry together, and I love the haircut scene. I won’t say more, but there’s a great scene between them, and it was very fun to shoot. I think the world of them both.

Have you always had a passion for storytelling?

I have! Growing up, I didn’t really think that filmmaking was a possibility. My mom’s a teacher, and my dad was a social worker, so filmmaking wasn’t something I saw modeled around me while growing up in Brooklyn. I always loved theater, and I thought I could possibly be an actress, but I didn’t see images of women directing, so it just didn’t seem feasible. It wasn’t until A League of Their Own, I saw a film directed by a woman that I could point to. So, it took me a while to come to filmmaking, and it actually wasn’t until I came out that I started making films.

I started out making these shorts that screened on the LGBTQ film festival circuit, and it would screen all over the world; I would go to the festivals, meet other filmmakers, and kind of hone my craft. In talking to and meeting other filmmakers, I realized that the ones who broke through and turned their passions into big careers were the ones who went to film school. After making a few short films and working on various projects, I decided to apply to film school, and I got into the graduate film program at NYU. My coming out was kind of a catalyst for my career as an artist (laughs).

Being a LGBTQ woman, how challenging has it been for you to break through this male-dominated industry?

I think this industry is tough for everyone. It’s just a hard industry, and I haven’t felt like my gender or sexual orientation has held me back in any way. If anything, it’s made me stronger because I feel more determined to tell stories, and I feel like I have a lot of stories to tell that haven’t been told yet. So, if anything, I think those things have helped me.

With About My Father, you’re telling a story from a male perspective. How did you want to approach that?

When I first pitched on the film, I told Sebastian and the producers that I don’t see this as a film about gender. It’s about empathy, being first-generation, and being an immigrant and what that means. I was so drawn to the character of Salvo because I saw how rich it was. Not just comedically, but that character is so shaped by loss. Loss of his identity, loss of his wife, and now he feels like he’s losing his son. It’s like everything’s slipping away from him. Even though the premise is very comedic and sort of universal in that meeting of the family, there’s an undercurrent of real drama, and I felt that right from the jump. I knew it was going to attract a great actor because it’s a great role.

What are some future goals you hope to accomplish with your career?

Oh, that’s such a great question. I want to make films that are personal and heartfelt, but also hilarious. I want to make films that are uplifting. I don’t see myself making a tragedy anytime soon (laughs). My gift is comedy, it’s what I love. I went to film school at NYU, and out of 38 students, there were only eight Americans. I was making a lot of queer work, and I realized that what separated me or made me different was not that I was a queer filmmaker. It’s that I was funny, and I express myself through humor. It’s how I deal with life and how I see the world.

So, I want to keep making work that is personal in some way. Every single film that I have made and directed has been personal. Even the films I’ve written, you have to pull from your human experience, and that’s what I want to continue doing in my career.

What’s the next project you are working on?

I’m pitching a mini-series with Norman Lear’s company based on a fantastic LGBTQ doc. I don’t think I can say what it is, but I’m very excited about it, and I hope someone buys it because I think it’s going to be a tremendous show.

Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects or anything else you’d like to mention or plug?

Yeah, I have a performance film that I made. It was a pandemic passion project that I worked on with a performer and writer named Joseph Keckler. He’s also a singer, and that should be coming out this year. We’re going to be finishing it this summer, so I’m excited to put that in the world. It’s called No Midnight.

Stay up-to-date and connect with Terruso by following her on Instagram @lauraterruso. About My Father is now playing in theaters.

Photos courtesy of Matt Kallish and Dan Anderson/Lionsgate