I have reviewed many of Patrick Devaney’s independent films, and I loved them all…but this new film is definitely my favorite. Find out why with my review and interview of the amazing Patrick Devaney.
Dad’s New Roommate
Dad’s New Roommate is a short that centers around a retired widowed mechanic, who is also a Vietnam veteran. Joe Kowalski (Wylie Weeks) is lonely, and apparently his three children haven’t visited much since their mom passed away. Joe’s decision to accept a roommate from the internet to help with expenses has his sons Bob (Matthew J. Kaplan) and Jerry (Kyle Tuck) worried that their dad might be a victim of a scam. Joe doesn’t get much support from his daughter Margaret (Heather Drew) or her wife (Meaghan Bloom Fluitt).
Then, we meet the roommate, and Joe’s children are freaking horrified…and rightly so. Even though Joe’s children have taught him to me more open and accepting of people who are different than him…that all changes after meeting the roommate.
Conclusion with Spoilers
I was not expecting the ending! I don’t want to give too much away except to say that I would think twice before accepting a roommate from the Internet. Now, let’s find out more about the film from Patrick.
Gilbert: Patrick, where did you come up with such a great storyline?
Patrick: Hi Marie, thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it! Well, I’m not entirely sure where some of these ideas come from, I grew up watching Mr. Rod Serling tell me a story every night on my little B&W TV, so I know much of it comes from that; it never really turns off. But I knew I wanted to try my hand at something set more in “our” world. I mainly write things from alternative universes or timelines, and I also wanted to try to write something with an intentionally comedic angle, so this story kind of gelled in my head. As I was writing it, I could picture certain people playing certain things. I had worked with everyone in the cast in some way in the past, but I’d never really been with Wylie on set before. But he was my first choice to play Joe, the father in the story. Everyone involved was my first choice, so I was very lucky indeed. I pitched the script to my DP Mark Boutros, my AD Karen Morris, and my Costume Designer Gail Gooch and they were with the project right away.
I guess I also wanted to do something based on issues that people face today, themes of struggling with money and getting older, and family growing distant, and how the world today must not only look so different to an older person, but also to younger people who are well away from their college days. So much has changed in the last decade, and I think mainly for the better, but I wanted to explore what the members of one family are going through with all of that and then give them a huge curveball to deal with.
Gilbert: How did you meet Wylie Weeks?
Patrick: I was invited to be a guest director a few times for a horror acting class run by Pamela Kramer, the casting agent who originally introduced me to my constant collaborator, Heather Drew. This one time, Heather was doing a scene with Wylie, and I thought he was great and that they were excellent together. During the pandemic, we created the remotely-shot “Visitation” web series and I invited Wylie, who produced and shot his own segments in quarantine and went far above and beyond, and I thought “I need to work with this guy in person”. He accept the offer to play Joe and after our first online rehearsal I knew I had something exceptionally special in front of me. The entire cast just formed like they were family for years, and it’s what I’d hoped for but so far past what I’d dreamed would be possible.
It’s worth noting that Heather, Matthew J. Kaplan, and Kyle Tuck were also all in Visitation. Meaghan Bloom Fluitt would have been too, but I had not met her yet! I can understand people like Tim Burton very well today; once you find the people who you love to work with, you always want to work more with them.
Gilbert: Where can your fans watch this short?
Patrick: We are waiting to see when the film will premiere in 2024, it’s scheduled for the film festival circuit. As those things usually take months before you know anything, I cannot say for sure at this time. But we are planning to have it screen all over the US and Europe, and hopefully in new markets we’ve never had exposure to before. People who are interested can visit our Facebook page ( facebook.com/DadsNewRoommate ) or the film’s website ( www.find-a-mate.net ) We do hope its world premiere will be local to the Northeast so that most people involved can be there, but that is out of our hands for the moment!
Gilbert: What is your next project?
Patrick: I have a few projects in the planning stages for 2024 into 2025, including a new post-apocalyptic short dreamt up by my creative partner Lauren Clover, a long-planned new film created by Carol Ritter Conley (the director of “Penitence”), and a new film that I wrote called “Wavelet”, about a man who accidentally travels back 200 years into his past and no one seems very much impressed by this fact at all, no matter what he tries to tell them. So my hands are pretty filled with projects at this time, and I feel nothing but fortunate about that (with some level of anxiety, too..)
It’s wonderful to chat with you again, Marie, and thank you for the opportunity to tell the world about our new film!