Summary

Collider’s Steve Weintraub moderates a Q&A with Nik Dodani and producer Chris Bender for Max’s The Parenting.

The Parenting is a horror-comedy featuring Nik Dodani, Brandon Flynn, Brian Cox, Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow, Edie Falco, and Dean Norris.

In a Collider-moderated Q&A, Dodani and producer Chris Bender discuss the ins and outs of bringing the film to life, including sharing a scene that didn’t make it into the final cut and how Dodani breaking his arm during filming impacted production.

​The Parenting is a horror-comedy film now streaming on Max, offering a blend of the 2000s “meeting the in-laws” comedy films with a unique aspect—horror. The story follows a young couple, Rohan (Nik Dodani) and Josh (Brandon Flynn), who organize a weekend getaway to introduce their parents to each other at a country rental house. Unbeknownst to them, the house harbors a 400-year-old evil entity, leading to unexpected and humorous supernatural events. Following a screening in Los Angeles hosted by Collider, Steve Weintraub moderated a question and answer session with Dodani, who was joined by the film’s producer, Chris Bender.​
Bender is known for films like The Hangover series and A History of Violence, though his career began with the raunchy teen comedy American Pie. Through his company, Good Fear Content, he develops genre-spanning films with audience appeal and strong storytelling, constantly seeking to bring original stories to the screen rather than be stuck in the endless IP-content machine. Dodani, meanwhile, is an actor, comedian, writer, and now director, known for his roles in Atypical, Murphy Brown, and Escape Room. He also appeared in Dear Evan Hansen and has performed stand-up comedy in the past, bringing sharp humor to stage and screen.
In the Q&A, the duo keep things light and humorous as they discuss the process of bringing The Parenting to screen, from securing a stellar cast with additional credits including Brian Cox, Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow, Edie Falco, and Dean Norris, to the familial dynamic on-set, Dodani breaking his arm during production, and much more. You can check out the full conversation in the video above or you can read the transcript below.
Bender and Dodani On Their Past Projects They Want To Be Known For

“I did think I was a wizard for the good part of my childhood.”

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

COLLIDER: How are you doing?
NIK DODANI: Very well.
CHRIS BENDER: I’m doing very well, thank you. It’s great seeing it on a big screen. Really fun. Especially hearing the audience laughing.
DODANI: Thank you for laughing.
I have a bunch of questions for you, but before we get into the movie, I like throwing some curveballs and some random stuff. For both of you, besides The Parenting, if someone has never seen anything you’ve done before or produced, what’s the first thing you’d like them watching and why?
BENDER: Well, I made this movie, Burt Wonderstone. It’s about magic. And I just really like to talk about it because of the cast—Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi and James Gandolfini, in one of his last roles, which he may regret… and Jim Carrey. It was a weird comedy that we did way too much research for. It was a lot of fun to make, but it did not do well, so I like talking about that one. A curveball back!
DODANI: About a decade ago, I was in a Wendy’s commercial that haunts me to this day.
Not the thing I was expecting.
DODANI: I feel like I just got to lean into it now.
I agree. At a young age, when you were younger than now, you made your stand-up TV thing on Colbert. What is it like in the days leading up to you being on Colbert [The Late Show with Stephen Colbert] to do stand-up? Are you in your head? Are you second-guessing every joke you’ve ever written? What is it like?
DODANI: It was one of the most nerve-wracking things I’ve ever done. But thankfully, I had my friend Frankie Fly with me—she’s back there. Honestly, I mean, the jokes I’ve been working on for three years, so I felt good about the jokes, but I was second-guessing my outfit the entire time. I’m pretty sure I’d steamed my shirt in the basement of that theater like four times. But thankfully, you know, it’s Colbert. It’s a very loving crowd, and I think it went well. I don’t know. That actually was the last time I did stand-up, though.
Is that true?
DODANI: It’s true. Yeah. I told myself I would take a one-month break because I had reached such a big milestone…and that was in 2018.
The vacation’s lasted a little while.
DODANI: A little long.
Throwing over to you, early in your career, I think you were a co-producer on American Pie. First of all, how did you get involved, and at what point did you realize, “Oh, this might actually be, like, a pretty big movie”?
BENDER: Okay, so that was the first movie I ever developed. I found the writer and had the idea for doing a teen sex comedy because there hadn’t been one in the ’90s up to that point. And so it started as just me pitching him, kind of like, “Let’s do a teen sex comedy.” Everything that happened in that movie is actually based on something that really happened—I’ll leave it like that for now.
So, I developed this script with Adam Herz. I gave it to the guys I was working for, Warren Zide and Craig Perry, who produced it, and it went out as a spec script. It went out with the title, Untitled Teenage Sex Comedy That Your Readers Will Hate but Audiences Will Love That You Can Make for Under $9 Million, Under $10 Million. Because at the time, we felt that readers were going to hate the script when they got it in the studios. And then it sold.
The sale actually is an interesting story because it sold for, like, $650,000. The writer’s electricity was being turned off at the time, and he was a PA. Then we cast it, and it was kind of this movie no one really had high expectations of. The moment I knew we had something special—and again, it was my first time going through it—was the test screening, the very first test screening. I walked into the theater late, and the opening scene was playing, and people were just bucking in their seats. It was the greatest feeling in the world, and I was really lucky to have that as my first experience.

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[Nik], I read that you were on Broadway for Waitress. What was it like? I think you did a month or so on Broadway. What is it like actually being on Broadway? What might surprise people to learn?
DODANI: Well, I was surprised to learn that, apparently, you don’t actually have to be good at singing because I can’t sing. I got the offer because I was in the Dear Evan Hansen movie, and I think that team thought I could sing because I sang in a movie, but that’s very different. So, I actually asked them to test my singing, because I was like, “I don’t want to show up and you guys regret your decision.” Then they had me in daily training with Broadway’s best, just to make sure. There was one night I sang off-key the entire night, and as soon as I walked offstage, the folks backstage were just like, “It’s okay, it happens.”
BENDER: That doesn’t feel good.
DODANI: It doesn’t feel good. I also split my pants one night. That was fun. Bleeding…
BENDER: Live theatre!
You had a really good time.
DODANI: Well, honestly, it’s the most fun job I’ve ever had. It was, like, seven or eight weeks. I was living in midtown Manhattan, which is bonkers. I would love to do it again. Not the singing part.
Chris, you’ve been in the business as a producer for, like, 25 years-ish. How has the business changed from when you first started to where we are now?
BENDER: The big change, obviously, is streaming and the loss of the DVD market and how that’s affected what’s getting made and what’s in theaters and what I feel like is the loss of the middle, the mid-range movies. A lot of comedies. I still am holding onto this idea that it’s going to come back— original screenplays—because so much is based on IP.
There was a speculative screenplay market when I got started where you would read. I remember the screenplays that would come through that everyone would be talking about. I remember reading The Sixth Sense before it was a production, or The Truman Show, and you don’t see that much anymore. Actually, you don’t see that at all anymore. So, I’m hoping there’s maybe a renaissance of writers that start to write original screenplays again.

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I remember reading Variety, and they’d be like, “This script sold for $1 million!” And I can’t remember the last time a script was sold.
BENDER: Not unless it’s an agency pack, like a big package with stars. So yeah, things are a little broken right now in that sense.
You directed a short film, Blue Boy. What was it about that material that said, “I want to direct this?” And for people that want to see it, when can they see it?
DODANI: Blue Boy is based on a novel of the same name by Rakesh Satyal. It’s about this 12-year-old Indian kid who thinks he’s the reincarnation of the Hindu god Krishna, but actually, he’s just gay. I related to that. I didn’t think I was a god, to be clear. I did think I was a wizard for the good part of my childhood. But it’s a really sweet coming-of-age story with magical realism. I was just really drawn to it because it’s such a specific cultural story, but it very much tackles universal themes of belonging and being a weirdo and trying to figure things out, and also that kind of childlike wonder of trying to make sense of the world and coming to all the wrong conclusions.
Yeah, we shot the short film. We did a festival run last year. We’re developing into a feature right now with some really cool producers. The short film is not available publicly, but if you hit me up on Instagram, I’ll send you a private link.
If you get to make the feature, are you planning on directing?
DODANI: Yes. No acting. Just writing and directing.
How ‘The Parenting’ Came to Be

“I was laughing out loud that it was just the dumbest thing I’ve ever read.”

Jumping into why I get to talk to you guys for what’s on the screen right now. Chris, how did this project happen?
BENDER: It was a phone call from an agent at CAA who called me about the writer, Kent Sublette, who’s one of the head writers at Saturday Night Live. We had just had lunch, and I was complaining about not getting enough original material, and so he told me that Kent was looking to develop. He’s mostly writing sketches; he’s written on a few features. He gave me the loose idea. It was based a little bit on his life. It was based on meeting his in-laws. But Kent’s a big horror fan, and he loved the idea of them being at this house and that there was something in the house already. When I heard the idea, I kind of understood immediately. I love the themes of Meet the Parents, and I love the idea of a much bigger problem than sort of the normal stuff that goes on when people meet, and the kind of confluence of those ideas and the comedy of that, and getting to work with the head writer of SNL. So, I loved it.
I called New Line, and Richard Brenner bought it based off of that. We have a long-standing relationship, but that doesn’t happen much anymore. He bought it based off of basically the idea, and the idea of Kent writing it. We worked on it for, like, a year, developing the script.
Nik, what was it about this script and story that said, “I need to be in this?”
DODANI: Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers are some of my favorite movies from that era, and this really felt like a comedy from that era. I just thought the demon possession and all was such a great metaphor for family tension. I was laughing out loud that it was just the dumbest thing I’ve ever read. It was so funny. I also really loved that it featured a queer couple, but it’s talking about these themes that we all deal with, right? I mean, meeting your partner’s parents is really tough. It’s really terrifying, no matter who you are…It’s just a really great script.
I also worked with the director, [Craig Johnson], previously. I had a small role in his last film, Alex Strangelove, and when I saw he was directing it, I was really excited. I considered texting him to be like, “Hey, I’m auditioning!” But then I decided against it because I was like, “I should get this on my own merit.” Then I went and did a self-tape. Then I did a Zoom callback, and then I had a chemistry read with Brandon Flynn over Zoom, which I thought would go terribly, but we had chemistry over Zoom, and I feel like if you can do it over Zoom, you can kind of do it anywhere.
Securing and Working With The All-Star Cast of The Parenting

“They’re all so down-to-earth and grounded and professional and funny as hell.”

Image via Max

The thing that struck me was when I found out we were going to do this, and I watched the movie, and I was like, “How the fuck did you get this cast?” I just want to say, Brian Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Edie Falco, Dean Norris, Parker Posey, these are big names. How did you do this?
BENDER: Looking at the poster, it kind of surprises me every time I look at it, too. It started with Brian Cox. He was just finishing up—the guy likes to work. Like, even when he was doing our movie, he was running off to do McDonald’s commercials. He just does not stop, and we were told this. “He likes to work. He’s going to be moving, and during this time, he’s going to do something else.” He comes in like a firestorm, ready to go. He wanted to do a comedy. I think it was just different for him. He wanted to do something different. He liked our director. They met and spoke on the phone—Craig Johnson had done Skeleton Twins.
I think because we had that anchor, we were able to build off of that, you know? I feel like Lisa might have been second, and then Parker. So, it all came together as we were in prep, but it started with Brian. That was the anchor, once we were able to build off of that.
You do realize that this is not easy to do?
BENDER: Oh, it never is, but that’s the most fun, when you’re finally greenlit—there’s no such thing as greenlit—when you’re finally told, “We might be making this.” We shot this outside of Boston, in Concord, Massachusetts. When you’re building the cast, that’s when your adrenaline gets pumping, and you start making the calls, and it gets really exciting. You know you have a point where you’re going to start; they’re telling you you’re going to start, and you’re just trying to get the best possible people. It was interesting starting this one with the adults, because that’s what we were doing, starting it with the adult cast—the parents, I mean.
DODANI: I’m an adult.
BENDER: Well, you’re not. I mean, you’re just a kid. You’re not really. You’re not a parent.
DODANI: I’m 31!
I was going to bring this up later, but you shot this in Massachusetts, and I am from New England. My only grievance with the movie is, how do you not have Dunkin Donuts in this movie? Because—if you have not been to Massachusetts—they’re on every corner.
BENDER: Yeah, fair. I mean, I grew up in New Jersey, so I understand. But they would have had to order the Dunkin Donuts and nobody could get in, nobody could get out [of the house in the film], so there wasn’t really an opportunity for getting…
These are just lies.
BENDER: We did eat Dunkin Donuts. We had a fair amount of Dunkin Donuts.
I’m just messing with you. What is it like when you find out it’s these actors, and you’re going to be doing a scene with Brian? You’ve worked on many things, but these are some heavy hitters.
BENDER: Were they all on at that point?
DODANI: They were, but no one told me! I got the job and I texted Craig Johnson, the director, being like, “Hey, I have some ideas for the parents, if you want to hear them.” And he was like, “I’m so sorry, Nik, but we already cast the parents.” He was like, “Your dad is Brian Cox, your mom is Edie Falco…” And I was like, “That’s cool, I’m happy. You don’t need to apologize for that.” I was losing my mind. And then he said Dean Norris and Parker Posey and Lisa Kudrow, which is really special because Lisa actually gave me my first job 10+ years ago on The Comeback. So, it was crazy to kind of come back—no pun intended—and work with her again.

Image via HBO

What would surprise people to learn about working with that cast and the way they are on set in between scenes?
DODANI: They’re all so down-to-earth and grounded and professional and funny as hell. Brandon and I were really nervous, like, “Are they going to want to hang out, or are they going to be chill?” It ended up being summer camp. We were having barbecues and watching dumb movies and cooking. We did a seance—that was fun. It was a really, really good time.
One of the things I loved in the film is Brian just delivers some filthy dialogue. How much when you have Brian in the movie are you like, “Maybe we need to add even more?”
BENDER: All of the bad language was in there. It was sort of written to be that way. Brian, the one thing that he asked for in the scene where he’s talking to himself is he wanted to play that in a way where he was those two people. It was originally written that he was kind of saying it to himself. But for the most part, all the language and all of the evil demon talk, that was Kent. That was in the script. The idea of having Brian say all that was amazing, and he said it all. It all seemed to roll off the tongue with him for some reason. It wasn’t a surprise.
So, Was That a Brian Cox “Butt Double” or Not?

“He was very naked.”

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

For both of you, you see the shooting schedule in front of you. What day do you have circled because you are super excited to film something, and what day do you have circled because you’re like, “How the F are we going to film this?”
DODANI: I feel like any of the days we had the whole cast in one scene, like the dinner scene or the breakfast scene. Those are always my favorites because everyone was together, and we were just hanging out.
BENDER: That was one of my favorites. I think it was the first dinner scene take or second take. It was fantastic. It was perfect. Everything was settled and great. Although, I think I was extremely excited for, “Look at it!” I was very excited for that.
DODANI: I was just also excited for naked Brian Cox day. I was curious if he was going to do it himself or if there was going to be a butt double. I would have circled that. I definitely circled that.
BENDER: I had to call the executives and be like, “We did it. ‘Look at it!’ was great.”
Wait, that wasn’t really him?
BENDER: I noticed online there’s some back-and-forth.
DODANI: I know there’s some disagreement .
BENDER: But no, there was a butt double.
With good reason. It’s Brian Cox.
DODANI: He was very naked, though.
BENDER: He was?
DODANI: He was pretty naked when we shot. He was pretty damn close to me.
BENDER: He didn’t seem like he would have had an issue with it. Those are always fun conversations.
A Peek Behind-the-Scenes of Filming ‘The Parenting’

“I was so jealous of Brandon when he got pummeled with the vomit…”

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

What would surprise fans of the film to learn about the making of the movie? Besides the fact that there’s no Dunkin’ Donuts in it.
DODANI: While we were shooting, we were all actually living in the same haunted hotel in Concord, Massachusetts, called the Colonial Inn. As soon as I checked in, the person at the front was like, “By the way, your room used to be the bridal suite, and it’s haunted by a ghost. She protects young brides from evil men.” And I was like, “Okay, that sounds kind of cool, actually.” I walked in, and I kid you not, I was like, “Ma’am, I’m gay. It’s a different situation.” I didn’t have any trouble.
BENDER: [Laughs] Pretty good. I was going to say similar. There’s not a lot of places to stay in Concord. There’s, like, Courtyard Marriott, which I think Parker [Posey] stayed in for, like, a day. But then when she heard Lisa was staying… I was shocked. We have all these big stars coming in. We’re like, “Where are they gonna stay? They’re going to be miserable.” There was this building across from the hotel that was, like, five floors and maybe four, and old furniture and old fixtures and creaky floors, and they all chose to live in this apartment building. They were cooking for each other and up and down. It really was magical. And Parker, who was staying in the Courtyard, once she heard that Lisa—who she’d worked with, and they’re friends—she moved out of there and moved into the tiny little apartment, and they were all cooking for each other and having dinners and seances, I guess. So, that was a really pleasant surprise.
We ended the shoot with a huge barbecue that Parker arranged, but then doled out all the responsibilities to pretty much everybody, to get the ice and the food. Dean Norris barbecued, like, seriously, barbecue on the front lawn. It was hilarious because Concord is a small town—people are driving down the street, and then they’d kind of double-take when they’d see Dean Norris cooking steak and Parker Posey eating ribs. But it was really great. This cast really was one of the most familial casts that I’ve ever worked with and seen come together.
You ended up in Massachusetts, I would imagine, because of the tax break.
BENDER: Tax break, and we needed snow, and we needed the house. We got lucky with the snow, but we had to do a lot of visual effects for the snow. And we found this amazing house, the house that’s in the movie. We were originally planning on shooting a lot in the house until after we got there and settled in, we found out the house had been sitting around for a long time and maybe wasn’t the cleanest.
DODANI: Asbestos.
BENDER: Yes. I remember going in the basement, walking around like, “This is unbelievable. This is incredible. Look at all this rust. Look at all that flaky stuff on the ceiling. This is terrifying.” And, “Oh, my god, get me the fuck out of here. This is so unsafe.” So, we pivoted with the production plan and had to build a lot of the interior, but that also worked really well for floating Brian Cox—you know, all the cables and things that we had to do.
Were you disappointed or happy that you were not covered in slime, bitten by a devil dog…the list goes on?
DODANI: I was so jealous of Brandon when he got pummeled with the vomit because that’s why we do this, you know?
BENDER: That was a circle day, too. We were all pretty excited about that.
DODANI: That was a great day. I asked to be on set even though I was not in the scene. It was so fun. Yeah, I was jealous.

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I’m always curious how actors get ready to do a role. Hypothetically, you’re going to start filming this on a Monday. How early on are you breaking down the script and thinking about how you want to play things? Is it two months before you’re shooting? Is it the weeks leading up? Pull back the curtain on how you like to get ready to do things.
DODANI: For this one, we were really lucky because Brandon and I were able to go to Concord about two or three weeks before we started shooting, so we got to just spend time running lines and rehearsing with Craig. And I think the most important thing for us was to get really comfortable with each other because they’ve [Dodani and Flynn’s characters] been dating for years, and so we really wanted it to feel lived in. That was really nice. Normally, you don’t get that much time to just sit with the script. Also, we got to meet with Kent, and he was so open to just hearing thoughts because the role, I think, was written as Graham.
BENDER: Yeah. That name changed so many times.
DODANI: Really?
BENDER: Yeah. While we’re developing the script, it would come in with a new name. He’d be like, “I didn’t like the sound of that” since it was based on him and his husband. He just kept coming up with names. So anyway, it was Graham at one point.
DODANI: Yeah. Then the whole Rohan switch, he was so collaborative and kind, and he’s just amazing. But we had some prep time, which is really great.
‘The Parenting’ Has An Additional Scene They’d Like to Share

“…and they’re doing a choreographed dance to a ‘Karma Chameleon.’”

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

I’m always curious about the editing process. I’m assuming you did friends and family screenings or test screenings. What did you learn from those early screenings that impacted the finished film?
BENDER: What I remember most is because we were editing in New York City. So, I was having to fly back to New York for cuts. For comedies, we like to do mini screenings, so we were playing it for a real audience and not friends and family. It was finding the balance between the horror and the comedy, because we always saw it as a comedy first, but we wanted the horror and the scares to at least be legitimate for when they did play. So finding that tone, which bled into the score. It was very interesting watching the score evolve because Craig was trying things from, like, Tim Burton movies, and that felt too weird. We had to find our own feel ultimately, which played the scares seriously enough, but really focused on the movie being funny.
Did you make any big changes or lose any big storylines, or was it just little tweaks?
BENDER: The movie was obviously a lot longer, so it was about tightening it. There weren’t any really big changes.
DODANI: The wedding.
BENDER: The wedding, that’s true. We did shoot one absolutely insane thing for the ending, which we ultimately didn’t use…
Oh, we need to go into more detail. Please explain.
DODANI: At the end, Josh and I are getting married, and all the parents are dressed up, and they’re doing a choreographed dance to a ‘Karma Chameleon.’ It actually felt very Indian wedding vibes with the dancing and the singing. And then Parker Posey shows up in a full wedding dress, and then Josh’s face disappears, and we realize I’m in a nightmare. We shot a full wedding. Do you think they’d release it?
BENDER: Will they release it?
DODANI: In the DVD days, that would have absolutely been on the DVD, and it would have been a fun Easter egg. I don’t know where the hell you can put it now.
I’ll tell you where.
BENDER: If someone was to come over and see it, I’d queue it up.
They have this thing called streaming, and there’s a channel called Max. What they should be able to do is add, like, an “extra” on the movie where it’s, like, deleted scenes.
BENDER: I don’t know if Max can do that.
Can Max do this?
[from audience]: They’re working on it.
DODANI: [pointing] That’s actually Max.
BENDER: Amazon couldn’t do that either.
That actually is Max sitting right there. I’m not joking. No, but that’s actually something that I’ve been saying to so many people and so many streamers. It’s a fucking streaming service. They should be able to do extras and there should be more embracing of audio commentaries, and…
Bender: All those things we used to do.
Look, it’s not like it costs money to upload it to Max or to Amazon or wherever.
DODANI: You think it’s just a website, but every time I ask, it sounds so much more complicated than just a website. I feel like it would cost money to upload a video. I don’t know.
BENDER: I know with each streaming service you get into the specifics of whatever they’re sort of programming and algorithms. Because when you buy a movie on Apple or buy it on Prime…
We’re talking about Max tonight, sir. Apple doesn’t exist.
BENDER: But they have the extras. So, it would be great. Maybe one day we’ll get that. It is worth seeing. It is fun.
I’d like to see it. Anyway, I wish more streamers would embrace the extras.
BENDER: The issue was that the movie wasn’t ending on the right emotional beat, emotional feeling. It was sort of like how Satuday Night Live likes to end the sketches, and you’re kind of like, “What the hell was that?” That was kind of it. So it was really funny, but it wasn’t emotionally true to what we needed it to be.
The Cost of Filming the Post Credits Scene for Dodani

“Yeah, I was butt naked.”

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

There’s a scene after the credits. When did you guys know that would be in it? Did you film it while you were filming?
DODANI: I haven’t told this story. So, they added these scenes in the car, and we had a full day to shoot it back in Massachusetts, like months later. Brandon and I flew out. I’m in the haunted fucking hotel getting ready at, like, 6 a.m., and I walk into my bathroom. I slip on the bathmat, fall on my arm, and my arm just snaps in half. Yeah, I was butt naked. I truly had to crawl my way up the toilet. I called 911, put on some underwear, got pulled out on a gurney. I ran into Brandon, and I was like, “Hey, can you call Chris and let him know I’m going to be a little late?” They gave me fentanyl in the ambulance. It was a whole thing.
When you fell, did you know at the minute you fell, “Oh, I have done some real damage”?
DODANI: No, at first I didn’t realize. Then I looked at my arm, and it was just kind of dangling. Sorry. Honestly, I was in the hospital with Brandon, drugged up, and I was like, “Maybe we can make it. Maybe we can make it!” [To Bender] I’ve actually never asked you—what was that like on your end?
BENDER: Oh, god. It’s so hard to arrange these things. We all flew back, obviously, to Boston, and getting it approved… It’s just always a thing. Then everyone’s in the hotel, and it’s the morning of, and we had a shoot. We were also covering just some establishing shots that we needed. We wanted the dogs to show up in the end—that’s actually my feet at the end, because Brian wasn’t going to come back for the feet and a quick shot. We got that done, and we were on time, so things were feeling really good. Then that call came, and I don’t think I’d ever gotten a call like that before, so thank you!
DODANI: Was it Brandon?
BENDER: It was Brandon, yeah. It almost didn’t seem real. “Nik fell. He broke his arm.” I think I even heard it happening behind, like, “Oh, the ambulance is here. They’re taking him away.” I turn, and I see the director smiling, thinking everything’s on time, and I’m like, “I’m about to just destroy everyone’s reality.” We didn’t know at that point how bad things were and all that stuff. So it just became one of those moments of, like, “Well, we have to pivot.”
Thank god for insurance.
BENDER: That’s right; it was insurable. So, we ended up doing it back in LA, on a stage, very comfortable. That’s when we added…
DODANI: Yeah, I think that’s when we added the, “I can’t believe I saw my dad’s hard cock” line.
BENDER: Yeah.
DODANI: Fun fact: my arm was, like, fully broken in that scene.
BENDER: Oh, that’s right.
DODANI: Yeah, I was in a [gestures to arm and shoulder area].
BENDER: We had to deal with the sweater.
DODANI: The sweater was really hard to get on because I had a big brace. I don’t know, but I couldn’t move it. It took a long time to get into that sweater.
How long does it take to heal a broken arm?
DODANI: I think I was four or five months. Thankfully, I didn’t need surgery or anything. It was fine.
BENDER: It was a story that I still can’t believe. Because you know you imagine the snow and down the steps, and then it’s, “No, just getting out of the…”
DODANI: I slipped on a bathmat. It wasn’t even getting out of the shower. It’s not like I was wet. I just slipped on a bathmat. I looked into it. Someone was like, “You should sue,” and I looked into it, and you can only sue if it’s not your fault, but it was entirely my fault. I will say, though, I realized recently I wasn’t staying in my original room with the friendly ghost –
BENDER: Satan.
DODANI: And I feel like she was protecting me that entire time because I’m a young bride.
Bender and Dodani Share Their Upcoming Projects

“What more do I have to say? You just teased that perfectly.”

Images via Shutterstock

Chris, this is something not about The Parenting. You are executive producer on David Robert Mitchell’s Flowerville Street. I’m a big fan of this filmmaker. What can you tease about the project? Because I read the logline and it sounds bonkers.
BENDER: What was the logline you read?
Oh, I wish I wrote it down. It takes place in the ’80s, and it’s in a weird neighborhood, but then there’s an image of, like, a dinosaur and people around it, and I’m like, “What the fuck is this?”
BENDER: What more do I have to say? You just teased that perfectly. I can’t say much about it other than if you’re a fan of David Robert Mitchell, [it’s] getting to see him with a much larger palette. But it’s very much a David Robert Mitchell movie. It’s exciting.
DODANI: I just gotta say, I’ve always wanted to play a dinosaur, so if there’s a role…
BENDER: Oh, I didn’t know that. Sorry.
DODANI: Did you already shoot it?
BENDER: Shot it. Done.
DODANI: Damn it.
My last thing for you guys—what can you tease about what you might be working on now?
BENDER: Oh, let’s see. Why don’t you go first?
DODANI: That’s such a producer thing to do. As I mentioned, I’m developing the feature version of Blue Boy, which I’m really excited about. So if anyone here has, like, $1 or $2 million, just let me know.
There’s someone from Max right there.
DODANI: Oh, shit. That’s right. Max, I’ll talk to you later. No, I’m honestly just really excited for people to see this movie, [The Parenting]. We worked on it so long ago, and it’s on Max, so I’m going to do the awkward thing and ask if you like the movie, please leave a good review on Letterboxd and IMDb and—what’s the other one? Rotten Tomatoes. If you didn’t like the movie, please don’t leave a review.
There’s also these things called social media sites, and I think the hashtag is #TheParenting. So feel free to spread the word via social media.
BENDER: Yeah, we’d appreciate it. I’m working on more comedies. I’m developing, like, three comedies—a teen comedy, a comedy that kind of harkens back to almost an Uncle Buck kind of comedy. I’m going down with the comedy ship one way or another.
I’m okay with that. There needs to be more comedies in the world.
BENDER: I agree.
The Parenting is now streaming on Max.

The Parenting

Release Date

March 13, 2025

Runtime

94 Minutes

Director

Craig Johnson

Writers

Kent Sublette

Producers

Chris Bender, Richard Brener, Jake Weiner, Jared Ian Goldman