The Big Picture

“Good One” is a coming-of-age film about a teenage girl who goes on a backpacking trip with her father and his old friend, dealing with their strained relationship. The film was shot on location in the wilderness and was made in just 12 days, relying on available light and agility to make the most of the environment. The cast praises the honesty and realism of the script, particularly in the challenging scenes of the third act, and discusses their characters’ motivations and experiences during filming.

At this year’s Sundance Film Festival, filmmaker India Donaldson relinquished her debut feature film, Good One, to audiences and critics alike. Drawing from her own personal experiences growing up, Donaldson wanted to capture a pivotal moment of adolescence, and the fine balance of a parental bond.

In Good One, 17-year-old Sam, played by Lily Collias (Palm Trees and Power Lines) in her first leading role, sets out on a three-day backpacking trip through the Catskills with her dad, Chris (James Le Gros), and his longtime best friend, Matt (Danny McCarthy). What’s meant to be a special getaway and time to connect with her father turns into a strained trek as the two friends fall back into brotherly spats, airing out old grievances. Ever the peacekeeper, Sam makes vain attempts to temper the two egos, but when lines are crossed, her patience wears thin, and the burden of being the “good one” begins to slip away.

In this interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Donaldson and the cast stopped by our interview studio, sponsored by Film.io, to talk about the heavy material of Donaldson’s first-ever feature, and the honesty portrayed in the film. They talk about challenging scenes, particularly in that third act, and what it was like delivering pages of dialogue and serving up a Sundance-worthy performance all while on location in the wilderness.

You can watch the conversation in the video above, or you can read the full interview in transcript form below.

Good One During a weekend backpacking trip in the Catskills, 17-year-old Sam navigates the clash of egos between her father and his oldest friend. Release Date January 21, 2024 Director India Donaldson Cast James Le Gros , Danny McCarthy , Sumaya Bouhbal , Lily Collias Runtime 90 minutes Main Genre Drama Writers India Donaldson

COLLIDER: I really want to start with a sincere congratulations on your movie. I heard you made it in 12 days and I’m blown away. You also filmed in the wilderness and on location. So before we get started, no one watching this interview will have seen the film yet, so who wants to bite the bullet and give the logline?

INDIA DONALDSON: I’ll take that one for the team. It’s about a teenage girl, Sam, played by Lily, who goes on a backpacking trip in the woods with her father and her father’s old friend. The two men, there’s some tension between them. Their friendship is sort of expired, and Sam falls into the role of mediator, caretaker, contending with these two sort of competing egos. It’s really a coming-of-age film about that moment when you start to see the adults in your life, your parents as the flawed complex people that they are.

This is a little bit of a jokey question but bear with me, did you cast James from his brilliant work on Knight Rider and Punky Brewster early in his career?

JAMES LE GROS: [Laughs] It was from the CBS afterschool special, actually, I think was the one that got me in the door.

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My bad. I always like looking, when people are coming in, at the IMDb profile for someone who’s been in the business for a long time and seeing the very early work where you’re, like, ecstatic to get that role on Knight Rider.

LE GROS: Punky Brewster, praise the lord. No, I’m grateful for all that work.

And also, you’re learning about acting and being on camera.

LE GROS: Absolutely. I tell people when I did Phantasm II, it was the first lead I did in a picture, and I learned a lot about filmmaking. I’m so grateful to those people.

‘Good One’ Depicts a Realistic, Honest Look at Its Characters
Image via Photagonist at the Collider Media Studio

100%. One of the things I really loved about this movie is just how honest it felt, and real. For the three of you, could you talk about reading a script like this, and what resonated with you about your character and being in this film?

LILY COLLIAS: When I first read the script, it was earlier on, and I just loved feeling how Sam approaches life. She’s very witty, she’s very clever, she’s very patient, and I felt like I had a lot to learn from her. I really wanted to just dive deep and understand this point in life that she’s at because I’m around the same age.

DANNY MCCARTHY: I resonated a lot with Matt because he’s sort of having a midlife crisis, and not that I’m completely having a midlife crisis right now, but, you know, a little bit. Completely lost sometimes and grasping for anything to really keep him grounded and happy. So, yeah, it was kind of easy to drop into that a little bit emotionally, because anybody that’s 54 and kind of struggling year to year and month to month to pay rent or whatever just to try to keep happy understands that it’s a struggle. So, it felt great to be out in the woods with these guys for two weeks and kind of discover that.

COLLIAS: So good.

MCCARTHY: Thanks, you guys.

LE GROS: You know, for me at this point in my journey, it’s less about what the character is and more about, like, who am I working with, and what is the script? And that was really the draw for me.

This is your first feature, and I’m curious, how much did you debate what you wanted to make as your first feature?

DONALDSON: It’s just the one that happened first [laughs] for a lot of reasons. I sort of designed the script to be makeable in a kind of intimate way with people that I had collaborated with on short films with my community. So, yeah, I don’t know, this film just always, we had a lot of luck along the way, and it’s the one that came together first.

I believe this is your first starring role, so what was it like getting that phone call or Zoom where you found out that you are going to be the lead in a movie?

COLLIAS: I was so excited to work with India because the first time we’d met, we met up for coffee and we just talked about art and film. We barely even talked about the movie. We just got to know each other and I really saw her character, and I just knew, from then on, I really wanted to work with her. So, I was very happy.

Image via Sundance

You guys made this in 12 days, and it’s not like you were in a sound studio or a one-bedroom filming everything and dialogue. You’re in the wilderness, on location. Talk about trying to do this in 12 days.

DONALDSON: Yeah, a lot of thinking on our feet and adapting to our surroundings. But one of the beautiful things of being outdoors is you’re working with available light and you can move quickly. There was a lot to gain from the environment even though it was challenging at times.

LE GROS: Yeah, I would say by design we had a lot of agility options built in so we could pivot. If you’re starting out as a filmmaker, if you can write a small cast and cheap locations it greatly enhances your chances of getting the thing made.

There’s a scene, I’m not going to go into any specifics, where you guys have to jump in the water. I’m just curious, what is that like when you are out in the middle of nowhere and filming that specific scene?

COLLIAS: Oh, I completely blacked out, the water was so cold, and I’m so bad with cold water. I forgot how I got in, and I came out, and I was like, “Did I do a cannonball?” And they’re like, “No, you did a really great dive.” And I was like, “Okay, I’ll take it.” [Laughs] That’s all I remember.

LE GROS: That was a fun day. Honestly, I don’t think I was really thinking about the scene so much as I was just trying to make my colleague crack up.

DONALDSON: I will add that after we wrapped, I forced myself to go swimming in that water so that I could commiserate with my colleagues here.

COLLIAS: And it was cold.

DONALDSON: It was very cold.

Danny, your character is really not comfortable with silence. Can you sort of talk a little bit about that? Do you enjoy playing someone who’s doing things that you agree with or disagree with?

MCCARTHY: I enjoy both. I mean, India wrote such a fun script so I had fun saying the lines. She allowed us to go off script and kind of do whatever we wanted, so it was super fun to talk and talk and talk and talk. I have a great time doing it, but I also don’t like talking in public — can you tell? So, the silence parts were fun, too. I had a gas. Two weeks of just fun acting.

Image via Photagonist at the Collider Media Studio

I’m always curious about the editing process because it’s where it all comes together, so how did the film get shaped in the editing room in maybe ways you weren’t expecting going in?

DONALDSON: In subtle ways. One of our producers, Graham Mason, who is a filmmaker himself and edits his own work, edited the film. He produced the film and AD’d the film, and so was really intimately involved in the creative process. There are a few sequences — the water sequence is one of them, and the campfire sequence — where he did his version of it and just discovered a rhythm and an organic quality to the edit that I did not picture in my head, that I think only comes from an editor just really being afforded the space to be in the footage and feel the rhythm of it without outside voices. Truly just a collaboration with Graham.

The Cast of ‘Good One’ Agree — The Third Act Was a Challenge
Image via Photagonist at the Collider Media Studio

For all of you, when you saw the shooting schedule, what was the day or scene that you had circled in terms of, “I am so nervous to film this,” or, “I cannot wait to film this?”

MCCARTHY: I can’t tell you what scene it is, but I would imagine people will know what it is when they see it.

The third act? What?

LE GROS: Yeah, in the third act.

MCCARTHY: Lily might know what I’m talking about.

LE GROS: Can I just say, you guys navigated that just so beautifully. It’s one of my favorite parts of the film.

DONALDSON: There are some very large page count days with a lot of dialogue that James and Danny, in particular, are the ones with all the lines. I was reminded often about those page counts. [Laughs]

LE GROS: Traumatic stress.

Did you want to answer?

COLLIAS: I think Danny and I have the same day in mind.

One of the things, and I can’t talk about it, is I really loved the third act and the way that the film is just honest with the way things happen and the way people react to things. It’s really great writing, and it’s just honest to what people would do.

LE GROS: I’m glad that you appreciate someone who is able to express unvarnished truth. Again, I circle back to why I wanted to do it. Again, who I was working with and what was on the page.

It’s just very honest. Also, if you don’t mind, talk a little bit about your character. She is so much more mature for her age, cooking, cleaning, like the grown up with the kids.

COLLIAS: Yeah, no kidding. On and off set. [Laughs] Well, that’s Sam’s character. She plays all the roles. Any given opportunity to provide, she takes that as a moment of quality time with her dad, and whatever it is she’ll take it.

LE GROS: I would say that that kind of roleplaying has a sacrifice.

COLLIAS: Absolutely.

Special thanks to our 2024 partners at Sundance including presenting partner Film.io and supporting partners Pressed Juicery and DragonFly Coffee Roasters.