Tony Goldwyn returns to the director’s chair after 14 years with Ezra. Goldwyn has found widespread acclaim for his work both in front of and behind the camera over the better part of 40 years, starring in everything from the Patrick Swayze-led Ghost to voicing Tarzan in Disney’s 1999 animated classic movie, as well as portraying President Fitzgerald Grant III on ABC’s Scandal. Goldwyn has also helmed a variety of movies over the years, including his acclaimed debut, A Walk on the Moon, as well as the Zach Braff-led The Last Kiss and 2010 biographical legal drama, Conviction.

His latest directorial effort, Ezra, revolves around stand-up comedian Max as he begins encountering a variety of hurdles in his life, including an ongoing divorce and co-parenting their autistic son, the titular 12-year-old Ezra. When Max’s concerns about his son’s well-being turn volatile, and he’s ordered to stay away from him, he instead takes Ezra on a cross-country road trip in the hopes of figuring out a better plan, leading to an eye-opening journey for them both, as well as his father and ex-wife.

Bobby Cannavale leads the ensemble Ezra cast as Max alongside Robert De Niro as his father, Stan, Rose Byrne as his ex-wife, Jenna, William Fitzgerald as the eponymous young boy, Vera Farmiga, Whoopi Goldberg, Rainn Wilson and Goldwyn as Jenna’s new boyfriend. Inspired by screenwriter Tony Spiridakis’ own life raising his autistic son, the movie is a powerful and refreshingly sensitive exploration of such a family dynamic, led by wonderful performances from its cast.

Ahead of the movie’s release, Screen Rant interviewed Tony Goldwyn to discuss Ezra, what about it drew him back to the director’s chair after 14 years, the lengthy casting process to find the titular role, and his thoughts on Channing Tatum’s in-development Ghost remake.

Goldwyn Loved The Opportunity To “Tell My Best Friend’s Story” In Ezra

With so much time passed since his last feature directorial effort, Goldwyn recalls that he wasn’t “looking that hard” for the next project to bring him back to the director’s chair. But after working with his “oldest and dearest friend“, writer Tony Spiridakis, on various drafts of the script, Goldwyn found himself inspired by the opportunity to “tell my best friend’s story” with the drama:

Tony Goldwyn: Yeah, as you said, I think Conviction was my last movie, and then I did Scandal for seven years, so I couldn’t direct, relate. So, I was looking, but I wasn’t looking that hard. Tony Spiridakis is my oldest and dearest friend, and he had written this script based on his own experience with his autistic son, Dimitri, who I’ve known since he was a baby. I’d read many drafts as a friend over the years, and a couple years ago, Tony sent me a revised draft that he’d been working on just to get some feedback. And whatever work he had done in the script hit me so hard, I said, “I need to do this, and we need to do this together.” To tell my best friend’s story in this movie, I just thought it was like a lightning bolt. I just had to do it, and the two of us rolled up our sleeves and put it together.

Casting Ezra Came Down To A Very Late (But Perfect) Choice For Goldwyn

When it came to building his ensemble cast, Goldwyn first sought out the right actor to bring Max to life, feeling that Bobby Cannavale was the perfect fit to capture his character’s nature of behaving “very objectionably” but still find a way for audiences to “care about him“. In looking for Ezra’s actor, however, the filmmaker humorously notes that they didn’t find William Fitzgerald until “about three weeks before we started shooting“, but had a personal reason why he fit the role perfectly:

Tony Goldwyn: Max was obviously the first choice we had to make, and we landed on Bobby Cannavale, who I had known for a long time, and always really admired. We needed in Max a guy who could often behave very objectionably, do things that you’re like, “What are you doing?” And yet, care about him, and Bobby is such a big-hearted person, you just care about him, and yet, there’s sort of a live-wire, unpredictable quality about him as an actor, and I believe that he could pull off the stand-up comedy, he’s just really smart.

I also get excited when I think no one’s ever seen this actor in this kind of a role. I felt that Bobby could really surprise people with this, so we landed on him. And then, of course, De Niro was our first choice, and De Niro said, “Yes,” and we started putting the rest of this amazing cast together. But the key, we knew, was without an Ezra, we didn’t have a movie. We were determined to cast an autistic actor to play Ezra, so we launched a nationwide search for William, and we enlisted members of the autism community to help us in that. We saw, like, 100 kids and couldn’t find him, and about three weeks before we started shooting — very nervous that we wouldn’t have a movie without this right kid [chuckles] — William’s audition tape came in, and he was kind of magical, and I wanted to meet him the next day.

He came in and worked with Bobby, and the two of them hit it off immediately. He was improvising, and he’s just a natural actor, it was great. The second I met him in the waiting room, I went up to him, and I mentioned that it was based on Tony Spiridakis’ son, Dimitri, and I went to shake his hand, and it was Dimitri Spiridakis at 12 years old. It was literally like seeing a ghost of my friend’s kid, and I ran into the room and I said, “Tony, that’s Dimitri out there!” All the stars aligned.

Goldwyn Didn’t Know Of Channing Tatum’s Ghost Remake (But Is Enthused To See What He Does)

One of Goldwyn’s first breakout roles was starring in the Patrick Swayze-led Ghost, which currently has a remake in development with Channing Tatum attached to both produce and star in the lead role. When asked his thoughts on the remake, particularly after fellow original star Demi Moore shared her curious optimism for it, Goldwyn was enthused to hear of the new take, praising Tatum as being “so gifted” and thinking that if the team gets it right, “it could do the same gangbusters” as the original:

Tony Goldwyn: I didn’t know that. I love Channing Tatum and he’s so gifted. I’d be really excited to see what he does with it. It’s a great story and a timeless story, and I think if done well, it could do the same gangbusters as it did 30-whatever years ago. [Chuckles]

About Ezra

EZRA follows Max Bernal (Bobby Cannavale), a stand-up comedian living with his father (Robert De Niro), while struggling to co-parent his autistic son Ezra (introducing William Fitzgerald) with his soon-to-be ex-wife (Rose Byrne). When forced to confront difficult decisions about their son’s future, Max and Ezra embark on a cross-country road trip that has a transcendent impact on both their lives. Directed by Tony Goldwyn, who also appears in the film alongside additional cast members Vera Farmiga, Rainn Wilson and Whoopi Goldberg, EZRA is an endearing and often funny exploration of a family determined to find their way through life’s complexities with humor, compassion, and heart.

Stay tuned for our other Ezra interview with Bobby Cannavale!

Source: Screen Rant Plus