Tribeca Film Festival may be known for its feature-length movie offerings, but it is also a great place for high-quality indie short films. Mark Duplass and Katie Aselton recently premiered their new project Oh, Christmas Tree there, which also served as their daughter Ora Duplass’ onscreen debut. Directed by Aselton from a screenplay by the elder Duplass, the short manages to pack an emotional punch in a mere 11 minutes.

Oh, Christmas Tree follows 16-year-old Claire (played by Ora) and her father Ben (Mark Duplass himself pulling double duty) as they try to recreate a few of their favorite Christmas traditions. Beneath the cheery holiday veneer, however, there lurks a more poignant story about mental health and the toll it takes on families. The short is also a callback to the origins of Duplass and Aselton’s careers, which began in independent film before branching out to big-budget projects such as Bombshell or The Morning Show.

While at Tribeca, Screen Rant interviewed the Duplass-Aselton family about the day they spent filming Oh, Christmas Tree and what Ora envisions as the guiding light for her career. In addition, Mark Duplass offered a small peek into The Morning Show season 4’s writing room.

Oh, Christmas Tree Is A Proud Duplass Family Affair

Screen Rant: I think it’s very cool to see that this is a whole family affair. Mark, can you tell us what first inspired Oh, Christmas Tree?

Mark Duplass: It first started with the idea that Ora has been wanting to have her debut as an actor for a long time. Katie and I have been nervous about that. We were like, “You should enjoy your childhood. Don’t get out there.” But she’s 16 now, and she’s so good. So, I was like, “Let’s start with a short film; something casual and easy.” And I promised all of us that if it stinks, we’ll just bury it. No one has to see it.

Katie Aselton: We kept it so small. I directed, he wrote, and we had one crew person. If it was terrible, we’d just kill the crew person, and no one would ever know. [Laughs]

Ora Duplass: It was the tiniest cabin you have ever seen in your entire life.

Mark Duplass: That’s kind of the way Katie and I started too. I wanted to do something where we could be on screen and, ideally, Katie could direct us. She said yes, which was cool. And [I wanted to] deal a little bit with some of the dynamics that Ora and I have as father and daughter.

First of all, how do you maintain intimacy and stay close through these really difficult years? For both people. Second of all, something I think about a lot as a dad is, “How do you project strength so that your kids can feel confident and secure, but at the same time express your vulnerability?” Particularly in regards to mental health, and have them know you, but not make them feel like my world is unstable. That’s a little bit of what these characters are trying to do in a more extreme environment than we have to deal with normally.

Ora Duplass: There is also an element of the weight that it puts on the daughter for her father to deal with mental health. I feel like that’s not really talked about, how she has to put on a face to make him happy, but she’s struggling herself because this is her dad and she needs to be able to lean on him. She feels like she’s keeping him up, and that takes over her entire life.

You see that kind of weigh on her, and I think that was really beautiful to add in.

Aside from having fewer bodies to bury, what is your favorite thing about directing a short rather than a feature?

Katie Aselton: Being able to do it all in one day was really a treat, and then editing it in a week was delightful. It happened so fast. I’ve spent the last year finishing a feature, and it takes that long. This short was just so fun and so easy.

Ora’s got the most beautiful EQ, and I was so excited to just watch her blossom. Getting to do this in a day and walk away and be like, “Holy cow, we just made something really cool!” was really special Features kind of drag you through it a little bit.

Mark Duplass: My favorite part was when we were like, “We got into the Tribeca Film Festival!” Ora was like, “That weird, stupid thing we did in the cabin?” It felt like this little thing we did, and then we’re like, “Oh, it actually worked? Cool.”

Ora, what lesson did you take away from your parents that you are going to carry with you into your career?

Ora Duplass: Honestly, I would say that nothing has to be a big blockbuster million-dollar movie to be popular and to send a message. My parents started out with independent films, with one camera and two people. And that’s so inspiring because you see where they are today.

I’m taking that. I have a camcorder, and I would be filming with my friends just trying to make little things that send messages. That can also get you places. It’s not about who has more money or who’s more successful, it’s about the beautiful message that you’re getting across, no matter how small the film is.

Mark Duplass Shares His Excitement For The Morning Show Season 3

Screen Rant: Speaking of success, every season of The Morning Show brings new surprises. What surprises can we expect in season 4?

Mark Duplass: We start shooting in a month, and I’ve not seen a script yet. My assumption is, because the cast is so huge, if they tell us ahead of time what they want to do? Then we’ll come back and say, “No, I want to do this. I want do that.” They don’t want to deal with that.

It’s like when you’re feeding dinner to 12 kids, you don’t ask them what they want. You say, “Here’s your dinner, and you will like it.“ I’m gonna get that dinner in two weeks, and I’ll eat it up. I will love it because it’s a dream job.

Source: Screen Rant Plus