Why Chris Elliott wanted to be a bigger a**hole while co-starring with his family in 'Clara's Ghost'
Clara’s Ghost is a true family film, but not the usual kind. The dark comedy with a supernatural twist was written and directed by actress Bridey Elliott (Battle of the Sexes) and stars her father, Chris Elliott (Get a Life, Schitt’s Creek); her mother, Paula Niedert Elliott; and her sister, Abby Elliott (Saturday Night Live). Shot in the Elliotts’ actual Connecticut home, the film is art satirizing life as a mother (Paula) fed up with her insufferable and mean actor husband and daughters (Chris, Bridey and Abby) begins instead trying to connect with an apparition that haunts her.
“Family dynamics-wise, we’re all kind of playing caricatures of our darker selves,” Bridey told Yahoo Entertainment during a visit to our Los Angeles studios, where she was joined by the rest of the Elliott clan. “But I knew that they would get it, on some level.”
Chris, however, didn’t initially find himself unlikable enough.
“When I read the script, I wanted even more of me being an a**hole, I wanted even more of me being a jerk,” he said.
In other words, he wanted to amp up the a**holery. “I’ve never heard that before, but yes,” he laughed.
“And some things in the movie get laughs where I didn’t expect them to. I thought me painting a portrait of myself was sort of an a**hole thing for the guy to be doing while he’s yelling at his agent on the phone. But then when you reveal that, that actually gets a laugh.”
It helps when you’re Chris Elliott — one of the funniest guys around — in or out of character.
Clara’s Ghost is now in select theaters and available on VOD and Digital. Watch the trailer:
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