Writer-director recalls her childhood with a bipolar father in Infinitely Polar Bear
Scriptwriter Maya Forbes felt compelled to direct a film recalling her childhood with her bipolar father because she couldn't bear the thought of someone else messing it up
When her directorialdebut Infinitely Polar Bear premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2014, Maya Forbes was surrounded by family: her mother was there; so were her younger sister (the singer-songwriter China Forbes), her father's three siblings, and her mother's brother.
Taking its title from her father's bipolar disorder, Forbes' autobiographical film recalls the childhood episode in 1970s when she and her sister went under the care of the household's loving but erratic patriarch, while their mother attended a business school in New York for 18 months, only visiting their Boston home on weekends.
"They loved the movie, so that's nice for me," Forbes says. "I was worried that they would think I hadn't captured my father and represented things correctly, [but] all the people who kind of knew and loved my father felt I really captured his essence."
And what would her father - who died in 1998 - say if he had a chance to see the film? "I know he would be embarrassed. 'Oh god, who cares about me? Why would anyone want to see this?' But I think he'd like it," says the 46-year-old, who finished her script in 2008 and felt compelled to direct it herself.
"Directing was what I'd always wanted to do, and the script got me over whatever hang-ups or worries I had about directing. I can't give this to someone else because if they mess it up, it would be really painful; if I mess it up, I can live with it because at least I've tried. I was too much of a scaredy-cat, as my kids would say."