The Cannes hit, ‘Funny Pages,’ is the absurdly comedic directorial debut of Owen Kline.
“It’s about a young cartoonist who also works in a comics shop,” he told me. “Another main character he meets is a bitter Image Comics color separator fallen to the wayside.”
A bitingly funny coming-of-age story of a teenage cartoonist who rejects the comforts of his suburban life in a misguided quest for his soul
Starring “Eighth Grade” and “Tales from the Loop” alum Daniel Zolghadri, “Funny Pages,” tells the story of an aspiring teen cartoonist who shrugs off mundane suburban comforts and sets out to make it on his own in Trenton, New Jersey.
Maria Dizzia and Josh Pais star as the parents, who are trying to get their son to come home, while Stephen Adly Guirgis plays a high school art teacher. Matthew Maher portrays an older cartoonist who becomes a mentor to the lead.
“I wanted to make a movie about a cartoonist, and the hermetic seal of a local comics shop. I wanted to be a cartoonist when I was younger so it was just fabric I was familiar with. I realized very quickly that having a few characters that were cartoonists was a fun thing to zero in on in terms of character detail. And I’d get to cast cartoonists of different styles for the characters to match their ideals. One very hopeful and un-self-aware character draws a crude Barks-inspired funny animal minicomic.” – Director Owen Kline interview with ComicsBeat