World’s Greatest Dad director Bobcat Goldthwait

You probably know the kind of teenager the movie World’s Greatest Dad concerns. Totally spoiled, totally rude with no friends except for the friendless. “R-rated films are really made for 13-year olds,” the film’s director Bobcat Goldthwait tells Free Press Houston in a phone interview. He’s not kidding.
Goldthwait besides making a name for himself as a stand-up comedian in the ‘80s and directing several comedy television shows has written and directed a handful of feature films that excel in black humor and uncomfortable subjects. Anyone who’s seen Shakes the Clown or Sleeping Dogs Lie will agree his sense of humor is as sharp as it is sardonic. I ask Goldthwait if he considers himself an auteur. “Only in the sense that you’d consider Ed Wood or Bob Clark an auteur,” Goldthwait laughs.
World’s Greatest Dad starts off normal enough with a frustrated single father Robin Williams trying to reason with his son, Daryl Sabara (Spy Kids) after he catches him jacking off before school. Rather than have a regular conversation the kid rejects any attempt at advice. When dad buys him an expensive new computer monitor the kid scoffs because he wants a bigger one. Williams comes home one day to find his son has accidentally died while masturbating to internet porn with a tie choking his neck. Despite his grief Williams manages to restage the death making it look like his son hung himself in the closet.
“There’s humor in everything, no topic is off limits,” Goldthwait responds to a question as to how far you can push the envelope. Goldthwait and Williams occasionally worked stand-up together before and as their respective careers took off, often billing themselves as Jack Cheese and Marty Fromage. Williams shot to stardom first as Mork of Mork and Mindy and then as a popular movie comedian. Goldthwait followed suit although with a lower profile starting with the second Police Academy movie. “I had someone recently ask me to sign the DVD for the first Police Academy movie and I didn’t have the heart to tell them I’m not actually in that one.” Another ‘80s film that starred Goldthwait was the talking horse laugher Hot To Trot. “I want to do an invisible dog movie,” relates Goldthwait. “A two-dog cast.”
The look of World’s Greatest Dad harkens back to ‘70s Disney films (only with a subversive underbelly). When I mention this to Goldthwait he concurs adding that the normalcy of films like Million Dollar Duck and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes were part of his inspiration.
While his previous movies were ultra low budget productions having Williams aboard allowed a greater budget for World’s Greatest Dad in the $10-million range. “In other words I didn’t have to hire my crew using Craiglist,” says Goldthwait.
World’s Greatest Dad takes everyday family life and turns it on its head. The more Williams tries to make his son out to be literate and sensitive, first by penning a suicide note and then a journal, the more his plans backfire. Williams proves himself in rare form as he grapples with the morality of his actions all the while maintaining his facade of the world’s best father. World’s Greatest Dad opens Houston this Friday.