- Title: Famiy and politics collide in 'The Oath'
- Date: 11th October 2018
- Summary: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT - SEPTEMBER 25, 2018) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, DIRECTOR AND WRITER, IKE BARINHOLTZ, SAYING: "We have an obligation, I think, to try our best to not let external forces that we can't really control permanently damage our interpersonal relationships. There might be a new president one day and you might like him o
- Embargoed: 25th October 2018 20:24
- Keywords: The Oath film Tiffany Haddish Ike Barinholtz Thanksgiving politics arguments midterms
- Location: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES; UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS
- City: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES; UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA00891MFVPP
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:CONTAINS PROFANITY THROUGHOUT
New dark comedy 'The Oath' looks set to reflect American households this Thanksgiving as it depicts a politically polarized family trying to celebrate the holidays while trying to avoid political arguments.
While in real life, the mid-terms are coming after Thanksgiving, in the film, the family are caught in a discussion about The Oath, which is a semi-mandatory pledge to the president of the United States.
Asked whether the film was far-fetched, writer director and star Ike Barinholtz replied "I think it's very fetched, not far at all. As we were making the movie, there were things happening in real life that were echoing the movie and I was like 'Oh my god, this is happening now' so we keep checking that it hasn't happened."
Barinholtz wrote the screenplay after U.S. President Donald Trump was elected to office in 2016 but it was always the plan to release the film before the mid-terms.
"We knew there was a sense of urgency," said Barinholtz. "Firstly, it's a holiday movie so it had to really come out around the holidays and you know, we're at this very high concentration point with politics and the mid-terms are going to be the next plateau and then after that, we have another two years to see what happens so we thought if we could get it out at this time, we'd be hitting the target."
Barinholtz plays the liberal news junkie of the family, Chris, who is hosting the annual Thanksgiving. His wife, Kai, is played by up-and-coming actress Tiffany Haddish, who plays the peacekeeper in the film's many arguments.
While the arguments threaten to derail relationships within the family, the arrival of government officers to arrest Chris for disagreeing with 'The Oath' puts more pressure on the individual family members - making them choose between family and politics.
"We have an obligation, I think, to try our best to not let external forces that we can't really control permanently damage our interpersonal relationships. There might be a new president one day and you might like him or hate him more. Governments change and America is bigger than that. We have to try and get to a point when that is over, that we still have some fragments of our relationships left because otherwise we're all bubbled out. I want to burst some bubbles with this movie," Barinholtz told Reuters.
'The Oath' goes on release on October 12. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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