JUNE 2017 WWW.NFDA.ORG The Funeral Director in Popular Culture Getting Grace Sometimes When Death Calls, s LifeHappen 34 June 2017 THE DIRECTOR By Edward J. Defort The portrayal of funeral directors in the ma- jority of movies and television shows sel- dom strays far from the clichés of yesteryear. Few productions focus on the human side of the funeral director, who is usually a minor character, sometimes sinister and often ec- centric. The forthcoming independent feature film, Getting Grace, is an exception. Actor Daniel Roebuck, who also co-wrote and di- rected the film, portrays Bill Jankowski, a funeral director who has seemingly with- drawn from life and whose life is turned up- side down by a 16-year-old girl dying of can- cer. “The dying girl is more alive than he is,” Roebuck says of his character. Best known for his roles in feature films such as The Fugitive and U.S. Marshals, as well as TV series including Matlock and Lost, Roebuck can currently be seen in the critically acclaimed Amazon Prime series Man in the High Castle. Glancing at his list of credits, it would probably be easier to list the programs in which the veteran character actor has not appeared rather than the ones in which he has. But despite having such an extensive film résumé, Roebuck calls himself a frustrat- ed funeral director, and it was a label that s seemed to follow him throughout his life. s Born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Roe- buck worked in a food store while attending Bethlehem Catholic High School, known as Behind the Becahi. “One day, a woman came up to me and told me I would make a great funeral di- scenes of the rector,” he says. “I was 15 at the time. So I asked her what it was about me that would forthcoming make her come to that conclusion.” feature film For starters, the woman told Roebuck he LifeHappen had a great personality. “It had everything to do with interpersonal communication,” he says. “It’s funny how something can land on Getting you so specifically at such a young age, and that you get it.” Grace. This wouldn’t be the last time that some- one suggested Roebuck become a funeral di- www.nfda.org June 2017 35 profession. “We met at a comic book store as kids and were inseparable until I moved to Los Angeles,” Roebuck says. “We were in touch constantly when I was gone. When he died, Cantelmi Fu- neral Home [in Fountain Hill, Pennsyl- vania] took great care of him and did such a great job. He had been sick for so long, and when I saw him, he looked the way I remembered him from our best days together. The solace I had be- cause they took such good care of him really helped me move past [the grief] and recall the good memories of our times together.” The Path to the Big Screen The long journey to bring Getting Grace to the big screen began almost nine years ago when Roebuck was given the script by producer Mark Rupp to see whether he’d like to be in the film. The screenplay, originally titled Bending Spoons, was written by Jeff Lewis, a writer from Michigan. Roebuck was intrigued by the story. “Jeff’s script was so wonderful,” he says. “There is no Getting Grace without Jeff Lewis. He is a very talented writer.” When Roebuck read the script, he not only want- ed to be in it, he wanted to direct it. That was quite a reaction for the actor, considering he had not directed a feature film before. “One does learn through osmosis,” he says. “It’s hard to work with great directors and not have them imprint on you.” The story was originally set in Lewis’ native Michigan, but among the changes Roebuck sug- rector. As a student, he took high school aptitude gested was moving the setting to the Lehigh Val- tests designed to suggest a career path for students. ley. “I begged one of the producers to let me make More than once, the path suggested for Roebuck the film in the Lehigh Valley,” he says. Top: The cast of would lead to a funeral home. “I just saw such potential in the work,” Roe- Getting Grace But it was the acting bug that had taken hold of buck adds. “I wanted to take a swing at it because rehearses a him from a young age. The first time he wrote and I was a lot more familiar with the funeral busi- sequence of the directed a play was at St. Ann’s School in Bethle- ness.” During the rewrite, he also tried to lighten film with director hem when he was 6 years old. Since he didn’t know the script a bit with more humor, which was well Daniel Roebuck. how to write at the time, he instead drew a story- within the character and personality of Grace, the board, and one of the nuns let him do the play. teen with terminal cancer. Above left: “I worked in a circus at age 12; I did magic The original script had as main characters Grace Daniel Roebuck and Madelyn shows,” he says. “I’d always been an entertainer.” and Bill Jankowski, the funeral director. Roebuck Dundon filming But Roebuck still heard the echoes of the voice describes his character as a little stuck in time, and in Downtown of the woman in the supermarket who told him he not because he is a funeral director – it’s just the Bethlehem. should be a funeral director. So one day, he went to cards he had been dealt in life. “I had great joy tak- Long Funeral Home in Bethlehem and spoke with ing the character and putting him in three-piece Alexa Mcfillin takes one of the funeral directors. “He gave me some suits, placing him in parks and hot dog shops direction from mortician’s wax to take home because he knew I where he was always uncomfortable,” Roebuck cinematographer liked monster makeup, and he said, ‘You have to says. “He wasn’t directing a funeral, so he was un- Cory Geryak on try this stuff,’ ” Roebuck recalls. “That was my first comfortable. He has a sister who is a funeral direc- the set of Getting foray into the world of funeral directing.” tor and it is suggested throughout the movie that Grace. In 2011, the personal loss of his best friend, Scott she is the one who deals with the public and he’s Brunell, deepened Roebuck’s appreciation for the the technician.” 36 June 2017 THE DIRECTOR Roebuck explains that being a funeral director to star in a motion picture, this film had a big ca- is just one aspect of his character. “I thought about veat. Whoever was selected to play Grace would be this guy for years after reading the initial script required to shave her head for the role. and going through my rewrites,” Roebuck says. “I “When I met Madelyn Dundon, it was Christ- just kind of went with instinct. There is an event mas 2015. I had gone to visit my high school and portrayed in the movie that took this guy off of was given a tour by two students, one of whom one path and sent him down another. He’s going was Madey,” he says. Roebuck says the character of through life trying to do the best he can until this Grace was modeled after his own daughter, who is amazing kid comes into his world and flips every- also named Grace. thing around.” “When I met her, I thought this kid is as much The movie draws a parallel that, in reality, the of a loon as my daughter – sometimes inappro- Below left: The world is deaf. “Bill lives in the world and he works priate and exasperating,” says Roebuck. “Grace is Bethlehem Fire Department lends a in the world,” Roebuck explains. “Grace is going funny and fascinating and will get her way. She is hand to help create to die, and he’s going to live. But she is more alive equally serious and silly.” a rain sequence than he is, and it has nothing to do with the fact Roebuck also knew Madey’s family. Her father while filming at that he’s a funeral director – it’s just a jumping-off is a lieutenant colonel in the Army. “I had directed Herron Family point for the drama of our story. He’s disconnect- [him] in a play when he was 13 years old,” he says. Funeral Home. ed from the world because of an event in his life.” “I read a lot of kids and saw a lot of great actors,” Roebuck admits that he probably couldn’t have Roebuck recalls. “I said it has taken eight years to Below right: Daniel made this movie years ago but is at a point in his get Getting Grace made because I had to wait for Roebuck and the life now where the movie has morphed into his Madey to get old enough. crew of Getting personal point of view: If you don’t live every day “I could have made the movie without her, but Grace filming at to the fullest, you’re cheating yourself. “This per- it wouldn’t be what it is now,” he continues. “I was Herron Family Funeral Home. spective is one of the uplifting takeaways of the fortunate enough to capture these amazing per- movie,” he says.