Beyond Representation and Queer Cinema Stereotypes: Why BAD DAD Was Told the Way It Needed to Be Told.
- 5 days ago
- 7 min read
What happens when queer characters are allowed to be as complicated, flawed, and emotionally volatile as everyone else? In this FiB Live conversation, writer and director Chisa Hutchinson, cinematographer Darren Joe, and actor/producer Brian McManamon discuss the creative choices behind Bad Dad, a psychological thriller that refuses easy answers.
At the heart of the conversation is Hutchinson's belief that "to not allow an entire segment of the population to be fully human... is a disservice." Rather than creating a story designed to fit expectations, the team committed to telling the film the way it needed to be told, without compromise.
Writer and director Chisa Hutchinson began Bad Dad with a simple question for actor Brian McManamon: What kind of character have you always wanted to play? His answer was "naughty" and "unhinged." Hutchinson says she immediately had "a flavor of a character," but the real work came from reconciling that idea with the person she knew Brian to be: "such a sweetheart," "a really awesome teacher," "a really great dad," and "just a loving human being." From there, she asked herself the question that ultimately shaped the film: What could push someone like that to do what his character does in the movie? The answer became the emotional foundation of Bad Dad.
Writer and director Chisa Hutchinson began the script, BAD DAD with a simple question for actor (pic above/below), Brian McManamon: What kind of character have you always wanted to play? His answer was "NAUGHTY" and "UNHINGED."
For BRIAN McMANAMON, portraying the character, David, began with a profound belief: "I think it's so important to care for these people that you're playing," he explained. "There are no villains really. We're all people doing the best that we can in the circumstances that we have." That philosophy became the foundation of his performance.
As a gay man who experienced bullying himself, Brian connected deeply with the script's emotional core. The character's pain wasn't simply about watching his son be bullied because he has two fathers, it was also a reminder of David's own experiences. "That's my son you're hurting," McManamon reflected upon his character's inner motivations.
Brian McManamon noted that for a long time, gay representation in cinema was often reduced to villains. With Bad Dad, the creative team wanted to explore something more complex: characters who are deeply human, even when they do "rather naughty" things.
Brian believes the film is filled with moments where a different outcome is still possible. "I wish he had another recourse. I wish he had another way forward," he said. "If you watch the film a second time... you'll see every opportunity the character, Warren, could've corrected the situation. Maybe there could have been forgiveness. Maybe he could have redeemed himself."
Reflecting on the character (pic below), WARREN, Martin Del Carpio remarked he was "such an atypical character" of the stereotypical straight-guy homophobe, noting that Chisa Hutchinson's writing captured the unsettling reality that "people like that do exist."
For cinematographer and producer DARREN JOE, the challenge was shaping how the audience experienced the story. Working closely with Chisa Hutchinson, Darren designed a visual language that would keep viewers questioning David's intentions until the film's final moments.
By photographing the character, David, with subtle Dutch angles while framing the character, Warren, with more conventional compositions, Darren intentionally created a sense of unease. The slight imbalance wasn't stylistic for its own sake; it became a form of visual misdirection, encouraging audiences to question David before ultimately confronting the emotional weight of the film's final revelation.
"The words were there. The characters were there," Darren Joe explained. "We wanted to make David a mystery to people where his intentions aren't clear."
As Bad Dad continues its festival journey, the filmmakers acknowledge that its uncompromising vision may not fit every audience's expectations. During the conversation, Brian McManamon admitted he was surprised by the limited response from LGBTQ+ festivals, while Martin Del Carpio observed that queer cinema can sometimes favor stories that feel "safer" or more traditionally affirming.
For Chisa Hutchinson, however, changing the film was never an option. The team even discussed shooting an alternate ending but ultimately abandoned the idea because it "did not feel authentic or like the story that we wanted to tell." She believes that asking queer characters to avoid darker emotions or moral complexity is "equally dehumanizing."
Listen to "BAD DAD" FiB Live Here:
Listen To "BAD DAD" Interview Here:
CHISA HUTCHINSON (BA Vassar College; MFA NYU Tisch) is making her directorial debut with BAD DAD.
As a screenwriter, she’s been staffed on three television series: "The Boroughs" (Netflix), "Three Women" (Starz), "Tell Me Lies" (Hulu) and is just getting back to work on her pan-African heist film with SuperSpecial, as well as her biopic for Gosnell Duncan, the paraplegic Grenadian immigrant who invented the modern silicone dildo.
Her first original feature, "THE SUBJECT", in which a white documentarian deals with the moral fallout from exploiting the death of a Black teen, is available on various VOD platforms after a successful film festival circuit during which it won over 30 prizes (including Best Feature of the 2020 Bronze Lens Film Festival, the 2020 Audience Award of the Capital City Black Film Festival, and Best Feature Film of the 2020 National Black Film Festival) .
Chisa’s work as a playwright has also been widely presented in the theater at venues such as Alley Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, Contemporary American Theater Fest, the National Black Theatre, Second Stage, and Arch 468 in London. Her radio drama, Proof of Love, can be found on Audible (with a boss rating). She’s been a New Dramatist, a Dramatists Guild Fellow, a Lark Fellow, a Humanitas Fellow, a NeoFuturist, and a staff writer for Blue Man Group.
Chisa's theater work has earned her a GLAAD Award, a Lilly Award, two New York Innovative Theatre Awards, a Helen Merrill Award, and the Lanford Wilson Award.
View CHISA HUTCHINSON'S website here.
View THE SIGNPOST FELLOWSHIP website here.
View DRAMATISTS GUILD website here.
BRIAN McMANAMON is an actor, teacher, director, and acting coach based in New York City.
Brian is best known for his portrayal the shape-shifting DC Comics villain Clayface on the FOX TV show, GOTHAM.
On stage, Brian has appeared in A Power Play; Or, What's-its-Name by A. Rey Pamatmat at the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and These Paper Bullets! Rolin Jones's modish ripoff of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing at Yale Rep, with brand new songs by Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong. Other world premieres include the New York productions of Jake Jeppson's play The Clearing directed by Josh Hecht (Theater at St. Clements), Bodega Bay (Abingdon Theatre), The Boat in the Tiger Suit (The Brick) and Chisa Hutchinson’s Alondra Was Here (Wild Project). Brian has performed with MCC Theater, Mabou Mines, the Irish Repertory Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theater, the Abingdon Theatre, Youngblood, P.S. 122, Target Margin Theater, Theater Breaking Through Barriers (TBTB) among others.
Brian has played leading roles at regional theaters around the country including the title role in Hamlet at Burning Coal Theater, Grand Horizons at People Light, American Buffalo and Skylight (IRNE Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor) at the New Repertory Theater, The Clearing at Axial Theater, Single Lives at Boston Playwrights’ Theater, the world premiere of Sinan Unel’s play The Three of Cups at the Provincetown Theater Company and Aaron Jafferis’ Shakespeare: The Remix at Capital Repertory Theater among others.
Internationally, Brian traveled to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland performing in the world premiere of Pulitzer prize nominee Rolin Jones’ play The Jammer which received the festival’s top prize, the Fringe First Award. Brian also toured to Zagreb, Croatia with the critically acclaimed New York based theater company, Theater Breaking Through Barriers (TBTB), a company of sighted, visually impaired and blind actors. He received a full scholarship to attend the British American Drama Academy (B.A.D.A.) at Oxford University where he worked with Caryl Churchill on her opera Hotel: Eight Rooms and She Bit Her Tongue both directed by Mark Wing-Davey.
Brian currently teaches acting for the Juilliard School Extension Division and Syracuse University's Tepper Semester in New York City as well as privately. He has taught and/or directed for the Juilliard School Drama Division, New York University/Tisch School of the Arts, Columbia University’s MFA Acting Program, the National Theater Institute (NTI) at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, NYSF/Public Theater, Manhattanville College, Vassar College’s Powerhouse Apprentice Training Program, CAP21 and Yale University’s Dwight-Edgewood Project. Brian served as Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Academy at Stratford from 2015-2018.
View BRIAN McMANAMON'S website here.
A San Francisco area native, Darren’s Emmy award winning cinematography work is informed from his background as a trained classical dancer, BA in video art and photography, and prior career as an Information Technology manager.
Concentrating in features and documentary, but also working in the television and commercial space, Darren has lensed films across the world; including the UK, France, and India. Films that he’s shot have been shown in festivals around the globe; including Sundance and Cannes Film Festival..
In 2021 Darren was selected as a recipient of the ASC Vision mentorship program, which paired him with ASC (American Society of Cinematographers) member, Paul Atkins, ASC.
THE SUBJECT (dir. Lanie Ziploy; Jason Biggs, Aunjanue Ellis, Anabelle Acosta & Carra Patterson) won over 20 film festival awards during it’s run, and was ultimately distributed theatrically and on VOD by Gravitas Ventures.
Darren then followed up THE SUBJECT by shooting BounceTV’s WHO IS CHRISTMAS EVE (dir. Christina Faith; Paige Hurd, Romeo Miller, Juliana Harkavy & Alex Wong) which aired on BounceTV network and their streaming platform, Brown Sugar.
Whether it be narrative, documentary, music video, or commercial; Darren looks forward to collaborating with creative individuals to bring fresh and exciting experiences to the screen.
Darren resides in Brooklyn, NY.
View DARREN JOE''S website here.
Darren Joe's LATEST FILM "GETAR HERO" 2026 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL OFFICIAL SELECTION. View the official website here.
One of the greatest privileges of hosting FiB Live is that every conversation expands my own perspective as a filmmaker and curator. Bad Dad did exactly that.
As I mentioned during our discussion, two of my closest friends are fathers in the LGBTQ+ community. Listening to Brian McManamon and Chisa Hutchinson speak about gay parenthood, bullying, and representation made me realize that this is still a relatively new conversation in cinema. As more LGBTQ+ families become visible on screen, so too must the stories that explore not only their identities, but their everyday realities, their joys, their fears, and the challenges they face raising children.
What I admired most about the Bad Dad team was that through festival screenings and community events, they hope to create spaces where audiences can continue discussing gay parenting, bullying, and family beyond the film itself. That commitment to building community is something I deeply respect, and it's exactly the kind of filmmaking conversation FiB is proud to champion.
THANK YOU TO THE "BAD DAD" TEAM FOR BEING PART OF FiB Live!!!!
A note to Chisa, who is your fashion stylist? Chisa is fierce writer/ director with GREAT style!!!
And good luck on your season writing for Netflix's show, "The Boroughs".
— Julissa Scopino, on behalf of Filmmakers in Boardrooms
