It’s one thing to dream big, but it’s another to actually make the moves to attain your goals. After graduating college, Dora (Eden Brolin) is eager to travel the world, but she’s got no choice but to watch her friends go off without her while she stays at home studying for the LSAT. In an effort to spice things up a bit, she volunteers to head off to her Great Aunt Vera’s (Diane Ladd) estate to help her while she’s recovering from an injury. Trouble is, Vera’s sour attitude is a bit of a drag, so Dora spends most of her time encouraging her to get past decades of doubt and resentment, but, in turn, Dora does make quite the personal breakthrough herself.

In honor of the I Dream Too Much world premiere at SXSW, Brolin, Danielle Brooks and writer-director Katie Cokinos sat down to discuss making the film. We talked about the importance of finding the right title for a movie, whether or not Brolin’s relationship with her father, Josh Brolin, is anything like Dora’s relationship with her mother, the music in the film, shooting in upstate New York and more. You can catch it all in the full video interview below.

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Image via SXSW

Danielle Brooks, Eden Brolin & Katie Cokinos:

  • 00:00 - Cokinos on coming up with the idea; how Jane Austen’s work influenced the film.
  • 01:11 - The importance of finding the right title when making a film.
  • 01:29 - Brooks’ first impression of the script and if she could relate to the characters.
  • 02:39 - Brooks on her character’s unique relationship with music.
  • 03:52 - Brolin on her character’s relationship with her mother and how it compares to her relationship with her father.
  • 06:25 - Apparently Josh Brolin is a grammar freak.
  • 06:47 - On the poetry element of the film; poetry as a vehicle for self-discovery.
  • 08:06 - It’s easy for Cokinos to spend the day writing, but being on a set as a director was a little daunting at the beginning.
  • 08:58 - Having a ton of locations and going up against two snow storms, but pulling it off.
  • 09:25 - Cokinos on working with her husband, cinematographer Alex Rappoport.
  • 10:08 - Shooting in Saugerties, Woodstock and Stone Ridge.
  • 11:20 - One of their shooting locations is actually a Hindu retreat.
  • 12:19 - What they did on their days off upstate.
  • 13:49 - Brolin’s song that plays during the end credits; the soundtrack and the score.
  • 15:38 - Cokinos on writing 29 drafts of the script; bringing the shooting script to her actors.
  • 16:42 - Editing was the biggest challenge; getting feedback from Ed and Jack McWilliams, Jay Thames and Richard Linklater.
  • 17:44 - Brooks on preferring to watch her work by herself first before watching it with an audience; seeing the final cut for the first time.
  • 18:57 - Brolin on getting to know the material so well during shooting and then seeing how things change in the finished film.
  • 20:02 - The film outgrew the story; Cokinos on cutting one of her favorite scenes.
  • 21:20 - Brooks on what’s to come for Taystee in Orange is the New Black season 3.
  • 22:15 - Is Vee (Lorraine Toussaint) long gone in season 3?