Arriving on Amazon Prime Video this week, “Don’t Make Me Go,” starring John Cho (“Star Trek”) and Mia Isaac is a father-daughter forced road trip film. When single father Max (Cho) discovers his terminal disease, he uses what little time he has left to spend with his teenager daughter Wally, going from California to New Orleans. Along the way, the two argue and form an everlasting bond.
Although the film isn’t autobiographical, screenwriter Vera Herbert (“This Is Us”) drew upon her relationship with her father, who passed away unexpectedly when she was 18 years old.
“It wasn’t like Max’s diagnosis or anything like that, because we were close,” Herbert explained. “We spent so much time together, especially my last couple years of high school. But (the story evolved from) that feeling of loss, wanting to tell a story flips it on its head and (imagine) if he had had time to teach me the things he specifically wanted to teach me. And, what if I could teach him something in return?”
Herbert “mined” her memories for pieces of the story that would make their way into the script, such as a dance between father and daughter.
“My dad tried to dance with me in our kitchen when I was a teenager,” she said. “I got married a few years ago, and I was thinking ‘I’m never going to get an actual father-daughter dance,’ but there’s this one from our kitchen. That’s what I have.”
“Don’t Make Me Go” also has a strong theme of forgiveness toward the end as a lifetime of hurt reaches its breaking point. Herbert said the director Hannah Marks suggested a moment of healing and grace for Wally.
“There’s so much in the film that Wally has to forgive her dad for along the way, learning about his past and the reason his marriage ended,” she said. “She is really good at taking it in stride and being able to say ‘It’s okay because I forgive you. You’re the one who stayed with me, raised me, and loved me. And that’s more important than the mistakes of your past’.”
Wally also realizes, “It does me no good at this point to hang on to negativity or anger,” Herbert added. “I do think that’s a great thing for people to take away from it.”
“Don’t Make Me Go,” written by Vera Herbert and starring John Cho and Mia Isaac, will stream exclusively on Amazon Prime beginning Friday, July 15.
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