Comedy/Drama

Budget Projection: $25 million

Plot:

A man from Los Angeles with a flashy job must head out to Iowa to drive his 97 year old cantankerous father down Route 66 one last time before putting his father into a nursing home.

Background:

The backbone of the story came from an article about an actor who talked about wanting to work with his father, another famous actor, on a movie. Their brands and lifestyles were the inspirations for Pops and Son. The characters of Pops and Son were enhanced with experiences from the authors’ own life.

The inspiration for the location came from the History Channel’s documentary about Route 66. The sites along Route 66 are so colorful and larger than life, which plays into the slightly out of control feeling, the carnival experience Son feels as he’s trying to “contain” Pops in the process of getting him to the nursing home.

Son is very much the representation of all sons who want to go on have live their own choices for their lives but they know they are tied to their parents’ expectations of them and they are trying to come to terms with being ok with not being the model that the parents were trying to turn them into. Son also has the element of trying to accept that his father, Pops, who was once this imposing figure is now just a frail old man at the end of his life.

Pops is a man whose entire being is wrapped up in this old set of values and rules but he has this side to him where he has his own way of bucking against the system. Pops also represents the frailties of life where his life is starting to show his age. No matter how tough Pops’ personality is, he still needs help getting his zipper down or chewing a high quality steak.

Trying to Reach 100 is the story of the love between a father, Pops, and Son and two very similar, yet in some ways, very different people who are trying to last through a very stressful trip through Route 66.

Cinematic Style:

Trying to Reach 100 is the perfect project to use IMAX 3D cameras. The visual impact of the landscape along Route 66 and the larger than life iconic sites and locations, especially in 3D, places the audience on the bench seat, right next to Pops and Son, in the 1970’s Cheyenne Pickup truck.