Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco wanted to make a movie for and about his father. Salvo Maniscalco had immigrated from Sicily to America in 1960 when he was 15. At 18, he became a hairdresser and raised and supported a family in Chicago. As a man from a different generation and culture, he could be aggressive and embarrassing at times — especially in situations involving different cultures and tax brackets as with Maniscalco’s in-laws — and the set-up seemed ripe for a big screen comedy.
Like anyone dream casting a comedy about an Italian American man of a certain age, one name topped the list: Robert De Niro. Not that Maniscalco thought they stood a chance landing the two-time Oscar winner, but it couldn’t hurt to try.
