DIRECTOR NICK CASSAVETES CAUTIONS PARENTS IN ALPHA DOG

Director Nick Cassavetes hopes the unfortunate events in Alpha Dog will deter parents from becoming lazy with their kids.

Director Nick Cassavetes was inspired to tell the true story of the murder of Nicholas Markowitz by Jesse James Hollywood and his friends in the film Alpha Dog because it felt close to home.

The offspring of director John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands is the father of two daughters who went to the same school as the teenage killers depicted in the film and heard rumblings in the household.

“It was a story that the kids were chirping about number one because the kid was on the run from the law for so long. But basically the nature of the story, the one kid that wound up dead. And you know I started thinking about what it was like when I was growing up and how much different it really was and the applications were different but the impulses were all the same. It was weird. I wanted to make the movie because there really wasn’t a reason why this kid had to die. And I’m not sure if I have the answers yet.”

As a parent, Nick sees the film as a cautionary lesson to teach your children well so they stay out of trouble.

“The film has a point of view which says your children are your own responsibility. Good or bad, what they do is your responsibility. So we should probably give them enough attention and teach them enough things so that they have the tools to deal with whatever life throws at ‘em. Make no mistakes kids are supposed to get in trouble. They’re supposed to push the limits. They’re supposed to drink and run around and have sex and do whatever the kids do. But their decisions should include keeping them out of the disaster zones.”

Two of the real murderers are on death row and one is facing life in prison which Nick hopes should be a deterrent to any parent who becomes lackadaisical. Next Nick has written and directed God Is A Bullet based on the novel about a cult that terrorizes a small town.