By: Valerie Milano
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) – 9/20/2024 – At the age of 18, very few people know who they truly are, let alone where they are going and how they are going to get there. But funny life has a way of providing those answers, eventually.
For T.J., his 18th birthday delivered an opportunity to find out for himself when his estranged ex-con musician father sends him the keys to a vintage car, a note with an address in California’s Bay Area and a request that he drive the car from his Massachusetts home to the West Coast, where his father now lives.
This is how filmmaker Chaysen Beacham’s What We Find On the Road begins, and what follows is a coming-of-age/road-trip/buddy movie, complete with a hint of romance that is intriguing, endearing and wholly entertaining. Beacham, the film’s director and co-producer, weaves gold from writer/co-producer Bill Haney’s script in this award-winning feature.
As the film begins, T.J. (Finn Haney) receives a visit from a man who says he’s a friend of the teen’s dad. He is given car keys, a note, and told he can find the car at Billy’s Garage.
After T.J. and Billy, played to perfection by veteran actor Paul Guilfoyle (“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”), breathe life back into the car, a 1968 Dodge Polara, the teen and his childhood best friend Jake (William Chris Sumpter) embark on a cross-country quest for answers.
There is a dark twist, as T.J. discovers a solid steel box in the trunk that is sealed and welded to the car, injecting doubt into our road warriors and intrigue into the story. Along the way to the West Coast, T.J. encounters an array of lovable oddballs and characters. Held together by humor and grit, TJ discovers that sometimes the longest road is the fastest way home.
The film’s two main stars, Haney and Sumpter, visited with The Hollywood Times this week, and talked about what attracted them to playing the parts of T.J. and Jake. Haney said he was drawn to the part of T.J. largely because he admired the way the character developed over the course of the film.
Click below for our exclusive interview:
“I think his optimism and his willingness to take his life into his own hands, and take accountability for his life, and take a chance and settle some things from his past … I think that is pretty admirable,” Haney said.
Sumpter said the friendship between the two characters was what caught his eye.
“What I really loved about Jake was how spontaneous, how go-with-the-flow he was,” Sumpter said. “I think this spontaneity is masking a layer of him actually just being a caring friend. So, I think he’s saying, ‘I’m going to go on this road trip to watch you make an ass of yourself.’ But I think what is behind that is, ‘I want to go with you to support my friend in this really transformative time in his life.’ Weird, crab-like hard outer shell at times … but underneath it, he’s a softie.”
Haney couldn’t say enough nice things about his experience acting alongside Guilfoyle, a veteran of 50 years and more than 120 acting roles. For 15 seasons, Guilfoyle played Jim Brass on “CSI” and has had roles in such blockbusters as L.A. Confidential and Air Force One.
“It was awesome! It was really nice having him involved at the beginning of the movie. He’s such a pro and he showed me how it’s done,” said Haney, who is making his first appearance in a lead role in the movie. “Just watching him work and working with him, improvising and finding the truth of each moment … It was really inspiring. He is an awesome guy.”
Joining Haney, Sumpter and Guilfoyle in the stellar cast are Katherine Laheen as Maeve, a young Irish woman on a road trip of her own to visit a sister in L.A., as well as John Adams and Toby Poser as T.J.’s aunt and uncle, who put the boys up for a night on the way to California.
Things We Find On the Road has had a busy 2024 at festivals, claiming eight wins, including recognition for filmmaker Beacham’s Best Narrative Feature Drama at the Jersey Shore Film Festival and Best Drama at the Independent Filmmakers Showcase IFS Film Festival, and Best Actor for Haney at the Pasadena International Film Festival.
