Michael O’Keefe and Elizabeth A. Davis Talk ‘A Break in the Rain,’ Grief and Finding Family

A Break in the Rain brings together two people who may enter each other’s lives unexpectedly but ultimately discover they have more to give one another than either realizes.

The TV Cave recently spoke with stars Michael O’Keefe and Elizabeth A. Davis about Jake and Katrina’s relationship, the grief at the center of the story, the role music plays in Katrina’s journey and what it has been like watching audiences respond to the film.

For O’Keefe, Jake begins the story as someone who has become stuck in the losses of his past. He has lost both his wife and his son, and although he wants to remain connected to his daughter-in-law, he does not necessarily know how to do that. He initially believes taking a job and earning money might provide that connection, but his journey takes an unexpected turn once Katrina enters his life. “You know, life's kind of funny, and if you're living a certain way, the lessons you need to learn somehow come up,” O’Keefe said.

That lesson arrives through Katrina and the road trip and creative journey the two eventually share. O’Keefe described the pair as people who are able to help each other heal while forming a connection neither expected. Davis looks at Katrina’s side of that relationship somewhat differently. She described Katrina as someone who has the “raw materials” of a life but has not yet figured out how to put everything together in a meaningful way. Jake represents someone who has already managed to build something, even if parts of that life are now beginning to fall apart.

For Davis, that eventually gives their relationship an almost familial quality. “I think she finds a family member,” Davis said. “I think both of them become quite familial.” She added that while it may not necessarily have been screenwriter Dana Williams’ intention, she personally felt a fatherly quality within Katrina and Jake’s relationship. Katrina is missing some fundamental family relationships, and Jake becomes someone she can begin to view as family.

Music Becomes Part of Katrina’s Journey

Music also plays an important part in Katrina’s story, and Davis had the opportunity to perform songs in the film. When asked whether working with the music changed the way she approached Katrina, Davis explained that music naturally influences how she interprets her own life, so the songs became another way of understanding the character’s movement through the story.

“I feel as if the songs absolutely helped her move from one thing to the next,” Davis said. Those musical moments also became some of the more enjoyable shooting days for the actor. Davis recalled reaching those portions of production and feeling like she could relax into the music and simply allow herself to experience the songs. She also spoke about performing director Don Scardino’s music and how doing so allowed her to learn something more personal about him as a filmmaker and artist.

Michael O’Keefe on Grief and Getting “Unstuck”

One of the film’s central ideas is that grief does not disappear simply because time passes. Jake continues carrying significant loss years later, and O’Keefe believes there is something very simple but important at the heart of the character’s journey.

“The only way out is through,” he said.

O’Keefe explained that people have to actually experience their emotions rather than avoid them. Otherwise, they risk remaining trapped inside them. “If you don't, you're going to get stuck,” he said. “And I think the film is about the characters getting unstuck and connecting with each other and then reconnecting with their own families through that.”

It is a simple observation, but one that gets directly to what Jake and Katrina appear to provide for one another. Neither person necessarily arrives ready to fix the other. Instead, their connection gives both an opportunity to begin moving again.

Audiences Are Already Connecting With the Film

O’Keefe and Davis have also had the opportunity to experience the movie with audiences during its festival run. O’Keefe recalled the film’s screening at the Woodstock Film Festival near his home in upstate New York. The screening took place at music venue The Colony in front of a packed audience, followed by Davis, Scardino and musicians from the film performing songs live.

The film later traveled internationally to the Capri International Film Festival in Italy, where O’Keefe said the response gave the cast an opportunity to experience the project on an entirely different stage. He described being approached by people in town who wanted to talk about the movie as the kind of experience actors can sometimes forget the significance of until they are actually living it again.

Davis had another reminder of that connection more recently after attending a festival screening in Orlando. “It was amazing just to see another full house of folks in Orlando, Florida, loving the film and being touched,” she said.

For a story built around two people learning how to reconnect with themselves and the people around them, seeing audiences form their own connection to A Break in the Rain may be a fitting final piece of its journey from production to the screen.