Filmmaker William Atticus Parker Delivers Dark Comedy Thriller ‘Atrabilious’

Grief impacts everyone differently. It can make you cry or laugh – or sometimes neither. And it can definitely feel confusing at times.

Filmmaker William Atticus Parker sets out to confront all of this with his second indie feature film, Atrabilious.

Tagged as a mystery-thriller-dark comedy, the micro-budget film has a seriously seasoned cast led by Leon Addison Brown with Mark Boone Junior, Jeffrey Wright, Whoopi Goldberg, Evan Jonigkeit, Hunter Parrish, Lewis Black and Alec Baldwin.

Atrabilious is gritty at times, slightly bizarre at others — on purpose. And at its core are the signs of an auteur in the making.

We asked William Atticus Parker some questions about the film:

What is Atrabilious about?

William Atticus Parker: Atrabilious is about Steven Joyner, a man dealing with his son’s recent, tragic death. He’s led to a bar that serves up medicinal drinks that attempt to subdue the feelings of grief without the negative effects of alcohol. Steven soon finds that his son may still be alive and that the bar, Atrabilious, may be connected to the mystery he is attempting to unravel.

Where did you come up with the idea for it?

William Atticus Parker: I knew I wanted to involve mixology because of what can be done cinematically with those sequences. Then the idea for cocktail bereavement coordination came shortly after as was the central storyline about Steven. I was in the middle of recovering from numerous health problems at the time of writing it and was craving a creative outlet. Ash, my sister, and I were making a lot of dark jokes. I love dark comedies and the kind of sense of humor where you don’t know if you should laugh or not. But a lot of the most potent humor comes from grief.

What was the biggest hurdle you had to overcome in getting this project off the page and onto the screen?

William Atticus Parker: I funded the project on my own by teaching magic lessons and working at escape rooms. I knew that I was a teenager with no experience, and it would be a pretty lame look to have a kickstarter up for a feature written and directed by someone who hadn’t finished high school. Just the process of trying to put it all together with about twenty thousand dollars was difficult in that it was a crew made up of almost entirely of my teenage friends, Dhamani, Sudan, Marissa, Eli, Juno with the exception of a few people like Adam Piacente, Sabina Friedman-Seitz, Dan Renkin and Chris Calfa. By the way, I just listed our entire production crew. We had virtually nobody on this set which was a blessing and a curse.

What can you share about your experience working with such a dream cast, including your lead actor Leon Addison Brown?

William Atticus Parker: I worked with Leon on my second feature and wrote this with him in mind. Steven is a character who is deep in mourning, but I didn’t want someone emoting the whole time because he’s also in shock. Leon is such a sophisticated actor in the way that he approaches scene work. It’s never about showing the audience how he’s feeling, and I needed an actor who could do that.

What is the central message that you hope audiences take away?

William Atticus Parker: That trying to navigate grief can be just as confusing as this film… or almost as confusing. I wanted to make a film where the storytelling, lighting, editing and cinematography worked the way that one’s mind does when you’re dealing with loss. Having been through it quite a few times, we should recognize more as a society that it feels like watching a neurodivergent teenager pull together a neo-noir film.

As a filmmaker, what did you learn on your first film, Forty Winks, that helped you with Atrabilious?

William Atticus Parker: If anything, Forty Winks taught me that you need thick skin. You have to adapt with little to no time and that can be an incredibly difficult thing to do. Directing, in my mind, is all about problem solving so Forty Winks really prepared me for that. It’s also that thing where when you do something a bunch you get a little better every time.

What types of stories are you interested most in telling?

William Atticus Parker: Whenever I go to the theaters and see something fresh or bold – that’s what I’m most drawn to. I also love stories that are complex, cryptic, sometimes don’t make sense; that force the audience to think. I’d rather force the audience to think and maybe have them get angry about it then have them fully checked out. That’s not to say that all of my films will be as openly confusing as Atrabilious, but that idea definitely interests me.

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Are you working on another project right now or what’s next?

William Atticus Parker: I’m working on my third feature, The Auction, a science-fiction thriller set in an office space. I wanted to pivot to something more narrative so that I could step back and hone my craft. Forty Winks and Atrabilious were experiments. I didn’t go in thinking I’m making a movie. I went in thinking I’m a teenager trying to make a movie. I’ve now got one through college and had a lot more experience on sets in smaller roles. We also have a forty-odd person crew to support me instead of the aforementioned nine, which on some days was three. I always like surrounding myself with people that are smarter than me and The Auction is the dream team when it comes to that.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

William Atticus Parker: I’m a major promoter of going out and making things. They don’t have to be perfect. That’s not what I was interested in when making my first two features. You just have to do it, make mistakes, learn, and then try to make those mistakes to a lesser degree the next time. I love making movies, even when I have no clue as to what I’m doing, but now having had the experience of making two features and a little more insight I think I have somewhat of a better grasp on it.

Atrabilious is now available for streaming on Amazon and Fandango at Home.