Steph Barkley and Chase Joliet in Grapefruit Credit: courtesy of Big Kitchen Films

Grapefruit may not have been filmed in Austin – but it may as well have been.

Receiving its world premiere at this year’s Austin Film Festival, the gentle comedy is the feature debut of writer/director Chase Joliet, who called it “a story about three broken people who save each other.” In it, Joliet plays Travis: Recently released from prison, he’s moved in with his mom (Rosanna Arquette) as he struggles with sobriety, rehabilitation, and the chaotic influence of fellow recovering addict Billie (Joliet’s wife, Steph Barkley).

Audiences may recognize Dallas native and former Austinite Joliet from Texas projects like Krisha, Zombex, and Buck Alamo or (a Phantasmagorical Ballad) – the latter directed by another Austinite, Benjamin Epstein, who also produced Grapefruit. They may also recognize another Austin-to-California transplant, Ashley Rae Spillers (Zero Charisma, Saturday Morning Massacre), with whom Joliet took acting classes at Laurel Vouvray’s Austin studio, and local funny man David Lucas, amongst others.

Yet, Grapefruit actually filmed in Tracy, Calif., “which is this small town east of San Francisco,” said Joliet. It’s producer Brooke Dooley’s hometown, “and it’s such a small town to where she could call anybody and be like, ‘Oh, I used to go to high school with her,’ ‘Oh, I know the guy at the bus stop.’ We would literally get on a bus, tell the bus driver, and he’d be like, ‘OK.’ We’d film on the bus all night.”

And it’s not quite accurate to say that Grapefruit wasn’t filmed in Austin. Eagle-eyed viewers may recognize that one scene was shot at a particular bus stop on South Congress. “I flew out, I had a small team in Austin, and we just shot that in two hours one night.”

However, Joliet didn’t want to tie Grapefruit to one location, but rather “a universal Americana” – and most especially the abstract Middle America of author Raymond Carver, who he was reading heavily while he wrote the script. “I wanted it to feel like it can be anywhere, because this story happens everywhere.” Moreover, he wanted to evoke Carver’s empathetic depiction of his troubled, complicated characters. “We’re all imperfect, we’re all flawed, and I think that’s beautiful.”

Grapefruit

Narrative Feature
World Premiere
Fri., Oct. 27, 9:45pm, Rollins Theatre
Mon., Oct. 30, 6:30pm, Galaxy Theatre

Austin Film Festival runs Oct. 26-Nov. 3. Badges available now at austinfilmfestival.com.
Find more news, reviews, and interviews at Austinchronicle.com/AFF.

This article appears in October 27 • 2023.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.