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“The Power of a ‘Like’ When Someone Needs It Is More Powerful Than We Realize”: Tracie Laymon On Her Heartwarming Bob Trevino Likes It
Bob Trevino Likes It (courtesy Roadside Attractions) To this cranky viewer constantly engaged in a battle to limit his social media time, the concept of Tracie Laymon’s debut feature, Bob Trevino Likes It, almost feels like time-travel science fiction, a trip back to a world where social media provided positivity and good vibes, not toxic rancor, nefarious scammers and wellness grift. In the comedy drama, now in release from Roadside Attractions, an adrift young woman, Lily Trevino (Barbie Ferreira), who is forever let down by the gross insensitivities of her biological father (French Stewart), finds both a pal and needed self affirmation by randomly befriending a man on Facebook with the same name as her dad. The ensuing relationship between Lily and Bob Trevino (John Leguizamo) is, initially, less a purely epistolary one than one built around likes, emojis and pithy inspirational cheers. But when Lily suggests an IRL meet-up, the relationship grows, fulfilling a need for her but him too. Beneath whatever reply-guy tendencies he might have, Bob — a contractor in a happy marriage — nurses his own suppressed sadnesses and insecurities, which Lily’s friendship assuages.
As the film progresses, Bob and Lily form a lovely, platonic, surrogate father/daugher bond, one that, as these movies go, faces its own third-act adversities. But while there have certainly been other independent films dramatizing chosen-family themes, with the very winning Bob Trevino Likes It Laymon brings a palpable depth of personal feeling to what in less-invested hands would be pure formula. In fact, Trevino, which won both the Grand Jury and Audience Awards at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival, is an old-fashioned, full-throated crowdpleaser, one that on its festival tour has left not a dry eye in its various houses. (And, yes, I’m including cranky me, who saw the film at last year’s FilmFestKnox.) There’s no ironic detachment here, nor a hesitancy — rare in first-time filmmakers — to pull back on emotion.
Both lead actors are incredible. Ferreira plays Lily as messy, impulsive, altogether “too much,” but with a beautiful sincerity and sense of longing. Her performance is big, with an unfiltered quality that gives the film an edge and feeling of unpredictability. And Leguizamo gives one of his very best performances here, going the other way, imbuing what could have been a stock character peddling generic uplift into a complex and ultimately very touching depiction of a middle-aged man who, until now, hasn’t been able to express in his daily work and personal life the feelings he’s been pushing from his consciousness.
Born in Russia, Laymon moved with her family to Houston when she was 14, and her own personal story — she bonded with a man with the same name as her father on Facebook — provided the inspiration for Bob Trevino Likes It. I spoke to Laymon about that online encounter, being shut down by the SAG strike after her first day of shooting, and how abandoning another project led to this first feature going into production.
Filmmaker: How are you doing?
Laymon: I’m doing okay. We had our press check yesterday, and we did our content shoots. I think I did 60 solo four-to-eight minute [interviews]. Barbie and John were on KTLA Live this morning, and they’re going to be on The View. And John was on [Live with] Kelly and Mark, Drew Barrymore, and Kelly Clarkson. It’s exciting.
Filmmaker: That’s a high-level of mainstream penetration for an independent film. Obviously, you have two name actors as your leads, but what more do you attribute this too?
Laymon: I think it’s a combination of things. People are genuinely really liking the film. The publicists – John’s and Barbie’s, mine, and the film’s — have said they’ve never seen so many people genuinely lit up. And that’s not because it’s a perfect film, and that I didn’t make mistakes, but I think the authenticity and heart of it are really translating. There’s a need for it in the zeitgeist right now. People are hungry for something that gives them a little bit of hope, and I think the fact that the cast and crew showed up with that heart, and that we really gave it our all, is translating.
Filmmaker: Before we talk about the film, could you tell me how you became a filmmaker and how this became your first film?
Laymon: As a kid, I was always writing. I would go into my closet and call it my office and just write in there. And I loved movies. My biological dad got me really interested in movies, and so I think I just started writing screenplays as a way to connect with my family. I was like, well, if they like movies, and if I write movies about what matters to me, then maybe that’ll work, you know? And then over time, I realized that maybe not everybody can hear what you’re saying. I thought, well, I better do it for myself and for the people who can hear and see what I’m doing. So, I did shorts, music videos, a couple of pilots, and a couple episodes of a Hulu show. There was another film before this that I tried to do for over a decade, and it just couldn’t get off the ground.
Filmmaker: Why was that?
Laymon: In hindsight, I was always holding something back. It’s like that line in Gattaca: “I didn’t save anything for the swim back.” This was the first film where I didn’t save anything for the swim back. It was the most “me” — the most vulnerable and honest that I could possibly be. Whereas the [other projects I tried], it was like 70% or something, you know?
Filmmaker: What was it about the other project that didn’t engender that same level of commitment in you?
Laymon: I’m not sure, but I do know I wasn’t in a position to feel like I would risk everything for that film. The “why” of it wasn’t as clear to me as the “why” in this film. And when your commitment and conviction is as strong as mine was for this film, it becomes contagious. People get a little bit of FOMO, you know? It’s a moving train, are you going to get on it or not?
Filmmaker: Was it a more commercially minded film?
Laymon: It was actually really similar, but it just wasn’t quite as honest, as truthful to my experiences. It was more me imagining other people and other experiences. That script won major awards, but I think there’s also something to do with timing. When I was writing this one, putting it together and shooting, it felt like people needed this film now. The other one was a little darker.
Filmmaker: How did Bob Trevino Likes It become the film you pivoted to?
Laymon: In 2021 I decided I needed to tell Bob Laymon what he had meant to me. I had met him on Facebook in 2012, and I didn’t know how to say thank you for his small acts of kindness. His random positive comments, likes and support over these years changed my entire life. I started writing [a short film script] just as a way to say thank you. It was a short, cheesey version where they all become family. I was just going to give the story to him [in person] – I wasn’t even going to make it. He lived in Wichitaw, Kansas, and I thought, well, I’ll submit my short film to the Tallgrass Film Festival in Wichita, Kansas. I’ll get in, go there, invite him and his wife to the screening, and then I’ll take them to dinner. And I’ll say, “By the way, these small acts of kindness changed my whole life. I’ve gone to therapy, I’ve done all these things, but it was the kindness of a stranger that really helped me heal. You have no idea the impact you had.” So, I submitted my short, and I don’t get in. I was getting into all these other festivals and winning awards – why didn’t I get in! Later, in 2021, I thought, I’ll just write a thank-you-script, a happy-go-lucky short, and say, “Here you go,” because I didn’t know how to express myself otherwise. I wrote a short cheesy version [of Bob Trevino Likes It] where they all become a family, but I wasn’t able to give it to him. They say grief is love with no place to go, and I had all this love I had never expressed, so I called his wife, Terry, and said, “I never told him, so now I have to tell everybody.” And she said, “Okay,” and she’s been part of all this too. And I got to work. It was compulsive. I was like a vessel, and that wasn’t the case with the other script. And the funny thing is, we go make the movie, and then I get a call from the Tallgrass Film Festival: “We love the film, we want it to be our closing night movie.” I said, “That’s amazing. but do you understand the significance of your festival? Because if you had accepted my short, there would be no feature.” It’s just a reminder to keep going because every door that shuts means you’re one step closer to the door that’s going to open.
Filmmaker:Okay, you said a lot in that half sentence, “And then we go make the movie.” Tell me about landing on the independent production model you eventually landed on.
Laymon:First I thought the money was going to come from one place, and I thought I was going to have a different team, and it just seemed that they wanted to do it a little differently than me.
Filmmaker: In what way?
Laymon: A bigger budget that might make us make choices that weren’t right for the film. Wonderful people, but I didn’t want this to end up on slate [and not get made]. I tried to explain: “You don’t understand, I have to make this movie. It can’t one on a slate of 20 for you that, if it happens, it happens. And I have to do it nitty gritty, do it myself, that’s what I’m going to do.” So, we parted ways. I already had Barbie, which was wonderful – she stuck with me the whole time. But I didn’t know how to start an LLC, raise money and all of that. Luckily, my friend Sean Mullen, who’s a PGA producer on the project with me and Edgar Rosa, had done this before many times. He helped me structure it and start going out for money. I used to teach filmmaking at Ghetto Film School, and I taught animation at film camps on the Stanford and Berkeley campuses. So, I started asking some of my chosen family. Like, I had taught [one family’s] daughter, and they said yes. I got a lot of nos, let’s be clear, but the yesses kept me going.
We got a fiscal sponsorship from the Film Collaborative, and I started taking donations. And I reached out to nine film commissions. I was like, “I wrote it to play take place in Texas, but it doesn’t have to take place there.” Some of the film commissions didn’t even write me back, but Kentucky got back to me right away. There were nine people or so on the Zoom, and they were passionate and excited. They still have a very aggressive [incentive] program, and they really got the heart of the film. So, I scouted in Kentucky. I went alone, and I was like, “We don’t have a lot of money, and I have to find all the locations. I’m going to scout and see how it feels and meet potential crew.” I remember, I had the cheapest rental car, and they upgraded me to a Tesla, but there were no chargers anywhere where I was scouting. So, I was alone, driving all over Louisville with a car that was about to die all the time. It was really stressful, but I fell in love with Louisville, and I found a lot of our locations [on that trip].
Filmmaker: Tell me about working with Barbie on a character that is so personal to you. Were you ever attempted to direct her to play the character closer to your own personal experience?
Laymon: The reason I cast Barbie is because of who she is and what she brings, so her playing herself was way better than her trying to play me. [Before casting her] I closely watched her work. I watched her vulnerability. her humor, her ability, her wit, and her ability to be excited about small things. Barbie is a powerhouse of a human being, an artist who made this space for herself in this industry like Lily had to make her space in the world. I firmly believe that there was only one actor who could have done each of these roles. I don’t think that there’s a list of people, even though I know that’s how it works. And, so, when she responded to the script, I knew she would [be Lily]. And then, when I went and met with her, she was every bit as wonderful as I knew she would be, and more. It felt meeting an old friend. We found we have a lot of similar experiences, where my life and her life overlapped, and where it overlapped was the humanity and the universal truth of Lily.
Filmmaker: I’m presuming it was seeing her on Euphoria that brought her to your attention?
Laymon: Yes, and specifically one scene. I remember watching this scene where she’s at a school dance, and she’s apologizing to Austin Abrams for being mean to him. The world just slowed down when I was watching the scene: I was like, “That’s Lily.” You could feel this maze — it was like she had to [cut] through a maze in order to say [her dialogue]. They kept cutting to him, and I’m like, “Stay on her!” It was a master class in acting.
Filmmaker: One of the beautiful things in the film is the depiction of Bob Trevino’s inner life. There’s a lack, but at the same time, his marriage is not unhappy. In a lot of movies with characters like his, the marriage is unhappy, or the wife is a career woman who doesn’t pay attention to him, or she has passed away. Could you tell me about working with John to create this character, and about how much your knowledge of the real Bob came into play when discussing with John that inner life?
Laymon: Bob Trevino became an amalgamation of mentors and people who have been kind to me. I grew up in Texas, which is 44% Latino. A lot of my professors, mentors and teachers were Latino. But I wasn’t trying to cast this way — I was just casting hearts. I was like, “These are the right hearts to play these characters.” One of my mentors and teachers in Texas was named Bob Trevino, so I knew I needed to change the name. But I needed the real heart and authenticity when I was working on [the script] to know that I didn’t just totally make something up. So, I called my friend Bob Trevino — he’s a special effects person, who came out, did the effects on the first movie I worked on, and was always kind to me — and I said, “Hey, Bob, I have a really weird question. I think if I write with your name, I can have that heart in this film. Would you mind if I used it?” And he said, “No problem.” He’s very excited, and everybody likes it now when he likes their stuff [on Facebook]! He also flew out to do our special effects on this film, so, when people see [in the credits], “Special Effects, Bob Trevino,” they’re like, “Is that a metaphor?”
About [John], I remember seeing a clip of him being interviewed, and he was talking about family and his son and why he did Latin History for Dummies. He got choked up, and I got choked up watching it, and I was like, this is a real dad with heart and humanity. And just like that moment on Euphoria with Barbie, when I saw this interview, I said, that’s it. There’s no one else that could ever play this role. And we knew that Bob Trevino couldn’t be a saint. This is not meant to be a toxically positive movie. There’s darkness in it. People are flawed, but they’re trying — broken people trying to do the right thing. They’re kind, good people, and they don’t always do the right thing. Bob is not perfect, but he’s trying, and that’s what was meant to be a role model for everyone. We can all do that.
Filmmaker: What were the production challenges? How many days did you shoot?
Laymon: We were meant to shoot 20, but SAG struck on our first day of production. So, it was tough. We had scheduled to fly the actors after we knew if SAG was going to strike. But then SAG pushed two weeks, and then we had already booked everything — locations, flights. We were moving, and we couldn’t change it. We had to hope for the best. We were submitting all of our [waiver] paperwork and were very transparent. We shot the first day, and then SAG struck, and we were down the second day. Luckily, we did get the waiver, and that third day we were back up, and we all worked together to make up for that day. We also lost a day to freak thunderstorms that never happen in Kentucky, so 18 days.
Filmmaker: In your film, Facebook is a site for positivity, but I think many people, including myself, see it more as a toxic stew. Do you think your film represents a kind of earlier era of social media, or does it represent something that is still present?
Laymon: I think it’s present enough that this movie happened because of it, and it wasn’t that long ago. But we have moved away from that [feeling], and this movie is kind of a call back to that. It’s nostalgic, in a way. I remember when I first got social media — I was so excited to be connected to people like me, to not feel so alone and then also have my world open up to [other people]. I think my goal with the film is to say, “Look at what a stranger did for my life.” Now we’re in this time when it’s so divisive, and people are so quick to be angry and use [social media] as an outlet for anger and bullying. You forget there’s a human being [on the other side of the screen]. You have no idea what’s going on with them. But the power of a positive comment, or a like, when someone needs it is so much greater than we realize. We think we don’t have any power, that things are horrible, and that we’re all alone and can’t do anything about it. But if we just could all realize that’s not the case and work together, I think we could create a better space.
