Kim Quinn Talks ‘American Dreamer’ And Why Producing Is In Her “Wheelhouse”

Kim Quinn produces and stars in American Dreamer, a movie inspired by a true story taken from Chicago Public Radio’s This American Life. Peter Dinklage is Phil Loder, a frustrated economics professor who strikes a home ownership deal with widow Astrid Finnelli (Shirley MacLaine). His dream home plans take a turn when he discovers Astrid may have other plans for her property! Quinn talked to Deepest Dream about the feature, which is penned and co-produced by her husband Ted Melfi.

Kim Quinn stars in American Dreamer as Maggie, and she serves as one of the biggest road blocks in Phil (Peter Dinklage) getting the house once Astric (Shirley MacLaine) passes away. Though the movie has its share of comedy, American Dreamer also succeeds as a resonant drama. Although Phil may be self-serving, his gradual connection with Astrid poignantly shows his emotional maturation.

Check out our review of American Dreamer:

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American Dreamer director Paul Dektor cites Being There, the Hal Ashby directed movie starring Peter Sellers and Shirley MacLaine, as one of his favorite movies. That blend of comedy from the Hal Ashby classic is also found in American Dreamer.

“The movies we produce and the movie Ted writes – we really like to get to the heart of things and we like to do it through comedy,” said Quinn. “We like to do it through tragedy. We like to do it with real life situations and utilizing all those things. But sometimes you can’t talk about tragedy or heartache or whatever without the angle of comedy. And I think that’s what Ted does best.”

I asked Quinn about the job of a producer, since it is a profession has more than a few layers. “There’s many different roles in the producing world, and my role is more the creative role,” said Quinn, who also produced and starred in Melfi’s features St. Vincent and Hidden Figures. “I help cast. I help edit. I help do the drafts of the scripts. All of these things. Every film I do, I get better and better. I really think that producing is just kind of like that job where you have to do it. You just have to keep doing it and keep getting better at it because there’s no class to take. There’s no how to be a producer (class). You just learn as you go. And that’s kind of been my life anyway, so it fits in my wheelhouse.”

American Dreamer, co-starring Matt Dillon and Danny Glover, is now available On Demand.