Director Lisa Cholodenko on The Kids Are All Right, Gay Porn, and That Ending

"Josh told me that when he read the script, he thought it was a drama":http://www.movieline.com/2010/07/josh-hutcherson-everybody-has-roles-they-wanted-and-didnt-get.php, but when he saw it at that screening, he realized how funny it was. Did you think you were writing a comedy all along?

Well, Stuart and I definitely set out to be comedic. I think we laughed when we were writing it -- we thought the stuff was funny -- but somehow, I wasn't totally sure it was going to translate until I sat at that screening. That was stunning, actually. I almost felt like it was Candid Camera: the joke's on me.

Did you let yourself enjoy that reaction? It played like gangbusters.

I did. I mean, it was a little surreal: I was sitting there with my partner at a Sundance screening, I was having my own anxieties, Julianne was sitting next to me, Mark was sitting in front of her, and they hadn't seen it. It was all a little psychedelic! But you know, when the screening was over and distributors came up to me and my manager and the deal-making started to happen, I felt like, "Oh, OK. This is good. This is going to work."

And then it went to Focus, the studio that seemed perfect for it all along.

You know, I'm a big fan of Focus. I think they've done really great work and have great taste. I've known [Focus head] James Schamus for a long time. He was a professor of mine at Columbia.

Did that give him an edge in acquiring the movie?

No. [Laughs] It was a long time ago. But I just really respect him -- he has a lot of integrity in a business where that's up for grabs a lot. That was interesting to me, to work with somebody heading a company that had real vision and integrity. I did always feel, "Wow, this does feel like a Focus film -- it'd be great if it landed there." There was some discussion about it, but we said, "We're going to take it to Sundance and see who bids on it." I didn't know. I didn't know that there would be so much interest. We did have a bit of a situation where we had to decide, because it wasn't the best offer financially, but it was a solid offer and I really felt like they were going to do an enormous outreach for it and make it work.

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

Some viewers feel like there's no closure with Mark Ruffalo's character at the end of the film -- they want to see what happens with him after he's left this family.

Right.

Was it a conscious decision you made, that you felt his storyline had been wrapped up to your satisfaction?

You know, we went back and forth. We had a couple drafts, and one was a little bit more milquetoast, I felt in the end, where there was a reunion scene. We quickly felt like that was not honest to where this film was ending. For this film, for this story, it was right. It's about this family going through a huge jog and a bit of a blow, and big things are going on. It's about ending with them and seeing whether they can stay intact.

We didn't feel like we cut off the Mark Ruffalo character -- we felt like, "This is where it's organic for him to end." This is a person who's kind of lived a certain lifestyle -- he has a certain je ne sais quoi and joie de vivre, for better or for worse -- and now, when it really counts, he sort of bottomed out. He need to kind of rethink how he approaches people and makes choices, and what the consequences are. We didn't feel like it was evil, like we'd killed the Wicked Witch or something -- we just felt like, "OK, the guy landed on his ass a bit. There's potential for him to reunite with the family, but it's just not gonna be that week."

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