The Fundamentals of Caring

Rob Burnett came from television: he produced David Letterman’s late show and ran Worldwide Pants, which made this film. He adapted and directed Jonathan Evison’s 2012 novel, whose title, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, was shortened late in 2015. Evison had done the job himself. He worked as a caregiver and dedicated the book to Case Levenson, one of his patients, a man with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and credits a tragedy in his own family for the road trip. The drive runs from Seattle to Salt Lake City and an open pit mine. Shooting began on 22 January 2015 in Atlanta, moved to Cartersville in February and wrapped after 26 days, so this tour of American roadside oddities was put together in Georgia. It closed the Sundance Film Festival, with Netflix buying worldwide rights before the premiere. Nominations came from Edinburgh and the Humanitas Prize. Trevor is played by Craig Roberts, who is not disabled: writing for the Center for Disability Rights, Dominick Evans argued the makers did not believe a disabled actor could carry the part and that the performance rests on physical stereotype. A good fit if you want a caregiving bond built from jokes and roadside stops rather than speeches. Not for you if you need the movement limits of advanced Duchenne shown accurately.