![The trailer for 'Find Me Falling.'](https://cdn.statically.io/img/dnm.nflximg.net/api/v6/2DuQlx0fM4wd1nzqm5BFBi6ILa8/AAAAQeDSW4SNm2xYig7k_DhcdbyHT2Ozv4LLoJVLk_Lk64iGYvAKx53svjrMoMA2rnmaqRC9Nl-90SibGmgraAFUCpYvsEzCm_fMeXBWEqyRBGpmZPLwZWp0XoNHBQWl2eByyBSZabJSNXYLvKC8sa4U0ixp.jpg?r=ac8)
![The trailer for 'Find Me Falling.'](https://cdn.statically.io/img/dnm.nflximg.net/api/v6/2DuQlx0fM4wd1nzqm5BFBi6ILa8/AAAAQeDSW4SNm2xYig7k_DhcdbyHT2Ozv4LLoJVLk_Lk64iGYvAKx53svjrMoMA2rnmaqRC9Nl-90SibGmgraAFUCpYvsEzCm_fMeXBWEqyRBGpmZPLwZWp0XoNHBQWl2eByyBSZabJSNXYLvKC8sa4U0ixp.jpg?r=ac8)
Harry Connick, Jr. is heading to the Mediterranean Sea. In the new romantic comedy Find Me Falling, the singer and actor (Independence Day, New in Town, The Iron Giant) plays a role that may initially seem like familiar territory for the singer and actor: a rock star. But that’s where the similarities between Connick and his character, John Allman, end. “He’s playing against type as a brooding, tattooed, lonely rock star,” writer/director Stelana Kliris tells Tudum. “We couldn’t have asked for a better fit, and on top of that, he wrote two fantastic songs for the film.”
“I just absolutely loved it,” Connick tells Tudum about his initial reaction to the script. “I thought it was heartfelt and romantic and smart and tragic and all of those things, and it just looked like an experience I wanted to be a part of.”
Read on for more information about Find Me Falling, now streaming on Netflix.
Coming off a flop album and his biggest hit’s dwindling popularity, aging rock star John Allman decides to take a break from his career to reclaim his spark. He moves to an isolated cliffside home on the idyllic Mediterranean island of Cyprus, but John’s dream of keeping a low profile is derailed when he is routinely confronted by desperate souls, and later faced with even more complicated surprises when an old flame reignites.
“This is a love story about many kinds of love: romantic, family, lifelong dreams, and what you’re willing to sacrifice for the people or the things you love,” Kliris says. “John essentially has to decide whether the love of his life is his music or the woman he left behind.”
“He’s this grumpy kind of misanthropic guy who’s depressed and impatient and he decides to just separate himself from society,” Connick says of his character. “He’s had enough of his kind of dwindling career and rock and roll and decides to move to this remote island and get a remote house on a remote cliff on that island.” Of course, he can’t stay remote for long.
Check it out at the top of this article!
Find Me Falling stars an ensemble cast including:
Find Me Falling is Ali Fumiko Whitney’s first leading role in a major feature, and the experience was slightly nerve-wracking — but only at first. “I was so intimidated going into it because not only was I about to work with [Connick], but I knew he was also writing original music for our film that I was going to get to sing as Melina,” Whitney says. “He immediately gave me the biggest hug, wanted my number so that he could invite me out with his kids. He actually had two of his daughters on set for part of the time we were filming, and they really just took me under their wing and he could not have been more generous with his time and his advice.” Find us falling … in love with Harry Connick, Jr.?
The cast brought a crucial ingredient to the film that Kliris felt was needed for a perfect rom-com: heart. “You can have all the bells, whistles and gags that you want, but without real substance, you can’t connect with your star-crossed lovers,” she says. “You also need characters — and the actors who play them — that people will fall in love with. Find Me Falling certainly has both.”
Connick and Whitney aren’t Find Me Falling’s only stars. The island of Cyprus, which director Kliris calls home, was given an onscreen spotlight of its own.
“This film is a love letter to Cyprus, and I hope that it transports audiences and gives them a little bit of magical escapism,” Kliris says. “Plus, there was nothing better than walking out on set on a cliff overlooking the endless blue horizon of the Mediterranean Sea. You can’t ask for a better ‘view from the office!’ ”
“I really hope this film puts Cyprus not only as a vacation destination, but Cyprus in the film industry on the map because it’s such a family-oriented work environment there,” Whitney says. “Everyone takes care of everyone. Harry and I came from America, and people treated us like we were their cousins or their daughters or their family, and I think that’s such a special, unique work environment that we don’t often get.” Find us falling … in love with Cyprus?
Yes! Find Me Falling features two new original songs written and performed by Harry Connick, Jr.: “Find Me Falling” and “Girl on the Beach.”
“Stelana wanted one of the songs to be the hit song that my character would have had in the early nineties,” Connick says. “It has to be about this girl on the beach that he meets. So, the name of the song is ‘Girl on the Beach,’ and it sounds like one of those early U2 tunes. And then the second song had to be something more poetic and melodic. It was fun writing a piece of music in response to what she thought the script needed for another character. I wasn’t writing for myself — it’s a song I would sing, but it was just a fun different way to approach songwriting.”
But Connick isn’t the only one lending his voice to the film. To play aspiring singer Melina, Whitney makes her musical film debut — in Greek.
“Singing in a film in general is intimidating, but also then to do it in a different language …” Whitney says. “I went to school for musical theater at UCLA and so it’s kind of crazy to me that now I get to do film and sing.” Let that be a lesson to you, kids: stay in school!
Find Me Falling is now streaming on Netflix. Kliris has a few promises. “This movie will feel like a vacation,” she says. And one more thing: “Harry Connick, Jr. has a few new songs for you … in more than one language.” Find us falling… in love with Find Me Falling?