Stuart Blumberg's Real-Life Donations Leads To a Great Creation In “Kids”

The "Kids Are All Right" had another prosperous weekend, nearing $5 million in box office as it continues to roll out across the country.

We can thank a chance meeting at a Los Angeles coffee-shop between writer/director Lisa Cholodenko and writer Stuart Blumberg for this wonderful creation -- it was a meeting in which Cholodenko talked about a project she had in mind about a sperm-donor created family.

"And then (Stuart)  opened up about how he had been a sperm donor in college," Cholodenko recalled.

The most unlikely of beginnings, but for this unusual project it was just perfect. The ensuing project has become the indie-darling of the summer -- a small miracle during the inception of the idea. Even with the great idea and partnership, funding the film was pretty difficult, Blumberg admits.

"There are so many people dying to make a movie with 50-year-old lesbians," says Blumberg wryly. "We just had to keep fending them off."

"And it gets harder and harder to make movies about people where things don't blow up."

While the movie centers around Mark Ruffalo's willingness to take part in his creations' lives, this was not autobiographical. Blumberg admits he is "terrified" about the prospect of finding out what became of his paid deposits.

He can call the fertility clinic that he used in college and say that he is amenable to having any created children contact him. But he's held back.

In fact, during the writing process, Cholodenko even egged him on, encouraging to take such a step. But he froze every time.

"I'd be terrified that I would have -- not zero kids but eight kids," he said.

 

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