Ross McElwee turned a film about remaking his classic into a tribute to his lost son

Documentary film-maker Ross McElwee, best known for his 1986 film Sherman's March, originally planned a light, self-aware project: following a Hollywood producer's attempt to turn his old documentary into a fiction film. But during the process, his son Adrian's mental health deteriorated, he became addicted to opioids, and at 27 he died of a fentanyl overdose in the bathroom of McElwee's Boston home.

From comedy to elegy

After his son's death, McElwee took a year off to regroup. Rather than abandon the original idea, he chose to keep it — the Hollywood remake plan was eventually reworked from a comedy into a dramatic miniseries, a sitcom and finally a live opera — and weave it together with a more personal story. The result is Remake, in which McElwee addresses his late son directly while sifting through decades of home footage.

McElwee had filmed Adrian regularly since infancy, trying to capture the key turns of his life. The film also includes older footage of Adrian endorsing his father's Hollywood project and urging him to make more mainstream films.

Guilt and an artist's responsibility

The director says he now views his 2011 film Photographic Memory, which portrayed Adrian as troubled but resilient, in a different light. He wonders whether that film and the attention it brought, including a trip to the Venice film festival, gave Adrian a false sense of invincibility that may have contributed to his continued drug use.

Remake also revisits other figures from Sherman's March, including McElwee's former teacher Charleen Swansea, once a cult celebrity from the original film, who now has dementia and no longer remembers it.

Now 79, McElwee says he would like to make one more, lighter film, but for now feels the need to step back from the impulse to turn life into art.