Love on Tap may be the perfect Valentine’s Day movie for people who like some spin on their rom-coms: It’s the story of a New Mexico brewery owner played by an utterly charming Kennedy McCann and a big-city consultant played by a more sneakily charming Alex Moffat.
Standing in the way of their romance: a weirdo banker, a fear of change, and a runaway alpaca.
Love on Tap director Keagan Karnes — who shot the film in his native Las Cruces — has described the film as having “kind of a Hallmark plot” but with “alcohol and F bombs.” There’s plenty else that separates it from a typical rom-com, including a sharp metaphor connecting brewing and mourning, absurdist set pieces, and wry characters like an aspiring ninja (Jamey Maurice Clay), very indecisive employee (Zoe Colletti), and a cop who supports the brewery perhaps too enthusiastically (Caroline Kingsley, who is married to Moffat).
McCann, best known for starring on the CW’s Nancy Drew, appreciated the side-door approach.
“I love me a sickly sweet rom-com, but they’re hard to really put yourself in the middle of because the fantasy is a bit too far from reality,” she tells MovieMaker. “Something about stripping down the polish and letting some air in makes the feel-good bits so much more satisfying, like if everything were to align just right, it might actually happen. There’s some really welcome surrealism throughout, too, that I find so at-home in this genre.”
Moffat, a veteran of Saturday Night Live playing a leading man for the first time, is a little less reflective: “I mainly came aboard for the money,” he jokes.
But seriously, folks: No one did it for the money. Love on Tap is an exercise in scrappy indie filmmaking driven by, yes, love. The film, written by Stafford Douglas and Mary Haarmeyer, is also using a DIY distribution strategy, rolling out at the Lumiere Cinema in Los Angeles on Valentine’s Day and later in Brooklyn, New Mexico, Chicago, and Houston. Details are here.
We talked with McCann and Moffat about joining Love on Tap, Karnes’ fun but efficient set, and “Drops of Jupiter.”
Alex Moffat and Kennedy McCann on Love on Tap
MovieMaker: I really enjoyed this, and your chemistry was fantastic. You’re both really magnetic in these roles. How did you both come aboard the film?
Alex Moffat: Thanks! It was a gas. … It was also a fun script and a new challenge for me. Also, I assumed I’d get to drink lots of free beer on set.
Kennedy McCann: The script hit my inbox like any regular audition! I’m always cautious with indie film because you never know what you’re going to get, but I found the script so charming and funny that I was thrilled to give it a swing.
I read virtually for the casting director and then didn’t hear anything for a good while so I assumed they’d gone a different direction, but in the middle of a crazy business trip in L.A. I got a text from my manager that they wanted me for a virtual chemistry read with Alex.
I remember quite literally running down the streets of L.A. back to my hotel after a meeting that had run long to make it in time for our Zoom — I think it helped shake the nerves out. We had a great chem read over Zoom, where my only hope was to seem totally chill doing improv comedy with an SNL star, and I got the offer a few weeks later.
MovieMaker: Alex, was it freeing to play a romantic lead after all those years on SNL doing parodies of sincere stories? You kind of reminded me of Tom Hanks in your willingness to be a curmudgeon at times — which somehow makes you more ultimately likable.
Alex Moffat: Ha — I like that. And I liked that the character could be a bit of a crank at times, too. That’s always more interesting to me than some right-over-the-plate sweetie pie. And yes, it was fun to be part of a sincere love story. Who doesn’t love a good rom-com?
MovieMaker: Kennedy, you’re so believable as this small business owner, Amber, who’s juggling a million things, while grieving and potentially getting into a new relationship. How did you manage to maintain all those emotions and stay in the moment?
Kennedy McCann: I always joke that nearly every character I’ve ever played on screen has a dead parent to contend with, so I’ve had a lot of practice… but really more than anything, I think masking vulnerability and maneuvering through everyday life is very real and easy to relate to.
So much of the comedy and life in it comes from that raw, strange place where someone like Amber has nothing left to lose, and no point in keeping her walls up anymore, so it gives you a ton of permission as an actor to live super moment-to-moment since that’s all the character can really manage anyway.
MovieMaker: What was the most fun part of filming? It looked from the outtakes like you had a good time making this. What was the biggest challenge?
Kennedy McCann: The whole thing was a blast. Genuinely a crew of very funny, very easy-to-work-with people. I must admit working with the alpacas (there were two!) did actually make me cry with joy, so that was a highlight. As for the biggest challenge… gosh, maybe the busy left turn driving to set? Too much good Mexican food? Tough call.
Alex Moffat: Well, Kennedy was a total blast to work with. She’s so present and is such a fun scene partner. Also, Keagan Karnes made it set veritable Karn-ival. It was loose and encouraging but also somehow ran like a Swiss clock. And on top of all that, I got to play with my real-life wife in the movie. Caroline Kingsley, who plays, the cop, is so funny, and I had a ball choppin’ it up with her. That was the icing on the cake.
MovieMaker: How did you like shooting in Las Cruces, your director’s hometown? I’m surprised it doesn’t appear on film more often, because it’s such a photogenic and cool place. Those skies are insane.
Kennedy McCann: Absolutely loved it. I grew up in the Southwest, and live there again now, so the on-screen rep was very cool and I felt right at home. We definitely have the best skies. Las Cruces in particular is really special, and shooting somewhere of sentimental value to a director inherently imbues so much heart into everything you’re doing.
Alex Moffat: Those skies are insane. Yeah, we loved Las Cruces. We made a big family vacation out of it. And it was a bit of life imitating art, because we met Keagan’s family and friends and it felt like the town embraced us and took good care of us for the time we were there.
MovieMaker: The Train song “Drops of Jupiter” is surprisingly important to the plot. Was that always going to be the song? Do you know if Train was cool with Alex’s character saying the song “makes no sense”?
Kennedy McCann: Ha — “Drops of Jupiter” was always the song in every version of the script I read, so as far as I know it was, and I couldn’t really imagine it being anything else. To me it perfectly encapsulates the nature of the film… unexpected and delightful, but also really makes you feel something that maybe snuck up on you. I can only hope Train understands.
Alex Moffat: I love that song. I have wonderful memories of visiting my sister, Kristen, in San Francisco, and sitting in her emerald-green SUV, both of us belting that song with her two dogs in the back seat looking at us like we were insane. So, I was psyched.
Main image: Kennedy McCann, Alex Moffat and an alpaca in Love on Tap. Inspirado
