On May 14, 2014, it was announced that Catherine Keener, Kiernan Shipka, Anton Yelchin, Riley Keough, Annie Starke, Cary Elwes and Lois Smith had joined the cast of the film, then titled The Greens Are Gone.[1] Keener would play the mother of a dysfunctional family who is pushed to her limits after the disappearance of her son, played by Yelchin. Shipka would play her bipolar teenage daughter, while Keough and Starke would play the troubled grown daughters.[1] Starke, Glenn Close's daughter, made her acting debut in the film.[1] Peer Pedersen would make his directorial debut on the film based on his own script, produced by Annelise Dekker, Adam Gibbs, Michael Kristoff and Roger Joseph Pugliese.[1] On June 5, 2014, Kaitlyn Dever joined the film, replacing Shipka, to play the bipolar daughter.[2] Later, on June 12, 2014, Elwes’s casting was confirmed by Deadline; he would play Frank, a local in the town.[4] On June 13, 2014, Maya Rudolph was confirmed to be in the cast.[3]
Filming
Principal photography on the film began on July 7, 2014 in Worcester, Massachusetts.[5] The first day of filming took place at the historic Ralph's Chadwick Square Diner, where Kaitlyn's character sings a ‘70s hit song; the scene took up only three-and-a-half pages of the script.[6] On July 8, 2014, filming was taken place in Norwood, where the crew used the Norwood Theatre office as the set for the film and converted it into the bookstore named "Harper Booksellers."[7] Several shots were taken in and out of the store all day, which featured Dever, Elwes, Rudolph and Shannon, and the store was owned by Elwes's character.[7] On July 10, 2014, filming took place in Wellesley, where they used the Elm Bank Reservation as the set for the film.[8] Filming wrapped-up on July 24, 2014.[9]
Post-production
In April 2015, the film was in post-production, with an originally scheduled premiere of late 2015.[10]Michael Yezerski was set to provide the score for the film.[10]
Release
The film was released through video on demand, DVD and Blu-Ray on April 4, 2017.[11] With its release delayed until long after filming had been completed in July 2014, the producers were able to dedicate the film to Yelchin, who died in June 2016.