Diksha Sundriyal
In Hulu’s ‘Suncoast,’ a mother and daughter have a fraught relationship in the wake of an impending tragedy. Doris has been taking care of her brother, Max, for six years and believes that her mother, Kristine, has turned all of her attention towards him, leaving nothing for Doris. Kristine refuses to leave her son’s side because she doesn’t want him to die alone, and while she demands Doris to be more selfless, she forgets that her daughter is still a child. This causes friction between the two and showcases two different forms of grief. Considering that the film is inspired by the real life of the film’s director, Laura Chinn, the audience is bound to wonder what became of her mother.
Where is Laura Chinn’s Mother Now?
Laura Chinn’s mother lives away from the media limelight and enjoys her privacy, which is respected by her daughter, who doesn’t divulge any of her personal information to the public. She was present at the premiere of her daughter’s debut film, ‘Suncoast’ at Sundance and was seen crying by the end of it. Understandably, it would have been an emotional experience for her to watch the film that is based on her and her daughter’s experiences and highlights her efforts to be there for her son, Max, especially in his final moments.
Little that is known about Chinn’s mother comes from the writer-director talking about her life. In her book, ‘Acne: A Memoir,’ she wrote about her teenage years and talked about her mother. According to it, her mother and father were practicing Scientologists and lived in the suburbs of Los Angeles, home-schooling their children. After a while, her mother took her and Max to Clearwater, where their father was supposed to follow them, but didn’t, leading to their divorce.
Chinn revealed that their mother had promised them a great house and a great life in Clearwater, but it was nothing like that. Her mother worked by her own rules, one of which was not to censor anything for the children or stop them from anything. Reportedly, when Chinn asked her mother for a pack of cigarettes for her 12th birthday, she got it. Things changed when Max was diagnosed with a brain tumor when he was 16. Chinn’s mother went to LA with him to get him the treatment he needed, leaving behind her daughter without any adult supervision.
For the next six years, her mother dedicated herself to taking care of Max, and while Chinn didn’t complain, she often felt that her mother was entirely neglectful of her. She was starved for attention sometimes, just like Doris in ‘Suncoast.’ When Chinn started writing the film, she structured the character of Kristine on her mother. However, she didn’t entirely base Laura Linney’s character on her real mother.
Chinn revealed that while there are some similarities between Kristine and her mother (like they’re both white and too busy taking care of their dying son to pay attention to their daughter who is alive), she also stated that her mother was much less intense than Kristine. She never called her daughter to lie about her brother’s condition, like Kristine does to Doris to make the latter feel guilty. While the character may have been inspired by her mother, it remains mostly fictional and an attempt from Chinn to present (and perhaps even understand) things from her mother’s point of view. While things may have been tense between the mother and daughter back then, they made up in the following years and are on good terms now.
Read More: Max Kenneth Chinn Tribute on Suncoast: How Did Laura Chinn’s Brother Die?
