I’ve been working on a script where the main character is a father who can’t accept the life he ended up with.
Specifically, he’s raising a son with severe developmental challenges, and instead of rising to it, he spirals—resentment, guilt, denial, the whole 9 yards.
It made me wonder:
Where do you draw the line with an unlikable protagonist?
Is there a point where honesty turns into something audiences reject outright? Or is discomfort the point?
Curious how others approach this. I know how I did.
Turn the unlikable protagonist into a comples character. Someone with both good and bad properties. In some of my no-budget films, the protagonist has been a nutty psychiatrics doctor who likes alcohol, bribes and prostitutes. So I added that he cares for his children. And he is a fantastic singer.