Father-Son-In-Law Filmmaking Duo Set to Thrill Audiences With 'Both Eyes Open'

Roderick McClure and Joshua Ferrell, the innovative duo behind RodFather Productions, have carved a niche for themselves in the filmmaking industry with their unique approach to storytelling and production.

Based in Atlanta, this father-son-in-law team blends family values with professional innovation, creating films that resonate with authenticity and cultural depth.

Their upcoming project, Both Eyes Open, is a psychological thriller starring Gail Bean and Taye Diggs. The film intricately weaves themes of trauma, survival and mystery.

Bean plays Ally, a woman who has escaped an abusive relationship but is still haunted mentally by her abuser. She receives unsettling messages suggesting that her former abuser may be nearby. As the story unfolds, Ally discovers that the answers she seeks may be closer to home than she realizes.

“I wanted something that had strong intense dialogue, a script that would be entertaining, informative, as well as inspiring," McClure shared about the search for the perfect project. "And so I just felt like this particular script had a combination of all three of those elements. And in order to create a great film, you need a great cast and the cast is not going to show up unless there is a great script. So we had a great script, which helped us recruit a great cast. We had the elements and the pieces together to move forward.“

“The other thing about it is, there are a lot of things that the director and writer hid in this film that you won't catch unless you watch it at least two or three times," Ferrell added. "So that to me off the rip was like, ‘Okay, this is a good script.' It makes you think. It makes you have to pay attention. It makes you want to talk about it after it's over, it's not predictable. So there's some twists and turns that you don't see coming. So all those things made it exciting."

When it came to casting the film, the duo revealed that they had been following Bean's career since her breakout roles in Snowfall and P-Valley. The filmmakers then recruited Diggs to serve as a sort of anchor for the film and also added actors Tristan ‘Mack’ Wilds and Michael Oloyede to the cast.

Aside from their filmmaking collaborations, McClure and Ferrell have partnered on various other ventures. Ferrell described their additional endeavors, stating, “Rod has a nonprofit that he started called Millennial Bridge, that really focuses on empowering the underrepresented [minority] group when it comes to careers and finding jobs that actually pay well enough for people to make a living," Ferrell said about working with McClure on various projects. "So we work together on that and on other real estate ventures, other restaurant ventures. It's been a long working relationship, and it's been fun every step of the way."

McClure praised Ferrell’s keen real estate buying skills saying, “He's a real estate guru [and he has] presented me with some tremendous real estate investment. Over the years, we have collaborated on some developments that have proven to be very profitable.”

Currently, Ferrell’s real estate focus is on Atlanta, but McClure highlighted that Ferrell played a key role in acquiring a profitable beachfront property in Florida.

In creating a bridge between his real estate prowess and his filmmaking, Ferrell said, “Understanding what the vision is that the director was looking for, and kind of knowing off the top of my head, which parts and areas of the city would have locations that will support that vision definitely cut down on the time of that process, and we were able to get things locked down very quickly. So understanding real estate, and having that experience definitely helped out with the locations.”

McClure and Ferrell are planning to release Both Eyes Open in the second half of 2025, but they are already setting their sights on another story they want to produce.

“One particular project that I'm very, very excited about is about the life of Michael R.Hollis, who happened to start an airline in Atlanta, at the age of 27, with no experience in the mid-80s. In fact, they named one of the Concordes in Hartsfield airport after him, it's going to be dedicated in April 2025. We just won the rights to produce that project,” McClure said. “And we have an animated animated project on the horizon, and a couple other really interesting concepts that we will be bringing to light as well. So we have a lot of dynamic projects coming up through Rodfather Productions, and we're just super excited about the direction of the company."

Ultimately, the duo stated that two words reflect Rodfather Productions: family and empowerment.

“Rod and I, we are family, but we also make sure that everybody we work with feels like family, and that's something that we stress on set, and during pre-production and post-production,” Ferrell said.

McClure added, “In addition to that, we want to use our platform to empower others, especially minorities in this particular field, upcoming directors, upcoming producers, new writers, established actors, new actors. So we want to use our platform and create an open door policy and make sure we are accessible and provide opportunities for those who deserve this opportunity.”

Make sure to look out for Both Eyes Open and more from RodFather Productions.

Photo Credit: Eric Jordan