“He Had Access to My Heart”: Filmmaker Tracie Laymon Shares the Incredible True Story Behind ‘Bob Trevino Likes It’ (2025)

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Summary 'Bob Trevino Likes It' Is Inspired, Not Based on a True Story "Family comes in unexpected ways." French Stewart Delivers a Powerhouse Performance in 'Bob Trevino Likes It' "He punches down a little bit, and that's funny." Tracie Laymon Says Bigger Budget Films With Notable Themes Can Reach a Wider Audience Your Rating Cast References

Summary

Collider's Aidan Kelley talks with writer and director Tracie Laymon about her feature film Bob Trevino Likes It.
The movie stars John Leguizamo and Barbie Ferreira and is inspired by a true story.
In this interview, Laymon discusses the real-life influences behind her script, French Stewart's performance, and the all-star cast.

The modern state of the internet can be a downright terrifying place. It's an environment fraught with uncertainty and unexpected heartbreak, but even then, it's nothing even close to as brutal as real life. It's there where lifelong consequences really fester, and that's very much the case for the lead characters of Bob Trevino Likes It — the wonderfully sweet and poignant tale of found family that was one of our favorite films at the 2025 Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Even the most fictitious movies have some element of real-life inspiration attached, but that fact is increased tenfold in the case of Bob Trevino Likes It. The film is directly inspired by a real-life experience by writer and director Tracie Laymon, who has begun making a name for herself as a fascinating creative voice with her solo feature debut. We recently had the chance to catch up with Tracie Laymon to discuss what Bob Trevino Likes It means to the filmmaker and the real-life story that inspired this incredible saga.

'Bob Trevino Likes It' Is Inspired, Not Based on a True Story

"Family comes in unexpected ways."

“He Had Access to My Heart”: Filmmaker Tracie Laymon Shares the Incredible True Story Behind ‘Bob Trevino Likes It’ (1)

COLLIDER: This is obviously an extremely personal movie for you. I don’t think I realized how personal it was until the movie ends. The story behind the movie is just as fascinating as the film itself. I know you talked a little bit about it at Palm Springs, but do you think you could go into the real-life story behind Bob Trevino, and what made you decide that this was a story that needed to be told through a movie?

TRACIE LAYMON: Yeah, absolutely. It is inspired by it, not based on. It's a fictionalized version of an emotion. The catalyst is very similar to what I experienced and then I tried to stay true to my emotional truth, my healing, and my journey and then build cinematic sequences around that that could best represent that. Because the real story is a lot on the computer, and that doesn't make for a very good movie, right? Just to recap: what happened is my dad was upset with me and he wouldn't call me back, wouldn't email me back. I put his name into Facebook and accidentally friended another man with his name and that man proceeded to be kind to me in a way that I was not used to. Just kindness for the sake of kindness from a general father figure. It is so beautiful and I started to heal. He had access to my heart because of his name, and all these notifications or comments that were positive and kind, just chipped away at my wounds and helped me heal. I did not expect that. Healing comes in all kinds of forms, unexpected ways. Family comes in unexpected ways. Chosen family, all of it. I felt so blessed by that, I felt I needed to make a film about it. I needed to tell the story. It was too much of a gift not to share.

That's an amazing story because when it comes to strangers on the internet, it typically has a negative connotation. There's always like, I don’t know who this person is. But it's amazing that someone showed you true kindness that you would just expect from someone, but it really did transform and change you.

LAYMON: Absolutely. Usually it's a horror film and someone ends up dead [Laughs].

Exactly. Yeah. That's usually how it goes. But this is the complete antithesis of that, which makes for such a great movie.

LAYMON: There's another part of the story that sometimes I forget to say. I had to use a different name. I wrote the script not knowing what the name was going to be. When I was writing it, in the middle of it, I was like, I've got to use a name that matters to me. I can't use the real name, I have to use a name that matters to me. Being from Texas, I've had a lot of Latino mentors, professors, people that have been family to me. Houston's 44% Latino. One of these incredible mentors and friends and chosen family was named Bob Trevino. I thought Bob has the best heart and his wife has been really kind to me– it actually mirrors a little bit of this Facebook story. So I think if I use the name Bob Trevino, I can know that the heart of this is true. I called him up. I said, “Hey, Bob, I have a really weird question for you. [Laughs] Would you mind if I use your name so that I can write authentically and have the heart of the film be like your heart?” And he said, “Sure.” Thank God he said yes because I don't know if the movie would have been as honest and truthful and heartfelt, if I had to just make up some random name, I don't feel like it could have.

Plus it’s a good, catchy name, too.

LAYMON: It’s fun! It’s playful. It's a playful name.

French Stewart Delivers a Powerhouse Performance in 'Bob Trevino Likes It'

"He punches down a little bit, and that's funny."

“He Had Access to My Heart”: Filmmaker Tracie Laymon Shares the Incredible True Story Behind ‘Bob Trevino Likes It’ (2)

This is, of course, a movie about two different Bob Trevinos. One is John Leguizamo’s character who becomes a pivotal character in Lily's life. Then there's also the French Stewart's Bob Trevino, who’s her real dad. I said in my review that this, in my mind, is a career-best performance from French Stewart. Most people know him for his comedy work. He is very funny in the film, but also there is this very good dramatic side that only gets more dark as the film goes on. When it comes to balancing that comedic background and the dramatic and really dark elements, how did you find a good balance between the two?

LAYMON: He comes from a place of hurt. He's doing his best, and it's just not quite cutting it. To say the least. There's a lot of really, really funny stuff that wound up on the cutting room floor. Unfortunately, it was really hard. I had to kill a lot of babies– or darlings– because the characters couldn't be aware of their humor in that way. French is incredibly funny, and a lot of the humor that we kept was his stabs at manipulation. He punches down a little bit, and that's funny. Adding character. He did improv a lot of amazing things that we did get to keep. But I always had to ask myself, am I keeping it because it's funny or am I keeping it because it's rooted in this character? And as long as it was rooted in the character, I could. But I have to tell you, the editor and I were like, oh, we're gonna lose this! It's so funny! We're going to lose it! [Laughs].

You think maybe there's potential for an extended cut in the future that has those scenes?

LAYMON: Or at least outtakes! Our whole cast is just so wonderful. You hear these stories about directors having to cut around an actor and I did not experience that at all. I feel like I could make ten amazing movies with what they gave and, if anything, we were just trying to say, what's the best of all these great things?

Beyond French Stewart, of course, Barbie and John are also incredible in the movie. They both give amazing performances. How did they both first become involved with the project? Cause I know they also produced the film.

LAYMON: They were both executive producers, and they really lived up to that. They've championed the film. They stuck with us. They've been a part of every possible stage of the process. Some people just take that credit and don't do anything– that's not the case at all here. Their hearts are a part of this film and they have championed it in all ways. Barbie was on first. I just really, really wanted to go to her. I was probably saying her name ten times a day. They were like, “No, we get it. You want Barbie. We’re trying to put the film together. Give us a second.” I said: “Can we go to Barbie now? Can we go to Barbie now? Okay. How about now?” Then finally, we had enough together to go to her and I knew she was going to get it. I knew in my heart. I watched her work. I watched different sides of her in different projects. I said, this human being and this artist has so much to offer and if you put all of her extraordinary traits into one character, I really feel she represents Lily. And you don't find all those things in one human being, usually. You don't find someone who can be vulnerable and funny and a survivor and, you know, it goes on and on. I cannot imagine– I can't even come close to imagining anyone but her in this role.

'Cam' filmmakers Isa Mazzei and Daniel Goldhaber are behind the project.

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That makes perfect sense. What I love about her character, too, is that it's continuing one of the rare, really good trends we've seen in Hollywood– particularly in filmmaking– where she's a representation of more high functioning depression. She's very peppy. She has this amazing job that pays crap, but it's like she's doing something really great for someone. But it's also internalizing a lot of trauma. When you're making a movie like this and mental health is such a huge focus, is there a concern that things are going to become too personal to the point where audiences might not relate to it? Or maybe relate to it too much? To the point where it feels like it's hitting close to home. What was your thought process like when you were approaching those themes?

LAYMON: To be honest, my goal was to be as honest and truthful as possible. If it meant airing my trauma or trauma like mine, if it meant checking off every trait on the counselor's office because you really do have them all, even though people don't know that you have them all. I thought we're an underrepresented group sometimes. The people that are experiencing all these things that you can't necessarily see on the outside. Survivors, and people that have picked themselves up from the darkness, and people don't always know what we've been through. Or how powerful it is to choose the light, not because you're unaware of the dark, but because you've been through it– was really important to me.

I didn't think about what it would feel like to be so vulnerable until after the movie was done, to be honest. And I was like, Oh, wow, people are going to see my– I just was so focused, I had to make the movie and I had to say these things somehow. I was so busy that I didn't even have time to worry. Occasionally I would cry because it was so beautiful what we were doing. I thought it was so cathartic. The whole situation was so cathartic. Having this incredible cast and crew that were supporting me was very emotional for me. But then I think the first time I realized, oh, wow, I really aired my innermost parts wasn't really when we were shooting so much. It was later when I realized that people outside of this little chosen family of cast and crew were going to all be seeing it. And maybe other countries! And maybe all these other things! And it just kept going! And I was like, Well, buckle up, Trace. [Laughs].

Tracie Laymon Says Bigger Budget Films With Notable Themes Can Reach a Wider Audience

As we talked about at the beginning, this feels like just the start of a really great career for you. Especially if it's more movies like this, an incredible start to a great career. I'm curious, what do you either hope or plan to do next? Whether it be your next movie that's just right around the corner, or maybe ten years from now, what might you want to accomplish? Do you want to stick with these smaller, more personal movies like Bob Trevino Likes It? Or do you want to expand to something more expansive, like a big franchise film?

LAYMON: I think if it can have the heart that this film has, then bigger only means more eyeballs, and that's amazing! I'm not afraid at all of huge films. If there's an opportunity to be aligned with the right people who want to tell these kinds of stories, that's exciting. I did write another one, and I hope to do that. I don't know if it'll be my next one. I just hope at the end of the day, if something said my name– a Tracie Laymon film– that at the end of the day, in my final days, that you'll know it had heart, it challenged perceptions, and it gave you a little hope and a little light. Because there certainly is hope and light and we don't have to make it up. It's there. We just have to all open our eyes for it and be there for each other.

Bob Trevino Likes It is now playing in select theaters.