A Hollywood actor and filmmaker has opened up about falling victim to a catfishing scheme... by his own dad.
When he was 20 years old, James Morosini was flattered to receive a Facebook message from an attractive young girl named Becca.
It wasn’t long before the pair talked every day, sharing their love for all the same interests that eventually lead to a cyber romance.
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However, after investing much of himself in Becca, James soon found out he was being catfished by his own dad.
James’s dad had posed as an attractive girl in order to reconnect with his estranged son.
Morosini, who has appeared on HBO's The Sex Lives of College Girls, spoke to the Daily Beast about his unique experience, which he has now turned into a film.
Morosini explained: “I took the kernel of what actually happened and extrapolated upon that, and used my imagination to push it to the furthest degree of, ‘What if it had gone even further in this direction?’”
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“Or, you know, what if I hadn’t found out? Or what if it had taken me longer to find out?”
Now 31, James’s film, I Love My Dad, premiered at SXSW Film Festival over the weekend.
The passion project documents James’s character struggling with a disappointing father figure, before he decides to cut off all contact and block his number and social media accounts.
The father, played by Patton Oswalt, becomes desperate to rebuild his relationship with his son – so much so that he decides to set up a fake profile to contact him.
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In a cruel twist of fate, James’s feelings begin to turn romantic, and the movie tracks his growing affection towards his dad.
It begins with romance and flirting but eventually escalates to much more sinister acts, such as sexting and cyber-sex.
The film reaches its pinnacle when James realises Becca has the same email address as his father, finally forcing him to see the truth.
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By this point, James and his dad had already reunited during therapy and, surprisingly, he believes the experience actually drew them closer together.
“It was us hitting that rock bottom in our relationship, but it forced us to confront some of the foundational problems of our relationship and actually caused things between him and I to get a lot better over time, because we had to talk about it,” James said.
They have a ‘great relationship’ today, he added.
Featured Image Credit: Alamy/Instagram/jamesmorosiniTopics: TV and Film, Weird, News