After turning his life around, Phil Carroll sets out to make amends with his estranged daughter Jessica, whom he hasn't seen in years. He hopes to convince her to take a road trip from Missouri to the West Coast to respect his deceased ex-wife’s wishes her ashes be placed in the Pacific Ocean. His daughter’s resentment towards the man who left her mother has built such a barrier over the years that she flatly rejects the idea. Circumstances force her to have little choice, so she reluctantly agrees to the trip.
What begins as an uncomfortable journey filled with unspoken resentment slowly unfolds through shared experiences into tolerance, communication, and a fragile understanding between the two. The dark clouds between them lift until a twist changes everything, leaving Jessie feeling angry and betrayed.
Then she discovers the real reasons behind her father’s wish to reconnect.
THE STORY
Tim Daly - Phil Carroll
Tim Daly is well known on stage, screen and film.
Tim gained prominence as Joe Hackett on the NBC sitcom Wings (1990–1997) and as the voice of Clark Kent /Superman in Superman: The Animated Series (1996–2000) and related projects.
Daly also portrayed Pete Wilder on ABC’s Private Practice (2007–2012) and Henry McCord on CBS’s Madam Secretary (2014–2019), acting alongside his real-life partner, Téa Leoni .
He received an Emmy nomination for his guest role as J.T. Dolan on The Sopranos .
Alex Sgambati - Jessica Carroll
Alex Sgambati gained notable attention for her portrayal of Jules Butler in AMC’s The Walking Dead .
Her television credits also include appearances in Nashville, The Originals, Sleepy Hollow, The Resident, and One Tree Hill.
Sgambati's film work includes roles in Love, Simon (2018) and The Immaculate Room (2022), where she starred alongside Kate Bosworth and Emile Hirsch .
Her performance in the indie film Butterfly Caught earned her Best Actress honors at the Sunset Film Festival and The IndieFest Film Awards .
Alexander Pobutsky - Jack Cox
Shelly Gibson - Kate Moreland
Shelly Gibson is recognized for her work in both television and film.
She has appeared in notable TV series such as All My Children (1970), St. Elsewhere (1982), and Law & Order (1990).
In film, she played roles in Silent Madness (1984) and Echo Boomers (2020). Gibson also featured in the HBO series Mosaic (2018) and the ABC series Blood & Oil (2015).
Pobutsky's television credits feature roles in acclaimed series such as The Blacklist, Daisy Jones & the Six, Julia, and Ratched.
Notably, he portrayed Skender, an Albanian character from his hometown of Hamtramck, in FX/Hulu’s Justified: City Primeval, appearing in five of the eight episodes .
In film, he has appeared in American Fiction (2023), which won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry and Mother/Android.
THE CAST
THE GALLERY
Australian born, British-raised and American residing filmmaker Stephen Ward has written and/or directed two previous award winning films, Backbeat (BAFTA, London Critics Circle) and Don't Say It (Studio City Film Festival - best director). Dust to Malibu is his first feature project as writer, director and producer.
