Caleb Hearon, the comedian and podcast host known for roles in Fargo and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, is set to premiere his most personal project yet, Trash Mountain, at the Toronto International Film Festival. Directed by Kris Rey and co-written by and starring Hearon, the indie comedy draws on his own experience of his father's unexpected death, following a gay man who returns to his small Missouri hometown with his half-sister, played by Zooey Deschanel, to deal with the aftermath left by their hoarder father.

Hearon began writing the screenplay as a personal, cathartic exercise after his father's death, never expecting it to become a film, but filmmaker friends Colin Trevorrow and Lilly Wachowski came on board as producers and helped push it into production after years of funding delays. Shooting took place over just 18 days in rural Illinois, squeezed into a break during filming of The Devil Wears Prada 2, and involved typical low-budget indie hurdles such as stealing locations and working around unexpected interruptions from members of the public.