Adam Rifkin
Writer/Director Adam Rifkin is a busy man these days. He recently finished two independent movies and a big film for Disney, called Underdog. Plus, he's penned the script for the announced He-Man film. We caught up with the busy movie man to find out about his recent works, including Homo Erectus, the film whose trailer has become a YouTube hit.
The Star Scoop:
Tell us what you're working on right now.
Adam Rifkin
I directed two movies last year. One of them is finished, and it's called Homo Erectus, and it just premiered at Slam Dance a couple weeks ago. It's a comedy set in caveman times. The other one I'm almost finished with, and it's a drama. It's called Look. I should be done with that in a couple weeks' time. It's really exciting. I wrote a movie which is coming out this summer, called Underdog which is a big superhero family movie for Disney.
The Star Scoop:
These sound quite different. Is this normal for you to be working on multiple things that vary so much?
Rifkin:
Yeah, pretty much. I love movies. I love all kinds of movies. I love telling stories of all sizes, and all styles and all genres. To me, whatever story just kind of gets me excited, I have to jump into. So, sometimes it's a funny story, sometimes it's a sad story. Sometimes it's a big, expensive story, sometimes it's a real small, intimate story. I just love movies, and I love story telling, and I just think it's all fun, which is why I like to do all different kinds of movies.
The Star Scoop:
Can you tell us about the process of Homo Erectus?
Rifkin:
Well, it was a very bizarre experience for me, different than all the other ones, because in addition to writing and directing Home Erectus, I also starred in it, which is very different for me. I never really have pursued acting, you know? So, it was scary in a way because it's embarrassing, a little bit, to get up in front of all those people, and with a straight face say lines. I learned a lot about acting, about the way I would direct actors in the future having acted in this film because it takes a lot to be completely unself-concious, and I really had to fight that. But, it was really fun, too. We were working really fast, and we were running around in all kinds of crazy, remote locations, and we were dressed like cavemen, and it was completely ridiculous, but it was fun. I didn't really have time, once we got started, to stay nervous about it. I just kicked into work mode, and we got it done.
The Star Scoop:
How have you managed to continue working consistently?
Rifkin:
Well, for me, I can't say that I know the secret, it's just for me, you know, it's all about persistence, you know? It's always hard to get movies made. I've had some successes and I've had a lot of films that haven't been successful. It just is never easy, and so I write a lot of scripts. Every time I feel like I'm in a hole, I just write twice as much, and twice as fast, and twice as hard, and luckily, thus far, I've been able to write myself out of those holes, you know? And that's the way that I've been able to keep things moving forward, and the way that I've been able to continue to get opportunities, is by creating them myself. If the phone isn't ringing, I just buckle down and write more scripts and create more opportunities for myself that I try to get going. That's, I guess, if you say what's my secret, that's my secret/
The Star Scoop:
What do you prefer, writing or directing? Or do you feel you need to direct a piece you've written? How does that all work together?
Rifkin:
I've written things that I haven't directed, and I've directed things that I haven't written. I prefer to direct what I've written. I just feel like it's more collectively my vision. If I've conceived a screenplay from scratch, and then I see it through physically by running around shooting it, and editing it, I just feel that I'm the closest to that piece of material. But I have fun...I directed this movie called Detroit Rock City, that I didn't write, and that was a blast, you know? Underdog, I didn't direct, I just wrote it, and that was really fun, too. I'm happy to be involved in movies, period, you know, whether I'm writing them or directing them or both, but I prefer to write and direct the movie.
The Star Scoop:
Where do you get all of your ideas from?
Rifkin:
I don't really know how to explain where ideas come from. For me, they just sort of pop into my head. It's not like I have a go-to well. I'll be walking down the street and an idea will just hit me, or I'll be watching cartoons, and an idea will hit me, or I'll be listening to music and an idea will hit me. Ideas come from left field all the time, and I try and [shoot] the ones down that I think might have some value and if an idea really inspires me, that's the one that I usually expand upon and try and do some kind of a script, or a scene turns into a group of scenes that turns into a story that turns into a script. I don't know if that's the answer you're looking for. I don't know how ideas [come], they just sort of do.
The Star Scoop:
What's going on with your other projects, besides Homo Erectus
Rifkin:
I'm just waiting for the premiere [of Underdog, I can't wait to see it. As far as Look goes, I'm just putting the finishing touches on it, and it's almost done, and I can't wait to be able to start screening that for people, and screening it for buyers. You know, Look and Homo Erectus were both made independently, so making a film independently has pros and cons. One of the big pros is you have creative freedom. You can make the movie you want, the way you want, with the cast you want, with the ending that you want. You don't have to compromise. It's not movie-making by committee. You have a little bit more personal creative freedom. But the con is, when you make a movie independently, you have to try and sell it, and get it seen. Unlike Underdog, which is financed by Disney, and is being distributed by Disney, and you know that going in. When we were writing the screenplay, we knew what the release date was. It's a totally different world. So now what we're doing, Slam Dance premiered Homo Erectus, and we got a great response, people laughed at all the jokes, and it was sold out, and we got a lot of attention from buyers, which is great, so we're following up, and we're screening that one for buyers all over the place now. Then, once Look is done, we're gonna do the same thing, we're gonna get it seen, hopefully by some buyers, and hopefully entice somebody to want to buy it and put it out there.
The Star Scoop:
When you are writing a screen play, how many drafts and revisions do you have to go through to get to the final product?
Rifkin:
Well, it's different every movie, you know? I mean, some movies are written and then they shoot the first draft, and they shoot the first draft then that's it. And then other movies are written and rewritten a thousand times by a thousand different writers. It really is one hundred percent different every time. I've had experiences with both. Underdog is a good example of a movie that, I did a number of drafts, and then the other writers who worked on it during production, they did a number of drafts. It just all depends on the project.
The Star Scoop:
IMDb reports that there is a He-Man movie [that you're working on].
Rifkin:
I was hired to write the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe movie, which I have done, and hopefully will get made. That's an example of, an opportunity that came up that I got to write, and I did a number of drafts of it. Now we'll see what happens. Hopefully the studio will want to...I have my fingers crossed. I think it's going to be a really cool movie. I think personally there's a big audience for He-Man, it's a cultural icon, you know, pop culture icon. Even if you've never watched the show or played with the toys, everybody knows who Skeletor is. So hopefully, it will be made and it will be a hit.
The Star Scoop:
Is there anything else you'd like to say about yourself or what's going on in your life right now?
Rifkin:
I lead a pretty myopic life. I just love making movies and trying to get movies made, and going to movies, and thinking about movies. I have a very uninteresting life [laughs]. I don't have a fascination with fishing or I don't know a lot of details about cars or anything. It's just movies, sorry to say. We put the trailer to Homo Erectus up on YouTube, just so that when we started talking about the film, the buyers, we could give them the YouTube address. We just expected those would be the predominant viewers, the people we direct to the address, so they could see what we're talking about. But for some bizarre reason, which of course, we're all very happy about, the YouTube trailer has gotten an enormous number of hits, so we posted it several times, and each time it just keeps getting huge numbers of hits.That was pretty cool and encouraging. So we're hoping that that spirit carries over into hopefully being able to sell the movie and get the movie out there, and hopefully people wanting to see it.
The Star Scoop:
Check out the Homo Erectus trailer here: visit http://youtube.com/watch?v=uEm_4F5PDYk]