(Dec. 7, 2007) PCM's Kristyn Clarke spoke to director Adam Rifkin about his new film, "Look." The movie, which is told from the point of surveillance cameras, follows several story lines about people who do not know they are being watched.

 

Kristyn: Hi Adam, how are you?

Adam Rifkin : I'm good. How are you?

KC: I'm not doin' bad. We must have had some kind of freak little accident with the phone there, so . . .

AR: what's that mean?

KC: I got the message and I was like, Oops! (laughs)

AR: Hahaha, no problem.

KC: So how are you doing?

AR: I doing great, how are you?

KC: Ah not bad, a little cold, it's snowing here - so . . . (laughs). So where are you located?

AR: I'm in LA.

KC: Oh, okay, lucky you! (laughs)

AR: and you're where?

KC: Delaware

AR: Yow!

KC: yea

AR: That is cold.

KC: yep yep so, basically today, I want to just talk a little bit about the new movie, "LOOK" that you have. I did have a chance to see the movie, and being a film student from that kind of background I absolutely loved it!

AR: Thank you, thank you so much.

KC: Can you tell our readers for the site a little bit about how you came up with the idea to write and direct a movie like "LOOK"?

AR: Absolutely! The idea originally came from for me, came to me, excuse me, from getting a ticket at a red light camera. I apparently had gone through a red light and was unaware of it, I'll swear to you it was yellow, but that's irrelevant at this point . . . (chuckle)

KC: right

AR: But umm, they sent me the photograph in the mail, you know from the police department, and it was a very, very clear photo of myself, and I found it a little unnerving that somebody could take a picture of me without my knowledge and be able to then mail it to my home address. And you know, it was a little weird to me. I then decided that I was gonna start paying attention to see what other cameras might be photographing me without my knowledge. And I just started, for the first time, kind of paying attention to where the cameras were. And little by little, I started to realize that they were everywhere.

KC: Oh yea . . .

AR: I thought to myself, this could be an interesting way to tell a story.

KC: definitely

AR: and that's how it all kind of came about.

KC: yea, trust me, I had the same thing happen to me at one of the toll booth ones - I'll pulled through, and apparently it was EZPass, and oops there comes the picture, ya know? (laughing) Woops!

AR: Yea - wow, exactly. Exactly the same kind of thing.

KC: So what's your overall opinion about surveillance cameras? Do you feel it is too much invasion of our privacy? Or do you think they have some pros and cons?

AR: I think there are compelling arguments for both sides actually and, as I was gotten more knowledgeable about it through the making of the film, I really feel more and more like the issue is so complex that you just can't unilaterally say that all cameras are good or all cameras are bad, because I think that there are plenty of examples where the cameras have exposed police brutality or enabled terrorists to be caught, or you know - whatever, caught the nanny doing something she shouldn't have been doing . . .

KC: right

AR: But I think at the same time, there are plenty of instances where the cameras are bad, ya know? And how does it make it a safer society to have cameras in public dressing rooms, ya know?

KC: Yeah

AR: So I didn't want the movie to take a stand and say one way or the other, ya know how I feel about the cameras. I wanted to just sort of present both sides through just a narrative story - I wanted to tell a story from the perspective of these cameras. And I wanted to show how many cameras there were on any given day capturing people by doing this and also, too, I wanted to have people draw their own conclusions; in the movie you can see how cameras have done good things and bad things.

KC: Oh, right well it definitely opened my eyes to things, you know. I never thought about it that way and, you know, like I said, I have a film student background and shooting entirely through the eyes of surveillance cameras was one of the neatest ideas that I've seen. It was definitely different and it was truly engaging.

AR: Thank you.

KC: So how difficult was it to film with those cameras with those angles?

AR: It was challenging in certain ways that I didn't anticipate. Creatively, my hands were kind of tied because I only put the cameras. . I only put movie cameras where actual surveillance cameras were or would be if there didn't happen to be any in a particular location.

KC: Okay

AR: But I never cheated. I never put a camera where an actual surveillance camera wasn't or wouldn't be.

KC: Oh okay, well that's interesting.

AR: Yea, wanted to remain accurate there, ya know.

KC: Right

AR: But uhh, once the cameras were set in any given location the challenge really came with respect to performance and staging. Because I wanted it to feel real, as real as it possibly could, but I knew I couldn't manipulate any of the performances in editing or I couldn't touch-up a close up if I needed to or use the usual film tricks that we all know can be so effective, so it was really, really hard to find that balance. But it was fun.

KC: Right well yea that was my next question. Was the editing process must have been kind of tough with that because you do have just this one scene and that's all you can do with it.

AR: You know that's true. Well, we shot the movie in less than four weeks. But we edited the movie and were in post production over the course of a year and a half.

KC: Wow, it was only four weeks? Wow!

AR: Yeah. It was actually less - the initial production was less and then we did a couple of reshoots. But it was - it took a lot of time to find that balance, ya know?

KC: Right. Definitely. How was the chemistry on the set between, you know, the actors and yourself and you know, the producers and things like that?

AR: It was an easy shoot in that regard. Everybody was there because they wanted to be. It wasn't one of those movies where anybody was getting a big payday. It was a real independent film. Everybody did it because they wanted to. And so everybody really rolled up their sleeves and realized that in order for this thing to work we had to all do whatever it took to get it done and everyone got along great.

KC: That's great, cuz I see that you've worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood over the years so umm what was it like to work with a cast of unknown actors and actresses. I feel it does add to the overall feel and theme of the movie. Like it was great so you're not connecting this big name star with the movie so it looses its overall realism feel.

AR: Thank you, I'm glad you said that, because that was definitely the intention going in. It was very important to me that we didn't cast stars. I said that right from the start. I said for this to feel real - to feel authentic if you recognize big name stars in these roles, you're gonna be taken out of the movie because you're never gonna buy that these could be real surveillance footage.

KC: Exactly

AR: So what we did was we sent the script out to all the agents, and we said we don't want any names. We just want your best actors who always loose the roles to the names. But of course, as luck would have it, first time in my career - the agents started throwing names at us, which was a real weird position to be in because you know, as an independent film maker - a name adds so much value to the project

KC: Exactly.

AR: It was really hard to say no. But luckily, I was working with two producers that believed in the ?? of the film, and they supported me when I turned them down.

KC: Wow, that's fantastic - I'm glad to hear it worked out. Like I can't really imagine how hard it would be to turn them down like that! (laughs)

AR: Ya know, listen, other producers would say, "you're casting this star or YOU'RE fired."

KC: Aww Man!

AR: (laughing)

KC: Well, the film itself touches on a lot of controversial topics, such as adultery, pedophilia, statutory rape, you know - terrorism, you can keep going . . . but, how did you decide which so-called "hot topics" to cover in the film and why did you choose those?

AR: Well, I felt the topic of invasion of privacy versus public security was an overall theme that I wanted to kind of explore you know, just with the subject matter - shooting the movie from surveillance cameras. So that was the innate idea. Probably all the other ideas that you were talking about, all the other concepts, they were kind of were born out of the notion that it's a movie about people's secrets. If we're imagining this is real surveillance footage, and that this is a movie about the things people do when they don't think they're being watched, people's dark side actually comes out when they think they are acting alone, ya know, on their private fetish or fantasy or whatever, ya know?

KC: Right

AR: Everybody has secrets. Everybody's got a secret life that they keep from somebody, whether it's as benign as picking your nose in an elevator or it's much darker and more elaborate, everybody has a side to themselves that they don't show anybody else. So that said, ya know, just naturally these sort of "hot topics" emerged.

KC: Right. You speaking about that reminds me so much of - you've heard of "postsecret.com"?

AR: Of course! That's exactly right.

KC: Yea, that's one of my favorites! I think it brings out that voyeuristic nature, ya know, of human beings.

AR: Everybody is a voyeur to a certain degree. Ya know? That's why people slow down when they pass a traffic accident. So if the movie is entirely about peeking in on people's private moments, those private moments are gonna get salacious or controversial or disturbing. And we as the audience too being the peeping toms, peaking in on peoples lives from this sort of outside, objective point of view it makes the audience an accomplice, In a way, it forces the audience to feel shamed in realizing they're looking in on things that they shouldn't be seeing. And that kind of added a neat dimension.

KC: Right, yea sometimes it's almost as if you can't stop yourself.

AR: Right!

KC: Let's see . . . with the ending of the film, there's some loose ends that were unresolved. Was that done on purpose?

AR: Yes, I did that intentionally for a couple reasons. 1) umm the idea here is that this is about a week's worth of footage, ya know, from a random city. And during this week, this is the footage that was obtained and this is the footage that we had to cut together. And a lot of things - a lot of the stories didn't necessarily resolve themselves within that week. Also 2) the big story that doesn't resolve itself which disturbs a lot of people you know, my take on it is that some things, ya know the movie sort of explores the fact that a lot of things unfold in front of the camera. The worst things don't occur in front of the camera.

KC: Well yeah, that's definitely what I was talking about. Because we were watching and going like, "WHAT??" (laughs)

AR: (laughs)

KC: But you know, I mean . . .I don't want to give anything away but ya know . . . there's definitely one of those things where like "oh, what's going on here?"

AR: I think the thing that we all, I think everybody kind of knows how that story ends, even if it's not shown in the movie. Ya know, that's unfortunate. Sometimes these stories have to resolve themselves in horrible ways. But sometimes they stay unresolved - we see that on the news all the time, ya know?

KC: Oh ya. How many times do you never hear a follow-up for anything you see, so . . .

AR: Exactly

KC: Do you have any upcoming projects that you're working on in the future or currently that you could speak about?

AR: Yes, I actually shot another movie back to back with "LOOK" that couldn't be more different. It's a comedy and it's set in cave man times and it's called "HOMOERECTUS".

KC: Oh okay, I was reading up on that - I wasn't sure when I reading up on that online if it was out or being made, because there was a lot of hype online about that one.

AR: That one comes out in March 2008 and it's being released by National Lampoon.

KC: Alright. Is that the one you're starring in yourself?

AR: Yea.

KC: Okay - cuz I'm lookin' and I was like "oh well".

AR: Yea - that's me.

KC: Well, I stumbled upon that while I was doing the "LOOK" research, awesome.

AR: Yea, it was a very schizophrenic year. To go from serious drama to ridiculous comedy back and forth - it was very bizarre.

KC: Well maybe I'll be interviewing you again about that one in the future.

AR: I hope so, I'd love it. That would be great.

KC: So how did you get into the field that you're in?

AR: Well, I've just always loved movies, and always wanted to be a part of making them. I didn't - when I was 5 or 6 years old, I didn't understand what a director did per-say, but I knew that whoever made movies, that's what I wanted to do. So as I got older, I made movies with the home movie camera in the back yard my whole life. And as soon as I was old enough, I moved to Hollywood and I just started writing scripts and banging on doors and trying getting money to get my movies made. The good news for all the young filmmakers out there now is that you can make movies less expensively now than has ever been possible before. You can shoot movies on, you know, Prosuumer, and edit them on your laptop. You can post your movie on YouTube and have a worldwide audience for it instantly. That just never existed when I was starting.

KC: Yea well, I'm guilty of that one.

AR: Oh -

KC: I was reading one of your other interviews online, I think it was with Webshow or something like that, and all the comments you were talking about, Guiseppe Andrews and things like that I just saw that all your comments were very, very inspirational to young film makers. Like just getting out there and doing it, even if you have a hundred bucks, like just gettin' out there and doin' it.

AR: I agree man, there's no excuse these days for not just doing it. If you want to be a director, there's no excuse for you not going out there and directing a movie and if you're or people are saying 'I'm waiting for 10 million dollars" then they don't want to be directors badly enough. I used to Guiseppe as a great example. He makes movie after movie after movie. There all feature lengths. They're the craziest things you've ever seen but they're genius because they're so original. And he uses all of his limitations to his most creative advances and his movies are released by trauma (@ 190) and you can get them at Best Buy and Target and he's makin' movies, ya know?

KC: Oh yea, we even looked at him when I was still in school, ya know about some of the techniques and just showing what you can do with low budget and what you can do and still make a success for yourself. Where do you see the future of film headed?

AR: That's a good question. I think more and more, obviously people are going to be making movies in their back yard and I think more and more they're gonna be getting better and better. And I think distribution, ya know, alternative forms of distribution are gonna start exploding thanks to the internet. And I hope that it just becomes, as a result, I hope there's a great renaissance of fabulous movies thanks to all these crazy mavericks out there who are gonna grab a camcorder and shoot movies that are gonna change the world.

KC: That's fantastic. Where do you see yourself in that picture?

AR: Well, I always wanna make all kinds of movies. I always wanna make big Hollywood movies and I always wanna make independent movies. I always wanna help other film makers get their movies made, so I just love story telling so anywhere I can be involved in as many movies as possible every different guise and style, I'm there.

KC: What's your favorite part of the movie making process?

AR: I'd say my favorite part is editing. I love the whole process, I love every aspect, but my favorite part where I really see the movie coming together - where I really feel like I have the most control in how it comes together is in the cutting room.

KC: What type of editing software do you use?

AR: We cut "LOOK" and "HOMOERECTUS" both on FinalCut Pro. Prior to that I always used Avid.

KC: Yea that's the one I worked with in school, too. FinalCut still scares me a little bit (laughs)

AR: (laughs)

KC: Just for fun, what are you top three favorite movies?

AR: Well, I have so many, its tough to nail them down . . . I'll just throw out some of the ones that come to mind off the top of my head. Godfather I and II which I count as one movie. Definitely in that revolving top three. Taxi Driver is in that revolving top three and Annie Hall is in that revolving top three. But there's so many more, those are just three that came to mind.

KC: Good choices. And what do you enjoy to do in your spare time, you know when you're not out filming and writing and directing.

AR: I like to go and see movies. I like to see as many as I can.

KC: Well that works. How do you feel about the whole MySpace generation and you know, as a way to connect with fans and audiences?

AR: I think it's great. I think it's any way that people can - any and all ways people can connect to each other, learn from each other, promote to each other, I think it's all fantastic. I'll tell you this. I was late to the MySpace game. I finally got convinced to joined up and I have - I wanna make myself acceptable to the people who like my movies - and I have met more people through MySpace that I would never ever have known existed before who like movies I've made or who have questions for me that I'm happy to answer. Or any way - there are people that I've met on MySpace who've since moved out here and are pursuing their dreams in Hollywood. I'm connecting to people I know and hopefully I'm able to help them. I just think it's great.

KC: Wow, so you do maintain your own page?

AR: I do.

KC: that's great. It's nice to hear that somebody actually, ya know, connects with the fans and answers personally with the questions. Sometimes it's so hard you're not sure if you're getting a robot or what you're getting.

AR: It is hard, you're right, you really never know. It's true. It is funny - I will tell you this - a lot of people, no matter what I say, they don't believe its really me.

KC: Yea I know, I was reading your MySpace - "This is really Adam" . . . alright so if I send you a friend request . . .

AR: I will click approve it myself.

KC: That sounds good. And finally, is there any comment or message you'd like to share with our readers - you know kind of put everything together.

AR: I have two comments for your readers: first, I say if you want to pursue a career in making movies, there's absolutely no way you can fail. You can only quit. Because there's no limit to the opportunities, because you can make up opportunity after opportunity yourself. There's no rules, do it your way and just be relentless. That's one comment - the second comment is: please go see "LOOK" opens December 14th in NY and LA and then it expands to Chicago the following week and goes wider in January.
KC: Wow that's great - I was gonna ask if it was going into wide release like around - across the US or not.

AR: Yea - it's still gotta do its' art house style and go to the major cities, and hopefully more and more with word of mouth and attention, and with more PR we can keep it rolling out. We've been getting great attention and we've been getting great press so far, but obviously we can't rest on any laurels.

KC: Well, I loved it and I definately think it's one that people should get out there and see.

AR: Totally

KC: Your comments are truly inspirational. I'm coming from film background and sometimes you get so frustrated with it . . .

AR: I'm telling you, it's so true, you can get so frustrated. And then I look at Guiseppe, right, and I see he takes it seriously - he'll get, literally, a $200 residual check from some small role he had in some little movie like five years ago and he'll say, I've go $200 dollars now, I'm gonna make a movie. He'll write a script and he'll go buy the props, he'll cast all his friends and in a week, he has another movie and it's a feature length movie. He takes it seriously and he does it. There's just no excuse for anybody to say, 'oh it's too hard to get movies made'. Just go make em. Ya know?

KC: Right. Reminds me a little of Cecil B Demented too, have you seen that?

AR: Exactly right! (laughs)

KC: it's a twisted one - I just saw it the other day. Well, thank you so much for talking to us again. I will definitely friend you up on MySpace and send you a message when the interview and reviews for "LOOK" goes live. And hopefully we can chat again when "HOMOERECTUS" comes up.

AR: I'd love it.

AR: Thanks for diggin' the movie and thanks for talkin' to me.

KC: Thank you so much!

AR: Totally!

KC: Bye Bye

Check out the trailer for "Look":

 

Also, here is the trailer for Adam Rifkin's upcoming film "Homo Erectus":

 

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