Meet the 2014 Tribeca Filmmakers #52: Award-Winning Playwright Adam Rapp Returns to the Screen with ‘Loitering With Intent’
Adam Rapp is an award-winning playwright, theater director, novelist,
and filmmaker. He is the author of numerous plays, including “Nocturne,” “Blackbird,” and “Red Light Winter,” which was named a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize. He made his directorial debut in 2005 with the Toronto Film Festival selection “Winter Passing,” and followed it up with an adaptation of his play “Blackbird,” which won Best Narrative Feature at the Charlotte Film Festival and received a Special Jury Award for Achievement in Directing from the Florida Film Festival. His new film “Loitering With Intent” follows aspiring writers Dominic (Michael Godere) and Raphael (Ivan Martin) who need to come up with a script fast after a chance encounter with a producer. The pair head to upstate New York to work on their project in isolation, but they encounter Dominic’s sister (Marisa Tomei), who’s desperately trying to escape from her boyfriend (Sam Rockwell).
Biggest
challenge in completing this project?
Between the
19-day shoot, the insane upstate New York with its torrential rains, and a
small crew, it was physically much more difficult than I anticipated. When we
went from shooting days to shooting nights I almost lost my mind.
Did you
crowdfund?
No. Funding
came through Parts and Labor.
What
camera did you shoot on?
The Alexa.
Did you go
to film school? No.
What films
have inspired you? “Five Easy
Pieces,” “The Last Detail,” “Something Wild,” “The Last Picture Show,” “Leolo”
What do
you have in the works?
My new play, “The Purple Lights of Joppa Illinois,” will receive its world premiere at South
Coast Rep’s Pacific Playwrights Conference later this month. I have a new
novel, “Know Your Beholder,” coming out with Little Brown in February of ’15. A
new Starz! series, “Flesh and Bone,” which I helped write and produce, starts
principle photography in NYC at the end of April (I wrote two episodes and will
likely direct one of them). I’m also in the process of adapting my graphic
novel, “Ball-Peen Hammer,” for HBO.
Indiewire invited Tribeca Film Festival directors to tell us about
their films, including what inspired them, the challenges they faced and
what they’re doing next. We’ll be publishing their responses leading up
to the 2014 festival. Go HERE to read all the entries.
