Zoom-in Online

To say that ROCKET SCIENCE wasn't on my list of films to see at Sundance is a big understatement. A stutterer? Entering a debate tournament? There's probably nothing I hate more than those $%*@ SPELLBOUND clones. SPELLBOUND was such a great movie, but then everyone thought they could wow Sundance and get surefire audiences with movies about cute lil' kids entering contests. And what made me even more mad was that it worked. Then I saw that it was actually Jeffrey Blitz, the director of SPELLBOUND, who was ripping off his own movie! That's the kind of thing that can make you throw your catalog against the wall. Which I did.

Before leaving for Sundance, I got in touch with a few friends. One of my favorite people in the world is Maud Nadler of HBO. Working in the film business can be so dispiriting sometimes, but people like Maud totally make up for all the shit. She has been the driving force behind some of the best movies of recent years, including AMERICAN SPLENDOR, REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES, MARIA FULL OF GRACE, ELEPHANT, and Jim McKay's ANGEL RODRIGUEZ (not as well known as the others, but equally great). Maud is probably the most deeply involved producer I have ever met. In fact, she cares so much about the films she works on that she lives in a perpetual state of panic. If you haven't heard of her, it's because...she doesn't put her name on her movies. Think about that the next time you sit in a theatre wading through: Associate Associate Producer, Executive in charge of Associate Production, Senior Production Associate, Craft Service Executive, Executive in charge of Producer Credits, etc. Modesty is a rare thing in the film business, but especially in film credits, which are generally a long list of attention-hungry non-contributors.

Anyway, Maud told me that ROCKET SCIENCE was her film and that did it for me. Maud doesn't make bad movies. So it was no surprise that it was my favorite narrative film that I saw at the festival.

When I saw it, I thought of RUSHMORE (one of my very favorite movies), but as you will hear if you listen to my interview with Jeffrey Blitz, his actual inspiration was Hal Ashby's films. Hal Ashby! It's been forever since I saw his movies! I've already put HAROLD AND MAUDE and THE LAST DETAIL on my Netflix list. Thanks, Jeff!