411 Movies Interview: National Lampoon’s The Stoned Age Director Adam Rifkin
Posted by Tony Farinella on 02.02.2009
411's Tony Farinella sits down with Stoned Age director Adam Rifkin for an exclusive interview!
In his career, Adam Rifkin has directed and written a number of very unique projects, from Detroit Rock City to Mousehunt to Underdog. Needless to say, no genre is off limits for this talented individual. Recently, I caught up with Adam to talk about his new film, National Lampoon's The Stoned Age , which features David Carradine, Tom Arnold, Ron Jeremy, Talia Shire, and many more. National Lampoon's The Stoned Age is currently out on DVD. I hope you enjoy my interview with Adam Rifkin.
TONY: Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the first film that you've directed in over five years, so I have to ask you, what was it like returning to the director's chair after such a lengthy absence?
Adam Rifkin: I directed a movie just prior to directing Stoned Age called Look, which is a drama that came out just before Stoned Age came out theatrically. Look came out at the very end of 2007 and played the art house circuit for about four or five months for the first half of 2008.
TONY: What was it like switching tones on these films and going back and forth like that?
Adam Rifkin: It was a lot of fun, actually, because what we did was we shot the movies back to back. I shot Look first and then we shot Stoned Age second and we shot that in Texas. Then I came back to L.A. and we did post on them both simultaneously, which was a little schizophrenic at times because Look is a very intense and Stoned Age is a very, very silly comedy, as you know. It was very fun, though, because when your mind would get fatigued over one movie, going back to the other movie would be refreshing because you'd get a lot more work done because skipping back and forth enabled me to re-juice working on the other movie. It was fun.
TONY:Stoned Age features quite an interesting cast. As a director, what was it like directing so many unique personalities from all walks of life?
Adam Rifkin: Well, it's always interesting and fun. I've been fortunate to work with a lot of colorful and famous people. I made the movie The Dark Backward when I was twenty-three and Wayne Newton, James Caan, Rob Lowe, Bill Paxton, and Lara Flynn Boyle were all in that movie. In this movie, I got to work with David Carradine, Ali Larter, Gary Busey, Carol Alt, and Tom Arnold. The trick on this one was not working with them as a director, because working as a director with people from any walk of life, whether they're famous actors or they've never worked before, I feel very comfortable with. I have a great time working with people on their performances. The challenge was working with them as a fellow actor. I don't pursue acting as a career, so starring in this movie with all these pros, people who have been in a million movies, was a little intimidating. But when we got this movie up and running, I said to the producer that if I'm going to get to star in this movie, I have to surround myself with professionals. I have to surround myself with people who have done this before, that people respect and know on sight. So I learned a lot from all of them as far as how to work as an actor.
TONY: This is a very different type of movie and it received a very different type of release, so I have to ask you, what was your approach and state of mind on this project?
Adam Rifkin: The biggest challenge for me was wrapping my mind around the fact that somebody was spending millions of dollars on a movie that I was the star of, because that is a very new experience for me. I've hammed it up in small roles in some films I've made before and some films some friends have made, but, like I said, I don't pursue acting as a career. I'm not used to being in front of the camera for large periods of time. That was the biggest challenge and the biggest hurdle in my mind to get over, but, also, it made it one of the most fun experiences I've ever had. I had always suspected that on a movie, the actors truly do have the most fun. And I found that to be the case in this movie. But it was interesting, because when I was acting, I was having the most fun. As soon as I would yell cut and I was directing again, it was back to tearing my hair out, trying to get everything we needed shot before the sun went down every day. But it was a really fascinating time.
TONY: Did the actors understand the script right away in terms of its sense of humor, or did they have to ask you a lot of questions on set?
Adam Rifkin: Only from Ali Larter. She's the only one who hadn't really done a comedy before. Basically, directing a comedy, or at least directing this comedy or some of the other ones I've done, or at least I assume is the case for a lot of movies, I tell the actors all the time, ‘Don't play it like a comedy. Just play everything straight. As long as it's real, hopefully that will make it funny. The situations will be funny, the characters are funny, so you don't have to ham it up; you don't have to mug.' In fact, that is a surefire way to make it unfunny. She was the only one who really had never had a comedy experience before. She was a little nervous going in about how to play things. We worked together on just making her feel comfortable with not playing it like a comedy, not playing it any differently than she would any other movie. And I showed her a bunch of Woody Allen movies. Obviously, that's where a lot of the inspiration for this movie came from: early Woody Allen movies, early Mel Brooks movies. I showed her some of those. That's how I worked that.
TONY: Whenever people talk about your career, they always talk about the variety of projects that you do and how you're always switching genres so effortlessly. Is that a conscious choice on your part, or is that just how it works out sometimes?
Adam Rifkin: It's a little bit of both. I love all kinds of movies and I want to tell all kinds of stories. So I just have fun making all the different kinds of movies that I'd want to see. Some of them are scary, some of them are funny, some of them are dramatic, and some of them are silly. So, I write the movies that I think I'd want to make. I mean, it's really hard to get movies made. So sometimes a movie will get green lit that isn't necessarily what you expected you would be doing next, but it's an opportunity to get a movie made that you're excited about. I've found that my ability to be able to go from genre to genre has been a blessing and a curse, because Hollywood likes to pigeonhole you and it just makes it easier to succeed a lot of the time if Hollywood can sort of know how to categorize you. OK, he's the guy that does gross-out comedies. Or, he's the guy that does mob movies. Or, he's the guy that does costume dramas. So the fact that I've done a bunch of different kinds of things, for me, creatively, has been a blessing. I feel really lucky that I've gotten a chance to have all these different adventures on all these different kinds of movies, but, professionally, I have found that that has made it harder for me along the way.
TONY: Even to this day, I know a lot of people who still talk about Detroit Rock City. I mean, it seems like the film has achieved a cult-like status. How does that make you feel?
Adam Rifkin: The fact that the movie speaks to people and continues to get rediscovered and continues to get more fans, I would say it's a really, really satisfying feeling. People love that movie that were way too young when it came out to get to see it and now I get emails all the time and MySpace emails and stuff from people all over the place who are continually rediscovering it. It's become a big cult hit. I only wish that I could have that experience with all my movies, because it's really neat to be able to see that people liked your movie and people want to keep watching it and turning other people onto it. And new people who are just starting to get into movies are discovering it again or discovering it for the first time. I love it.
TONY: How do you feel about that state of screenwriting here in 2009? In the past couple of years, with films like Juno and the Wrestler, we have seen some interesting material come out of some very unique places.
Adam Rifkin: I never even gave that a second thought. I mean, people who have talent and who want to write movies should be doing it, whatever their day job is. And I think it's great that good scripts are finding their way to getting made and that good writers are getting opportunities to get their movies made, no matter where they come from. It's fabulous.
TONY: Do you consider yourself a writer or director, first and foremost?
Adam Rifkin: I see myself as a writer/director, first and foremost. My passion, above all else, is to write and direct my own material. I love to come up with an idea, I love to write the script, and I love to then take that script and see it come to life through the process of getting an opportunity to get it made. That's my favorite. I have had great experiences directing movies that I haven't written and great experiences having written movies that I didn't direct. I love all those opportunities that have come my way and I've never had a negative experience that way. But my favorite thing to do is to write and direct my own piece of material.
TONY: How does the Internet influence your writing, if at all? Do you pay attention to a lot of what is said about your movies, both positive and negative?
Adam Rifkin: You can't take any of that stuff seriously. It's great when people write nice things. It is what it is when people write nasty things. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. The Internet gives everybody a forum, which, ultimately, I think, is a good thing. I don't think anybody takes that stuff too seriously, anyway. People make their own decisions. That's one of the greatest gifts that the Internet has given to us all, is that it democratized everything. You don't just have to look to Roger Ebert to know what to think of a movie. Now, you get a broad range from millions of people around the world and you can find out how people think about a movie, or people think about a book, or people think about an album. And then you take it with a grain of salt. There are plenty of movies that I love that get very, very low ratings on Rotten Tomatoes or very, very low ratings on IMDB. And then there are movies that I absolutely hate that get lauded like they're the greatest movies ever made. It's your own personal opinion. I am not one of these guys that read every detail of what people say and write notes back to them and get all upset about it. I am much more concerned with writing my next project and getting my next movie made.
TONY: Finally, Adam, what are your plans for the future and what are you currently working on?
Adam Rifkin: Well, a couple things. I am promoting Stoned Age right now, but I'm about to start promoting Look as well, which is about to hit DVD in May. It hits DVD on May 5th and that comes out through Anchor Bay. I've also been promoting my graphic novel that I wrote, which is called Shmobots and it's a graphic novel about slacker robots. It's a comedy. That's out right now. I'm writing a top secret movie that I can't talk about, unfortunately. Although, I can't wait until I can. I'm also about to start working on two different television series that I can't divulge what they are until they're both announced formally. Once those are announced formally, I'll be happy to talk about them. But they're both for two very cool networks. I'm very excited about them both.
TONY: Thank you so much for your time, Adam. It was great talking to you.
Adam Rifkin: I appreciate it. Thank you so much. I can't wait to read it.
