Max Mayer makes his mark as director in the new Fox Searchlight Picture ADAM, which opens in limited release in theatres July 29th in NY & LA and released in DC this weekend. I had the pleasure of chatting with Max to discuss his newfound movie.
Eclipse Magazine: Max, how did you get involved with the film?
Max Mayer: Well, the idea came from an interview that I heard on the radio actually. It was a young man being interviewed who has Asperger’s Syndrome, which is a high functioning form of autism. He was taking about how the world felt to him, which was really moving to me. He was talking about how people know when to smile at one another and how they know when to talk, when to stop talking. When to anything basically in relation to social interaction.
I got really moved and I don’t get that move very often. When that happens, I tried to figure out what’s that all about. So, I did a lot more research on Asperger’s. The more I learned about it, the better the metaphor for human relations in general. We are at a place where we want one another but we are all stuck up in our brains by ourselves.
EM: Tell us about the movie.
MM: It’s about a young man who is on the autism spectrum. His father passes away who is his caretaker pretty much. He has lost his main connections to the world, but he has his main rituals. Then this young woman moves into the building which he lives and they forged an odd friendship at first which evolved into a romantic one. They have to deal with the crisis within her family and finally, a crisis within their relationship to see how it would work out.
EM: How did go about casting the characters?
MM: I had wonderful casting directors. They were big fans of Hugh Dancy. I admit that all I seen of his work when we started the process was “Ella Enchanted” because of my daughter. So, I knew him as Prince Charming. The directors showed me “Elizabeth”, this HBO movie he did with Helen Mirren. Then, while we were doing the casting, he was doing a movie called “Evening” with Vanessa Redgrave and Meryl Streep. He managed to stand out in the film. We got him the script. He & I met and hit it off well. At first, I thought he was far too social, composed and graceful socially. I wonder if he could do the character from that standpoint. It turns out that he was a fine actor.
Well, Rose was another story. My lead producer was a big fan of Rose’s work. I looked at her work and decided to make an offer. When we contacted her agent and they said “Absolutely Not. She’s in India.” We also know that she is not coming back to do it because she was offered a big Hollywood movie where she got to be so & so’s girlfriend. In addition, she was coming back to the TV Series “Damages”. She wanted to take this time to go to India and have that experience. We asked if they could send her the script. They finally did that and two days later, she said that she’ll come back to do Adam.
EM: What was it like to work with Hugh Dancy & Rose Byrne, two of the most versatile actors of today?
MM: It’s wonderful. Hugh is very analytical. He is the thinking type. He and I are sorta joined at the hip. We had about five weeks before the movie started where we gone thru the script a number of times together. We talked about it from moment to moment about what he got out it , what my intentions were, etc. We both loved the character which was another thing we had in common.
Rose is impulsive and spontaneous. She just understand something and responds to it which is fantastic for the movie because its exactly what I need to come into this young man’s life. She came into the situation without the same kind of preparation which turned out to be great because it reflected what happens to her as a character. She was all of a sudden dealing with this guy who would not look at her and didn’t pick up on her cues. For the first third of the movie, she doesn’t really know what was it all about. It was wonderful that she had the kinda chops where she allows herself to live in front of the camera.
EM: How will Adam set the tone for people affect by Asperger’s or have no knowledge of it?
MM: I think from talking to people with Aspergers and relatives of theirs, they think the film represents the syndrome well. Its a really good by product in terms of tolerance, in terms of people understanding one another and understanding in the spectrum. People for whom that’s important and they express that gratitude to me about making this movie. I was primarily interested of telling this story about these people. I don’t consider this a message movie at all. I feel like you get enough information to understand the situation through characters essentially. So far, the relationship in the story seems to appeal to the general populace. People will feel how it is to be Adam.
EM: I remember one scene where Adam wears the NASA Spacesuit. I was wondering was the inpspiration for that scene.
MM: I was so happy when I got him into that spacesuit because Adam has been into Astronomy since he was a child. The backstory that spacesuit was one of the things his father got for him one time. I loved having it there since he was into rocketry and models. There was an organic way of getting into the spacesuit because of the space station walk and tethering which translated into window washing essentially. In fact, we need Hugh the next morning. In one scene, where we see over Hugh’s back to Rose, I got into the spacesuit. It’s my little cameo in the movie.
EM: Was it easy to transcend from theatre directing to film directing?
MM: Yes, there are a lot of things to do. I spend a lot of time working with writers on new plays, telling the stories. A story is a good story. There are some differences, too. We say its true that the theatre is language based and film is picture based. You need to pay attention to that as a director. As far as working with actors, shooting a movie is more akin to rehearsing a play rather than performing a play. You get to continously work with the actors to try to find that moment. The timing is compressed that you have to do it more quickly but then again, you don’t have to replicate every night. You have this unbelievable director editing time where you have inexhausible actors who will do it over and over again for you. You can choose their performances. You can have a lot more control over what the audiences is looking at, what the focus of the audience, or where the audience is.
EM: What would you advise up & coming directors today if they want to get into directing.
MM: Make sure you are connected to your passion. Whatever kind of art you are doing especially with film. You have to sustain not only for months but even years.
EM: How did it feel when you first heard the news that Adam was selected for the Sundance Film Festival?
MM: It was great! It was a really good moment. When the picture was selected, everything felt like gravy. My producer wanted to sell it to a distributor to get it out there, but we got it into Sundance which was cool. When we got to Sundance, we shown the film to an audience of six up til that point. Then, our little band come into the Eccles Theatre for the first screening which was 1350 or something and it’s packed. We were like “our little movie on the Big Screen!” The best moment has been sitting thru the first few terrifying minutes and then realizing that the audience is going thru the ride you intended to.
EM: Tell us about the Alfred P. Sloan prize that Adam earned?
MM: It’s an award given at Sundance for quite sometime. It’s given to a quality film that has some kind of science content in it. Whether it popularizes some aspect of science or deals with a character who’s himself a scientist. The jury is consists of all “rocket scientists”. At least we have earned an award from smart people.
EM: If you could sum up your experience on making, writing, and directing Adam; how would you wrap it up?
MM: I would say “joyful”. It’s been a great ride and I hope it goes on for a while longer.
EM: Adam opens in limited theatres on this weekend. Max, it’s a pleasure and I wish all the best in your future success.
MM: Thank you so much.
Interview by Dean Rogers