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For a while, working on the movie seemed like an impossible goal for Cooper Rave.
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Like many dreamers, the 25-year-old actor, writer, and director had ideas, but there was no clear path to achieving life as a filmmaker.
Just a few years ago, Rave, who writes, directs and co-acts alongside Dakota Johnson An apple Coming of age drama Cha Cha Real SmoothHe was driving for Uber Eats.
“It wasn’t cool,” the humble Dallas native said on a video call from New York City. “It’s not very fun to go around getting food for people. But it was great to make movies. That’s what I wanted to do.”
But it was an opportunity tweet sent to Jay Duplass (Netflix’s the chair) that turned things around for college dropouts.
“I made a movie with my two best friends and put it up on YouTube and tweeted the link to Jay, my all-time favorite filmmaker, and told him, ‘I bet you won’t click that link and email me after that. Then he emailed me and we met and he became my mentor and helped me make my first real movie (S – House) … Dakota Johnson saw this movie and I think that’s why she wanted to work with me.”
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The movie, currently available to stream on Apple TV+, is about a directionless college graduate (Rafe) who gets the perfect job of being a “party apprentice” at the bar and a racket of his younger brother’s classmates (Evan Assant). Living at home with his mother (Leslie Mann) and stepfather (Brad Garrett), his life changes after he strikes up a courting friendship with his soon-to-be-married mother (Johnson) and her autistic daughter (Vanessa Burghardt).
Johnson was not only involved in acting, but also produced the project. Rafe said she also acted as a “screenplay friend” when he was writing the film.
Cha Cha Real Smooth (Title clogged from DJ Casper’s dance floor Cha Cha Slide) was one of the blockbuster films at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, winning the Audience Award. Apple, which pushed Coda for its 2021 Sundance acquisition to win the Best Picture Oscar in March, took notice and slashed $15 million for the image’s purchase.
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With the film now available to stream, Rive has given us the blueprints for his unexpected success story.
Where did the story come from? Were you the start of the party?
“I wasn’t a prom rookie, but I went to a service and party every Saturday in seventh grade and there was a prom rookie named Vince. He was 40 and he was the best prom rookie ever. He’s also the only prom rookie I’ve ever met” .
I heard you pitched the idea to Dakota Johnson without a final script. When she tells you she’s interested, but you don’t have an end scenario, what kind of stress does that create?
“I showed it and the meeting went really well and we were all excited about making this movie and at the end of our conversation, she said, ‘I want to read the script,’ and I said, ‘Oh, cool. Let me just make sure it’s fine. So, I went away and printed 50 pages and told her the second half needs some work. Then I quickly finished it and sent everything to her in a couple of weeks…I think I always write better when I’m under “write now” pressure. It’s when I do my best.”
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Your Independent Film of 2020 S – House It was the movie that got people noticed. What if that doesn’t work? What was your plan B?
“Uber Eats, probably. I was going to keep doing Uber Eats and I was going to try and find a way to get into a movie set doing something. I really wanted to be a part of the movie industry, so I was going to try to figure out some way of that.”
Your movie is streaming and this is a movie I wanted to see in the cinema. What do you think of the future of cinema?
“I love live streaming devices because they provide great platforms for small movies. But I think people will always want to go watch movies with strangers in a dark room. That’s how I fell in love with movies and I think that’s why people like going to the movies. If we take that experience too far I don’t think people are going to love movies anymore. I don’t think theaters are going anywhere, but God bless live streams like Apple because we wouldn’t have a home without them.”
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There’s a scene in the movie where the Dakota Domino’s character says to your character Andrew, “Do your twenties.” This line will mean different things to many people depending on where they are in their lives. Some viewers will hear it and think, “I didn’t really do that.” What does that mean to you?
“It’s scary because I’m in a place now where I can tell who I am in my twenties. My life is defined by no one but myself… Domino’s didn’t have her twenties because she had a child and her life in her twenties was defined by that experience.” So, yeah, it’s going to mean a lot of different things to the people watching it.”
Cha Cha Real Smooth streaming now + Apple TV.
mdaniell@postmedia.com
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