SXSW 2011: 'Apart' Director Aaron Rottinghaus

Romantic thriller Apart had its world premiere at SXSW earlier this month, and will be playing in competition at the Dallas International Film Festival on April 3 and 5. I interviewed star Josh Danziger and writer/director Aaron Rottinghaus while they were in Austin to promote the movie (read my review for more details).

But before I get into my conversation with Rottinghaus, allow me to take a moment to share what actress Joey Lauren Adams had to say, when I spent a few minutes chatting with her. Adams (Chasing Amy) hired Rottinghaus as an editor on her writing/directorial debut Come Early Morning, which Austin Film Festival in 2006 after a Sundance premiere earlier that year.

"In the process of editing [Come Early Morning], we became friends and he went above in beyond in helping me with my project," Adams told me. So she returned the favor to take a small but significant role in Apart.

"Once he gave me that first bit of direction, he was really good. And all at once he was my director and I was his actor, and I trust him. Aaron had a vision, whether you liked the film or not, and it was very thought out and very detailed. He did a great job on it, and he stuck with it." Would Adams work with Rottinghaus again? "In a heartbeat. As a director, or an editor."

Rottinghaus' editing chops are evident in Apart as the story unfolds in non-chronological sequence, switching between different points in time. A film best appreciated by those who appreciate emotional journeys, Apart is at times a challenging movie as it requires the audience to place their trust in the filmmaker. As the story reveals itself, it takes some unconventional paths to explain why Noah Greene (Josh Danziger) and Emily Gates (Olesya Rulin) cannot be together. Here's what Rottinghaus had to say about the movie.

You worked on the script for quite a while and an extensive post-production period as well, can you expand on that?

Aaron Rottinghaus: We started the script around 2005, 2006, and it was really a prospect of me writing way too much and then having to whittle it down with Josh. Then as we were trying to go out, we had a budget made and went out trying to beat the streets and get money, and we were like, "Okay, we can't get that amount, maybe we can get this amount" ... and rewrote the script again and again and again.

I was rewriting some of the stuff on-set based on the actors and what they're responding to. It's so hard to sit in a room and write, and in your head it makes sense. But then you hear an actor read the lines and it doesn't sound so great.

We edited for a while, and life intervened. It kind of got drawn out by that. It's a such a tough, complex movie in making it clear for the audience, so we'd screen it for people and go back and from those notes we'd know to make it clearer and cut a little … chipping away at the story 'til we got it.

During the world premiere Q&A you mentioned some of the challenges you had, such as some days of the 26-day shoot having two, even three different shooting locations. With the challenges of such an ambitious project, what would you consider a "happy accident" for the production, something unexpected that made the production better?

Rottinghaus: I'm going to consider Olesya Rulin [Greek, High School Musical] a "happy accident" because we didn't have anybody and we were really close to shooting and everyone was really stressing out. We had our cast wall and there was this big Emily-shaped space. We were talking to people and no one was fitting. We finally got Olesya -- I talked to her on the phone and she completely got it. She came in and she was amazing. It took a second to work with her because she was such a pro and she has that kind of "Disney Channel" sheen to wear away to get down to the nitty-gritty.

The hook of the story is the diagnosis ICD-10, F.24, a disorder where two people share a delusion, with the only cure being separated. Incorporating that had to be difficult, especially considering budget limitations.

Rottinghaus: Cutting some of the stuff we had to cut on set was a great thing. It becomes part of post-production already, having to make those choices. We had such complex delusions in the script, we couldn't do it all on our budget level. It really forced us to come up with a way to solidify the story more. We could do the snow, and it looked great, and honestly, I didn't have that going into the movie [production]. During the directing it figured itself out. The happy accidents were having to cut stuff from the get-go and it made the movie stronger.

Apart has some powerful performances. Arguably one of the most understatedly powerful emotional scenes in recent filmmaking is the "dance" scene in Apart.

Rottinghaus: It was a scary scene to shoot. Because we had those really dramatic light changes and it's very stylized, I was worried that it wouldn't work. A scene like that, you want it to be sweeping and emotional as you can without being cheesy. I actually closed the set that day because I was really nervous. Some of the crew came up to me and said it was really great.

It was almost like a play, we had the lighting crew on different dimmer switches. It was a big production for that little intimate scene. In the original script it wasn't supposed to take place there and I guess that was another happy accident budget-wise. We wouldn't be able to get enough extras for a high-school dance, so we pulled them away ... it's probably my favorite scene in the film.

The music and sound design in Apart is clearly very consciously conceived. In particular, the pivotal "dance" scene has a powerful soundtrack. What was the song you used?

Rottinghaus: The song is called "I Love You David Bowie (Since I Was Six)." It's originally by The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and we had Jessica Lea Mayfield cover it for us. She did an amazing job. I think she was just 18 or so when I talked to her. It was at a 21-and-over club and she had to wait outside while the rest of the band drank and waited for the end of the other show. I was outside smoking or something and saw this amazing singer have to sit on the sidewalk. Then I got her music and I wrote to it all the time.

I wish we could have used her entire album, because it kind of tells Emily's story. It's the emotional fulcrum of the movie. I knew I wanted a female voice. I loved the song, but I needed a female to sing it. We went to Jessica to see if she'd do it, and she did.

Apart plays the Dallas International Film Festival on Sunday, April 3 and Tuesday, April 5 in the Texas Competition program. Rottinghaus and Josh Danziger along with producer Ryan Rettig will be in attendance for both screenings.

[photo courtesy of Danziger – Rettig, LLC]