The New Movie 'Apart' Returns Home to Austin, Texas

March 25, 2011 at 3:02 PM | by cmb | Comments (0)

The premiere of Apart at SXSW wasn't just an honor for the film's creators, it was also a sort of homecoming. The movie has a unique premise, which in this age of remakes and sequels is a testament to the tenacity of its writers, Josh Danziger and Aaron Rottinghaus, who committed to their idea.

Apart centers on Noah Greene, who awakens from a two-year coma with hazy memories of his own life. As he begins to dig into his past, he is forced to confront two tragedies that bind him to, and threaten to drive him away from, the woman he loves. The first tragedy, a childhood bus accident leaves him forever connected to schoolmate Emily, who suffers from disturbing and precognitive visions after the accident, visions which Noah also experiences, but only in proximity of Emily, the result of a rare—but real—disorder called folie � deux.

The filmmakers not only chose to explore tough issues in the film, but they also chose to shoot the movie in an unlikely location, Rosenburg and Richmond, Texas.

Danziger explained to us at SXSW how the movie came to be shot in Texas:

It was never intended to be shot in Texas. We were looking at other places, I know Aaron originally had the mindset of Indiana in his head, his hometown.
The producer, Ryan Rettig, was looking at Canada and Michigan for the tax credits and I happened to go home one day and I was just driving around and I was like wait a minute, that's a high school, that's a football field, that's a place where we could car wreck and bus crash, and I was like, 'Aaron you have to come out here I think we could do it out here, I think the community's gonna be helpful.' I was like, 'don't worry' and he was like 'I always worry', so I got him on a plane out here and I drove him around for a few hours and he just took pictures and when he uploaded them on his Mac, I think we had 70 percent of our locations right there already set.
And I already knew who had these places and I talked to them all and they said if you're going to make a movie out here we'd be happy to help you and we came out here and we got a great crew together out of Austin and we shot in my hometown.

One of the movie's stars, Joey Lauren Adams, was also impressed by how supportive the community was while they were filming. "People are so friendly [in Texas], I had some friends here from L.A. and they were just like, 'everyone's so friendly', and its a cliche, but its true," she told us.

Danziger and Rottinghaus were excited to come full circle with the movie, from filming in Texas last year, to premiering the film at SXSW this year. "When we were filming, it was around SXSX and we always thought it would be great to come back here, and luckily they had us," Rottinghaus said. "It's pretty gratifying."

Danziger agreed, adding "I went to the University of Texas in Austin. When I was in school this festival was a really cool festival but it wasn't where it is today. For me its just been really rewarding and gratifying going through film school to being here, its like alright, I guess I'm cool enough to be a filmmaker with you guys."

Apart will have two more screenings in Texas during the Dallas Film Festival which kicks off March 31. Check out the festival guide at filmguide.dallasfilm.org.

Related Stories:
· Apart [Official Site]
· Apart [Facebook]
· SXSW Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Apart]

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