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"Rocket Science" follows a lead character with a severe stuttering problem who hopes to impress a girl by joining the high school debate team. Although all of the kids are actors, the movie shares an affection for quirky behavior with "Spellbound," and some of the elements come directly from Blitz's own high school experience (including the stuttering and the debate team).
We challenged Blitz had a little debate of our own, analyzing the pros and cons of the film, uncovering his connection to NBC's comedy "The Office" and trying to determine if this new "narrative" film might be more fact than fiction. Eight minutes per side. Starting ... now.
How did this film come about?
When "Spellbound" was on the film festival circuit, I met with the executives of HBO Films who wanted to know whether I felt like I was done with the coming-of-age genre like in "Spellbound," or whether I felt I still had something to say. I decided that if I could do a dark comedy—an adult, sort of twisted version of a coming-of-age story—that I would really want to do that, and doing a fiction film would let me answer those questions. I pitched the idea for "Rocket Science," and here we are.
What's the biggest difference between making a narrative rather than a documentary?
They're actually much closer than people want to think they are. I think in both instances you rely upon the happy accident more than people believe you do. In a documentary, the world just sort of unfolds around you, and you keep your fingers crossed that it unfolds in an entertaining way where there's drama and comedy to it. In a fiction film you exert more control, but there are still so many variables that you can't control at all that there is a lot of keeping your fingers crossed.
Why a debate team as a catalyst for the movie?
So much of the movie is finding one's voice. It seemed like there was particularly good opportunities to find drama in having a kid who has difficulty speaking at all having to do it and learn to do it in a public way. It seemed that that was an instant pressure-cooker to drop my lead character into, and it was appealing for that reason. You get potential drama and comedy out of a stutterer debating that you don't get out of, say, a stutterer joining the squash team.
But that could be interesting!
The answer is no, it couldn't. Impossible. That's been proven. There have been studies done.
Hal Hefner sounds suspiciously like Hugh Hefner, no?
To me it felt like a funny burden to put on a kid who is trying to discover love and sex for the first time. It made his predicament that much more painful.
Is the movie autobiographical?
There are basic facts that are autobiographical: I did stutter, I did do public speaking in high school, but I wanted to take several giant steps away from my own life. I wasn't trying to recreate my own experience. I was trying to take a situation I knew well, and then mine it for as much comedy and drama as I could.
What's up next?
I'm working on another documentary project [tracking people who win the lottery], and then hopefully more fiction films. I'd love to be able to hopscotch back and forth. I've also been doing a little bit of TV; I did a couple episodes of "The Office," and hopefully I'll do more of that. They've asked me back for next season.
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