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[[Principal photography]] took place in [[New York City]] in December 2005.<ref name=gvba>{{cite web| url = http://www.gvba.org/Filmshoots/filmshoots7.html| title = Greenwich Village Film Shoots Report Card 2005| accessdate = 2009-05-23| year = 2005| publisher = Greenwich Village Block Associations}}</ref> Specific filming locations included [[Greenwich Village]] and [[Central Park]].<ref name=gvba/><ref>{{cite web| url = http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2009/01/sundance-zooey.html| title = Sundance: Zooey Deschanel, Patton Oswalt, and the rise of the anti-'Hotel for Dogs' lobby| accessdate = 2009-05-23| date = January 19, 2009| work = [[Entertainment Weekly]]| author = Pastorek, Whitney}}</ref>
[[Principal photography]] took place in [[New York City]] in December 2005.<ref name=gvba>{{cite web| url = http://www.gvba.org/Filmshoots/filmshoots7.html| title = Greenwich Village Film Shoots Report Card 2005| accessdate = 2009-05-23| year = 2005| publisher = Greenwich Village Block Associations}}</ref> Specific filming locations included [[Greenwich Village]] and [[Central Park]].<ref name=gvba/><ref>{{cite web| url = http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2009/01/sundance-zooey.html| title = Sundance: Zooey Deschanel, Patton Oswalt, and the rise of the anti-'Hotel for Dogs' lobby| accessdate = 2009-05-23| date = January 19, 2009| work = [[Entertainment Weekly]]| author = Pastorek, Whitney}}</ref>

==Inaccuracies==
Adam tells Beth that a 20 pound chunk of space expanded to the size of the universe in ten to the minus-39 seconds. Beth doesn't understand [[Scientific_notation|scientific notation]], so Adam says that's "A decimal point, 39 zeros, and then a one". That describes ten to the minus-40. Ten to the minus-39 is actually a decimal point, 38 zeros, and then a one.


==Release==
==Release==

Revision as of 22:22, 27 June 2012

Adam
Promotional film poster
Directed byMax Mayer
Written byMax Mayer
Produced byMiranda De Pencier
Leslie Urdang
Dean Vanech
StarringHugh Dancy
Rose Byrne
Frankie Faison
Mark Linn-Baker
Amy Irving
Peter Gallagher
CinematographySeamus Tierney
Edited byGrant Myers
Music byChristopher Lennertz
Production
company
Olympus Pictures
Distributed byFox Searchlight Pictures
Release date
  • July 29, 2009 (2009-07-29)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3,200,000
Box office$2,549,605[1]

Adam is a comedy-drama film written and directed by Max Mayer, starring Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne. The film follows the relationship between a young man named Adam (Dancy) with Asperger syndrome and the woman of his dreams, Beth (Byrne). Mayer was inspired to write the film's script when he heard a radio interview with a man who had Asperger's.

Filming took place in New York in December 2005. The film premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize, and was released in the United States on July 29, 2009. The release date in Canada and the UK was August 7, August 20 in Australia, and everywhere else after Labor Day.

Plot

Adam Raki (Dancy) is a young man with Asperger syndrome living alone in Manhattan after his parents' deaths. He has a friend Harlan Keyes (Frankie Faison), an old army buddy of his father's, who is always there for him. Because of his condition, Adam has difficulty communicating with others and likes to escape into his love of space exploration. His fixation on detail and repetitive behaviors cost him his job at a toy manufacturing company and nearly get him arrested after being mistaken for a paedophile. The loss of his job and a legal battle over his deceased parents' assets leave him with an uncertain future.

Beth Buchwald (Byrne), a school teacher and aspiring children's book writer, moves into the apartment above his and they strike up an awkward friendship. One night, Beth is shocked to find him trying to clean her apartment windows suspended from the roof of the building in a spacesuit.

Beth takes a liking to Adam despite his oddities. Adam hopes for a relationship, but the first attempts are uneasy due to his fear of social interaction. Eventually he breaks out of his mechanical routines enough to be able to date Beth.

When he tries to ask Beth if she was aroused as he was by raccoons during an outing to Central Park, she is taken aback. Adam admits his Asperger's to her, explaining his inability to interpret her emotions. Surprised by his innocence, Beth understands the reason for his question and they continue dating. Eventually their relationship becomes intimate with Beth helping him understand how to better connect with her, how to introduce himself to her family, and how to find a new career.

Things go downhill as Beth's father, Marty (Peter Gallagher), gets into legal trouble. Adam naively asks him questions about the details of Marty's alleged crimes; this creates a rift with Beth, although they later make up.

Marty pleads guilty and is about to be sentenced. Beth's mother (Amy Irving) calls Adam trying to find Beth. She asks him to check Beth's calendar for any way to reach her. He finds that Beth had put down a reminder to meet her parents on the night they "unexpectedly" bumped into each other. Beth knew that Adam would be uncomfortable, so she and her father engineered an "accidental" meeting. When Beth confirms this, Adam angrily accuses her of being a liar and her father a criminal. Beth storms out and goes to her parents' home.

Adam gets a call from the Mount Wilson Observatory in California offering a job there building microcircuits for satellite guidance and navigation systems. He is uncertain about leaving the home he has known for most of his life. Feeling guilty for the things he said to Beth, he sets out by any means of transportation to the Buchwalds' home in upstate New York, even on foot, to apologize to Beth. He asks her to go to California with him. Marty tries to convince Beth not to go with someone "not of this world." This leads to a heated argument with Beth, who tells her father that he has lied to her and the family about his crimes.

Beth returns with Adam to New York City to prepare him to go to California, but she has second thoughts upon realizing that the only reason Adam wants her to accompany him is that he needs her to interpret the world for him. She decides to stay in New York.

A year later, while working his dream job as an astronomer at the observatory and learning to be more social, Adam receives a package from Beth, containing her first children's book inspired by the early events of their relationship. He reads it as the twirling stars of the cosmos light up the Californian night sky.

Cast

Production

Max Mayer formed the idea for Adam when he heard a man with Asperger syndrome being interviewed on National Public Radio about how he viewed the world. He was intrigued and, after doing further research on Asperger's, felt that the syndrome was a metaphor for "the tension between all of us human beings [... and] the desire to connect to one another".[2] As he worked on the screenplay, Mayer drew the character of Adam from the man he had heard talking on the radio in addition to his research, while Beth's character was based on numerous people Mayer knew.[2] Hugh Dancy and Mayer worked together for a month before filming began to develop Adam's character,[2] and in preparation for his role, Dancy spoke with individuals affected by Asperger's about their feelings, sensory issues and interests.[3]

Principal photography took place in New York City in December 2005.[4] Specific filming locations included Greenwich Village and Central Park.[4][5]

Release

Adam had its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2009 where it won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize for "an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer or mathematician as a major character".[6] Although producer Leslie Urdang was initially doubtful of the film's chances of finding a distributor at Sundance,[7] Fox Searchlight Pictures bought the film's distribution rights.[8] In March 2009, the film was screened at the Method Fest Independent Film Festival, winning the Jury Award for Best Picture.[9] It was shown at the Seattle International Film Festival,[10] Edinburgh Film Festival,[11] CineVegas Film Festival[12] and San Francisco Jewish Film Festival[13] before it had a U.S. theatrical release on July 29, 2009. The film was released on DVD January 5, 2010.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Adam". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  2. ^ a b c Detweiler, Craig (January 24, 2009). "Adam: Screenwriter/Director Max Mayer and producer Miranda De Pencier". The Kindlings. Odeo. Retrieved 2009-05-23. [dead link]
  3. ^ Raymaker, Dora (January 12, 2009). "Consulting on Adam, an Interview with Jason Ross". autism.change.org. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
  4. ^ a b "Greenwich Village Film Shoots Report Card 2005". Greenwich Village Block Associations. 2005. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
  5. ^ Pastorek, Whitney (January 19, 2009). "Sundance: Zooey Deschanel, Patton Oswalt, and the rise of the anti-'Hotel for Dogs' lobby". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
  6. ^ Kay, Jeremy (January 24, 2009). "Max Mayer's Adam wins Alfred P Sloan Prize at Sundance". Screen International. Archived from the original on 3 June 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-23. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Horn, John (December 4, 2008). "It's nervous-making time at Sundance". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
  8. ^ Sperling, Nicole; Vary, Adam B. (January 23, 2009). "The Hollywood Insider". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 27 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-23. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ "MethodFest names 'Adam' as Best Picture". Los Angeles Daily News. April 2, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
  10. ^ "Adam". Seattle International Film Festival. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
  11. ^ "Adam". Edinburgh Film Festival. Archived from the original on 19 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-23. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "2009 Festival Program Announced". CineVegas. Archived from the original on 24 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-23. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ "San Francisco Jewish Film Festival 29 Catalog" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-10-04.
  14. ^ "VideoETA Release Guide". videoeta. Retrieved 2009-12-07.
Awards
Preceded by Alfred P. Sloan Prize Winner
2008 		Succeeded by
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