Even if one hasn’t seen any of the films by director Kat Coiro, it’s almost impossible to not admire her amazing rise in the past few years, creating two shorts and three features since 2010, beginning with her short “Idiots” and the premiere of her first feature length “L!fe Happens,” at the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival. Coiro is hardly a new face to Tribeca, her second film “While We Were Here,” premiered at the festival just one year ago in 2012, but now she returns with her third full length feature “A Case of You,” starring Justin Long, Evan Rachel Wood, and Peter Dinklage among others.
What it’s about: “‘A Case Of You’ is a romantic comedy written by Justin Long, Christian Long and Kier O’Donnell that centers on Sam (Justin Long) who admires Birdie (Evan Rachel Wood) from afar but doesn’t have the self-confidence to approach her. Taking the advice of his good friend Eliot (Kier O’Donnell) to the extreme, Sam decides to become the “man of her dreams” by learning everything there is to know about Birdie through her Facebook page, so that by the time they finally meet in person he is familiar with all of her likes and dislikes and is able to cater to her as if he was created to be her boyfriend- despite putting his own personality on the back burner. With a wacky cast of characters including Gary the guitar teacher (Sam Rockwell), Alan the Agent (Vince Vaughn) and Gerard the Baristo (Peter Dinklage), “A Case Of You” follows Sam as he figures out who he is and gets the girl in the process.”
What else should audiences know: “I want the film to speak for itself.”
What was your biggest challenge in developing this project: “The guys who wrote the script, along with their partner Jessica Neuman, spent a long time writing the script and getting it into the right hands. Once Holly Wiersma brought it to me it was pretty smooth sailing. The sincerity of the script attracted the right cast and we put it together quite quickly. I anticipated the biggest challenge would be shooting in the winter in New York City, but 2012 was an amazingly mild winter and we had a great time.”
What she hopes audiences will walk away with: “I love the simplicity of “A Case Of You” and first and foremost I want audiences to be entertained. It’s a comedy so I definitely want audiences to laugh but the film also has a lot of heart and at the end of the day Sam’s insecurity is very relatable.”
On films that inspired her: “Christian, Justin and Kier wrote the script based on personal experiences they were going through at the time and I tapped into their (and my own) personal experiences more than any single film. I also like the idea that New York/Brooklyn is a real character in the film and because we filmed entirely on location, in real spots, I’d say the city was a huge influence.”
What’s next: “Kat just finished writing a comedy pilot for 20th Century Fox and NBC based on the book “Slouching Towards Adulthood” and she just started directing commercials with HELLO!&Co. Her second feature “While We Were Here” is still doing the festival circuit and is slated for a theatrical release later in 2013. After a very busy three years Kat is taking time to think long and hard about what her next project will be.”
Indiewire invited Tribeca Film Festival directors to tell us about their films, including what inspired them, the challenges they faced and what they’re doing next. We’ll be publishing their responses leading up to the 2013 festival.
Keep checking HERE every day up to the launch of the festival on April 17 for the latest profiles.
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