Interview: Alex Conn

 

For this edition of Interview, Last Resort Film president Phil Dolan will sit down with writer/director of Free the Chicago Seven!, Alex Conn, to discuss the why he sought out making the film....

PD: What is your reasoning for making a film about the Chicago Seven so soon after Aaron Sorkin's own project?

AC: This is my dream project. I've been wanting to make it for a while and I didn't think I could after Aaron Sorkin's film but my thing was I didn't feel his film was the correct cinematic adaptation of what happened. I thought there were good performances but i felt that it was a boring courtroom drama. It wasn't until John Malone suggested that i could make another film with a different cast that I knew i could make it but i was essentially writing it in my head for a while and the process of writing was remembering the ideas I had before and choosing which ones to keep and which to leave and also improving on the vision with new ideas. 

PD: Free the Chicago Seven! is easily your biggest film as a director. Why did you choose to direct this one?

AC: Again it was a dream project. I wanted to make the film. Even though it's not semi-autobiographical it is personal. Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin are personal heroes of mine. People I identify with strongly. This is a movie I can't believe i get to make. I wanted to tell this story of courage but also flawed individuals. A lot of writing this was asking questions like how is Abbie Hoffman a good husband and father while being the activist he is. That relationship between Abbie and Anita fascinated me. 

PD: The role of Abbie Hoffman could not have been an easy role to cast, especially following Sacha Baron Cohen's award-winning portrayal of the man. How did Jay Baruchel secure the part?

AC: This was really fucking hard it came after two things. For one John Malone strongly recommended him and also I saw Goon and I thought he could handle the anger and make it humorous but also I always feel comedians have a dark side thats why comedians are often great dramatic actors like Steve Carell or Adam Sandler.

PD: What's next for you?

AC: I'm going slow so right now a biopic of Lonnie Frisbee and that's written but I've been working on some other things. An adaptation of the documentary We Steal Secrets is a strong possibility for me to write and some other possibilities I'm circling but yah.