[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: We recently published a video entitled “If you don’t cry while writing a screenplay throw it away.” How do you interpret this?
Rory Karpf, Filmmaker: Well, I try to bring heartfelt emotion in everything I do. It doesn’t matter what the topic is. I try to make it relatable in some way. I think the best things are relatable to other people.
I did a film called Nature Boy about Ric Flair. I don’t know if you’re a big wrestling fan? Maybe you think well How could I possibly relate to this guy who’s a pro wrestler? but what I tried to do first is look at perfection of a craft which I saw in Jiro Dreams of Sushi. You don’t necessarily have to be interested in sushi or cooking but a lot of athletes love that film because it’s about achieving the pursuit of greatness.
With wrestling as a craft I tried to look at it the same way. With Flair, what did he do? What little nuances to try to become the greatest? What does that mean to be the greatest of something that’s predetermined?
We looked into that but then also what price of fame and dealing with tragedy? I feel like all of us have been through some trauma in our life. It doesn’t matter what. Maybe what happened in childhood, maybe later on but we’ve all been through something and I think there’s a lot more that connects us as people then separates us.
I mean if you are on social media now you would think we’ve never been more divided. I had to get off social media for my own mental health because I just couldn’t read it. Everything was toxic, negative, criticism but in real life when you’re touching grass and talking to people, if you disagree with them about something, you don’t talk…[Watch the video interview on YouTube here].
BIO:
Rory Karpf is a 4-time Emmy and Peabody Award winning filmmaker who has collaborated with notable talents such as Tom Cruise, Kevin Costner, Snoop Dogg, Shaquille O’Neal, Paul Newman, Vin Diesel, Peyton Manning, Rob Lowe and Dana White. His documentary work includes the ESPN 30 for 30 films “I Hate Christian Laettner,” “Nature Boy,” “The Book of Manning,” the Netflix series “Coach Snoop,” and the AMC series “The Secret History of Comics.” “Grace Point” is Rory’s first scripted feature as a writer and director.
MORE VIDEOS WITH RORY KARPF
WATCH GRACE POINT
Watch Grace Point Movie on Apple
CONNECT WITH RORY KARPF
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