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Roughly five months after falling hard for Cooper Raiff‘s second feature film at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, it’s finally time to spread that Cha Cha Real Smooth enthusiasm even further because the movie is now available to watch on Apple TV +.
Not only did Raiff write and direct the film, but he also stars in it as Andrew, a recent college grad who isn’t exactly living the dream post-school. He’s back at home with his family in New Jersey and can only score a job working at the mall food court. However, things start to improve when Andrew is encouraged to get to work as a party starter at a local bar and bat mitzvahs. That’s where he winds up meeting a local mom named Domino (Dakota Johnson), striking up a connection that changes both of their lives in unexpected ways.
While Raiff did make a rather big impression with his feature directorial debut, Shithouse, which won a Grand Jury Award at SXSW 2020, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy getting a second feature off the ground. The key to making that happen with Cha Cha Real Smooth? Connecting with the right collaborators.
When asked for the chief thing that made all the difference in getting his second feature a green light, Raiff immediately replied, “I found Dakota Johnson.” He continued, “I got on a Zoom with her producing partner, Ro Donnelly, and I told her about an idea for a movie, I told her about a title, and then Ro told Dakota there’s a movie called‘ Cha Cha Real Smooth, ‘and she was like,’ Alright, fine, I’ll meet… ”Johnson jumped in to clarify, ‘Well, first I was like,’ I’m doing it. ‘ Also, “I’ll meet him.”
Cha Cha Real Smooth marks one of the very first projects Johnson and Donnelly tackled via their new production company TeaTime. It marks quite the start for the duo, a film that very much adheres to the goals of the company that Johnson laid out during our interview:
“My company makes really specific movies, and very authentic – we really believe in telling the truth and telling stories that have real grounded characters and real authentic characters in them, and this just was so much. And I really love producing. I love being involved in making a movie from the beginning to the very end whereas as an actress, I don’t have that luxury, so it’s really, really amazing to be able to make my own movies now. ”
Even though we’re only about halfway through the year, I feel quite confident saying that Cha Cha Real Smooth will be one of my favorite films of 2022. (In fact, I said just that immediately after the film’s World Premiere back in January.) I could keep you here all day lasting reasons why the film is a standout – the performances, cast chemistry , relationship complexity, etc. – but as a kid who attended dozens of bar and bat mitzvahs while in middle school, it was especially exciting to see a movie that put such a heavy emphasis on that particular life event.
Yes, the coming of age ceremony is of prime importance, but back in the day, picking the perfect theme for your bas mitzvah party was of utmost importance, so I opted to ask Johnson, Raiff, and Burghardt what themes they’d choose if they had a bass mitzvah party of their own.
As a very big fan of 2018’s Suspiria, I was tickled by Johnson’s response, “Satan-themed.” As for Raiff, he went for a Bruno Mars-themed party, but it was Burghardt who might have had the winning answer of the bunch, “I would do one of those ones where everyone has their own pair of headphones, and then I would do probably like a punk theme or something. ”
Looking for more from Johnson, Raiff, and Burghardt on the making of Cha Cha Real Smooth? You can catch our full conversation in the video interview at the top of this article!
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