- Adam Rifkin
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Adam Rifkin (born December 31, 1966 in Chicago)[citation needed] sometimes credited as Rif Coogan, is an American film director, producer, actor and writer. Rifkin is claimed to belong to a rare breed of film directors that transited from public-access television cable TV to Hollywood.
His eclectic career ranges from broad family comedies to cult classics to dark and gritty urban dramas.[1] Rifkin is best known in Hollywood circles for writing family-friendly comedies like MouseHunt and 2007's Underdog.[2]
Most recently Rifkin wrote, executive produced and directed all 11 episodes of Look for Showtime.[3] Based on his award winning[4] film of the same name, LOOK is a drama that takes the viewer into the foreboding world of hidden cameras. Armed with the knowledge that Americans are captured on surveillance cameras more than 300 times a day,[5] the topical series, like the film, tells its story exclusively through the eyes of the security cameras, web cams, and cell phone cameras Americans live in front of everyday, bringing to light the realities of what it means to be watched in a camera consumed culture.
Contents
Education
Adam Rifkin was a 1984 graduate of The Chicago Academy for the Arts.
Career
Rifkin's multi-faceted career spans directing, production, acting and screenwriting in the film industry.
As a screenwriter, Rifkin has a penchant for family fare. He wrote Knucklehead for WWE Studios, starring WWE superstar Big Show, Underdog for Walt Disney Animation Studios, a tent pole comedy based on the iconic 1960's cartoon show, Zoom, starring Tim Allen and two hits for DreamWorks, Mousehunt and Small Soldiers. Continuing in the family film genre, he scribed the big screen version of He-Man for John Woo and 20th Century Fox.[6]
Rifkin gained popularity when his film The Dark Backward, which he wrote and directed, was named one of the top ten films of its year by The New York Post.[7] He was then the director responsible for New Line Cinema’s Detroit Rock City, a cult film that continues to be watched by rock fans around the world. Rifkin gained critical recognition[8] for Night at the Golden Eagle, a film which he not only wrote and directed, but also produced.
Directing
Adam Rifkin directed his first film Never on Tuesday in 1988. As of this writing he has directed eleven others, including The Chase (1994), Detroit Rock City (1999) and the lurid yet idiosyncratic A Night at the Golden Eagle (2002). The dark drama was an official selection of the London Film Festival in 2001.
Production
Rifkin began his relatively limited production career in 1999 on the production of Touch Me in the Morning by Giuseppe Andrews. Preceding his completion of that project, Rifkin produced his own film A Night at the Golden Eagle as well as Getting Hal by Tony Markes.
Acting
Adam Rifkin began his acting career in 1988 his directorial debut Never on Tuesday. Rifkin has appeared in small roles and cameos in his other films, A Night at the Golden Eagle, Without Charlie, Detroit Rock City, The Dark Backward, Denial and Psycho Cop 2. Rifkin also appeared as Babes Ahoy in the 1989 film, Going Overboard, starring Adam Sandler and Burt Young.
He also wrote, directed and acted in the 2007 film Homo Erectus, in which he portrays a wimpy caveman called Ishbo, the main character in the film, who everyone calls an idiot, inventing things like pants, a visor, a ladder, etc., which the tribe finds completely useless. The film's ensemble cast includes Ali Larter, David Carradine, Talia Shire, Gary Busey, and Ron Jeremy.[citation needed]
Writing
Besides being the author of a majority of the films he directed, Rifkin has also written screenplays for a few notable Hollywood films, including Small Soldiers and MouseHunt starring Nathan Lane.[citation needed]
Filmography
Rifkin has acted, produced, directed, and produced a number of films over the years.[6]
Year Film Role 1988 Never on Tuesdsay Writer, Director, Actor 1989 Going Overboard Co-Producer 1989 Tale of Two Sisters Director 1990 The Invisible Maniac (a.k.a The Invisible Sex Maniac) Director and Screeplay & Story Writer (All as Rif Coogan) 1990 Disturbed Actor 1991 The Dark Backward Writer, Director, Actor (All as Rif Coogan) 1991 Bikini Island Actor 1992 Last Dance Actor (As Rif Coogan) 1992 The Nutt House (a.k.a The Nutty Nut) Director 1993 The Flesh Merchant Actor 1993 Bikini Squad Actor 1993 Psycho Cop 2 Director (As Rif Coogan), Actor 1994 The Chase Writer, Director 1996 Bone Chillers Writer, Creator/Co-Creator, Director, Co-Executive Producer 1997 MouseHunt Writer 1998/1 Denial Writer, Actor 1998 Small Soldiers Writer 1998 Susan's Plan {a.k.a Dying to Get Rich Actor 1998 Welcome to Hollywood Writer, Director, Actor 1999 Touch Me in the Morning Producer 1999 Detroit Rock City Director, Actor (Both as Rif Coogan) 1999 Miscellaneous Shit: Behind the Scenes of Detroit Rock City Actor 2001 Without Charlie Writer, Director, Actor 2001 Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy (a.k.a The Legend of Ron Jeremy) Actor 2001 Night at the Golden Eagle Writer, Director, Actor, Producer 2003 Getting Hai Producer 2005 Grandpa Producer 2006 Zoom Writer 2007 Homo Erectus (a.k.a National Lampoon's The Stoned Age) Writer, Director, Actor 2007 Garbanzo Gas Producer 2007 Look Writer, Director 2007 Underdog Writer 2007 Blump's Squeezable Documentary Producer, Actor 2008 Entertainment Tonight: Episode dated 11 July 2008 Actor 2008 Spread TV: Episode #4.2 Actor 2008 Starz Inside: In the Gutter (TV Episode) Actor 2008 Trailers From Hell Actor 2008 Fairy Tail Police Actor 2009 Starz Inside: Sex and the Cinema (TV) Actor 2010 Advice for New Screenwriters Actor 2010 Knucklehead Writer 2010 Look Writer, Director (2010), Executive Producer 2011 Chillerama Actor, Executive Producer References
- ^ Adam Rifkin at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Hugh Hart. "Sneaky Sex, Spooky Scenes: Look Flick Eyes Voyeuristic Surveillance". http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/news/2007/12/look.
- ^ Look at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Awards for Look at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ http://www1.stripperforme.com/article/-Lexi-Love-Featured-in-Rifkin-s-LOOK-The-Series-Premiering-on-Showtime
- ^ a b http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0726472/maindetails
- ^ Biography for Adam Rifkin at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250617/externalreviews
External links
1990s The Invisible Maniac (1990) · The Dark Backward (1991) · The Nutt House (1992) · Psycho Cop 2 (1993) · The Chase (1994) · Denial (1998) · Welcome to Hollywood (1998) · Detroit Rock City (1999)2000s Categories:- 1966 births
- American actors
- American film directors
- American film producers
- American writers
- Living people
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