SEE YOU WHEN I SEE YOU
Section: Premieres
Director: Jay Duplass
Screenwriter: Adam Cayton-Holland
Logline: Based on writer Adam Cayton-Holland’s memoir, Tragedy Plus Time: A Tragi-Comic Memoir, Cooper Raiff plays Aaron, a young writer, struggling to come to terms with the loss of his sister and best friend Leah (Kaitlyn Dever). Aaron masks his sorrow with humor and tries to navigate the devastating mental toll that avoidance can take on the bereaved through a parade of ill-advised coping mechanisms and the collateral damage that follows with his trademark sense of compassion and empathy at every turn.
Panelists: Jay Duplass (director), Adam Cayton-Holland (screenwriter), Kumail Nanjiani (producer-actor), Emily V. Gordon (producer), Cooper Raiff (actor), Kaitlyn Dever (actor), David Duchovny (actor).
Premiered: Jan. 27, Eccles Theatre
Key Quotes:

“It was late pandemic when [Kumail Najiani and Emily V. Gordon] sent me this script. I hadn’t made an original movie in 10, 11, 12 years. And I was realizing I was ready to come back to making movies. But they sent me the script and I read it and it made me laugh and cry super hard. I never made a movie I didn’t originate that, that was challenging. The subject matter was big, scary, murky but super funny — everything about it just felt like sometimes the lightning strikes and you get the call and you’re like, it’s scary but if I don’t do this then what am I even doing here?” – Jay Duplass.

“I wrote the memoir and that was gut-wrenching and hard but also beautiful. And when I finished, I thought, I want to do this story in another form. And I’ve always wanted to make a movie. I’m a big film nerd. I went to film school, and so I just took a shot at it, and I know Kumail [Nanjiani] and Emily [V. Gordon], and I’d seen them put their life on screen with The Big Sick. So as soon as I started getting serious about it, I reached out to them for help… Clearly this story is very pressing and important to me.” Adam Cayton-Holland.

“On set, people would, sometimes, a lot of times, call me Adam, and I liked that. I feel like some actors want to have distance. But it felt personal to me the whole time. And I remember when your dad [Cayton-Holland’s father, played by David Duchovny] came to set it, it’s all just devastatingly close and I always was leaning into that in a way that felt scary and was meaningful.” – Cooper Raiff.

To Watch the full interview, click on the video above.

The Deadline Studio at Sundance is presented by Casamigos.