Adrift in Manhattan

Adrift in Manhattan (2007)

The lives of three lonely strangers intersect while commuting on New York's 1 and 9 subway lines.

Date of release
2007-01-10
TMDB
5.7 / 10 (41)
Runtime
1h 31m
Genres
Drama
Director
Alfredo Rodriguez de Villa

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: New York City

Adrift in Manhattan is a 2007 American drama film directed by Alfredo De Villa and written by Nat Moss based on a story by De Villa. The film centers on New Yorkers who are lonely and emotionally lost in the big city. Adrift in Manhattan features an ensemble cast, including Heather Graham, Victor Rasuk, Dominic Chianese, Elizabeth Peña, and William Baldwin.

Production

Alfredo De Villa came up with the concept of Adrift in Manhattan while flying to a festival in Havana, Cuba, to present his 2002 film Washington Heights:

While I was naturally thrilled and excited, I was also exhausted. I realized--at least, based on my personal experience--that while we have all of these technological advances that takes us from the most recondite to the most elegant cities in the world, we're essentially left emotionally (not to say spiritually) at bay. We don't necessarily change or become enlightened with every journey we undertake.

I thought of exploring this basic idea within three characters. Why three? I'm not sure. That number has always contained something balanced and just right. So I settled on the number while I was sitting in the plane (by that time, we had already landed and we were waiting to taxi--it took over 2 hours). The other idea that came to me was exploring this sense of tiredness, of solitude (common in most travelers) in the three characters.

De Villa said that he initially wanted the film to have a "slow, small movement." "The story was always going to be as big as the characters. Never bigger than them. It was a challenge to ourselves to see if we could pull it off." The screenplay for Adrift in Manhattan was written by Nat Moss, who previously worked with De Villa on Washington Heights.

Financing Adrift in Manhattan lasted for two years: "In that period, we went through a bunch—and I mean a bunch—of producers, all of whom tried their best to get it done. My agent also helped a lot. The first thing we did is we got a cast interested and attached. From there, like I said above, my producer Steve Brown got involved and magically raised the money. I say 'magically' because I honestly still don't know how he did it.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended