Director Max Mayer On 'Adam' And Asperger's
Director Max Mayer says he didn't set out to make an "issue film" with Adam; the idea, he says, was to look at relationships and their challenges through an unexpected lens. Scott Garfield/Fox Searchlight hide caption
Director Max Mayer says he didn't set out to make an "issue film" with Adam; the idea, he says, was to look at relationships and their challenges through an unexpected lens.
Scott Garfield/Fox SearchlightWriter-director Max Mayer's latest film is a romantic comedy in which — what else? — boy meets girl. But all relationships have their unexpected challenges and their surprising awkwardnesses, and in Adam, boy turns out to have Asperger's syndrome.
People with that high-functioning variant of autism are often highly intelligent and verbally gifted, but socially off-balance — they can have trouble reading the emotional cues given off by the people they're talking to.
Adam, in selected cities since July 29, stars Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, Peter Gallagher and Amy Irving. The film won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.