Writers and directors Benjamin Cohen and Max Strand talk about their new film ‘Rocky’s’

Cast of ‘Rocky’s.’ Photo Courtesy of Gravitas Ventures.

Writers and directors Benjamin Cohen and Max Strand chatted about their new movie “Rocky’s.”

The film stars Gil Perez-Abraham, Steven Maier, Dani Foster, Jasai Chase-Owens, Dante Palminteri, Ben Cook (“Illinoise”), Ani Mesa, Sharlene Cruz, and Stanley Simons (“The Iron Claw”).

“Aside from finding great talent on-screen, they were great people off-screen. All of the cast came together, and they all got along so well, and that chemistry they had transferred into the movie, which was very important,” Cohen explained.

Inspiration for ‘Rocky’s’

On the inspiration for the film, Cohen said, “Max and I have been friends for a long time. We’ve known each other since kindergarten, so we basically grew up together.”

“We wanted to capture what we found out to be a universal experience that people around our age had… meeting up in a place that wasn’t their parent’s house such as a parking lot or a deli that allowed them to be free,” Cohen elaborated.

“We had that experience of meeting up at the local deli, and we would hang out there until something would happen,” Cohen noted.

“Looking back at that time, it was in those moments of waiting around that we had our best memories,” Cohen recalled. “We wanted to capture the drama that happens in the moment before the thing or the moment after the thing ends between friends.

“That was the inspiration, and we decided to set it in real time to capture what hanging out with these young people would feel like and then we started to develop the story arc that we wanted to tell,” Cohen added.

Working with Stanley Simons

On working with Stanley Simons, Cohen said, “I had previously worked with Stanley on a movie that I had produced called ‘Superior’ that premiered in Sundance during the first outbreak of the COVID pandemic, and that was unfortunate, because we couldn’t go to the actual screening.”

“Stanley was awesome in that film, and it was great to work with him. I was looking for another opportunity to work with him again, and it worked out on ‘Rocky’s.’ I hope to work with him again,” Cohen added.

Working with Ben Cook

“Ben Cook has a magnetic presence when we watched his audition on self-tape. We knew we had to get him in the film,” Cohen said. “That role felt right in the strength that he exudes.”

“Stanley and Ben together were so funny, and now, we need to find them some type of buddy movie for them because they have such great comedic timing. I am very thankful that they were able to do this film,” Cohen noted.

“Their chemistry was so great. They are both so funny and they are both so great at improvising. It was a lot of fun doing those scenes because they really elevated our writing so much and brought so many of their own personalities to it. They were great,” Strand exclaimed.

Casting process

“The casting process was one of the most fun parts of the movie,” Strand said. “We worked with Taylor Williams and Kate Geller, who are both incredibly talented casting directors, and they are plugged into the New York theatre scene, in particular, which was super helpful in this process.”

“Being that it was set in one location, it felt like a play in a lot of ways,” Cohen said. “That was a great opportunity because our casting directors knew a lot of the up-and-coming talent in the New York theatre scene, so they were able to put these people in front of us.”

“That was a great experience, especially seeing them reading our lines, and the whole thing felt real for the first time. They were able to form a tight-knit group, which reflected in the chemistry,” Cohen added.

Lessons learned from this film

On the lessons learned from this movie, Cohen said, “The process of writing it taught us a lot about ourselves. Max and I have been friends for a long time, and even though we went our separate ways for college, we were back in the city reconnecting.”

“At the time, my mom had been diagnosed with an illness, so I had been mostly doing producing work, and then I went back into writing,” Cohen said. “I told Max about this idea, and during that experience, it felt good to be around a close friend, and that allowed me to talk about some of the emotions I was feeling through the writing of it.”

“This became an interesting vehicle to connect about some of the heavier things I was experiencing for the first time, which I think was helpful,” Cohen admitted.

Stand continued, “It is rare to get to reflect so much on this time in your life with somebody you went through it with. You realize that is complicated and difficult sometimes at that age, and figuring our what those relationships mean to you, and the different things that you are going through in the moment. Reflecting back on it, you realize that.”

“We were having so much fun writing the jokes and the hangout scenes and the fight scenes,” Cohen added.

Closing thoughts on ‘Rocky’s’

For fans and viewers, Strand said abut “Rocky’s,” “I want people to be able to connect to it with their own experiences. Speaking to the cast and the crew, everyone had their own version of the deli. For us, it was the parking lot but for a lot of people it was a pizza place or a movie theater or just someplace place to get together and be with their friends.”

“We hope people can go back to that feeling of that that time in their lives, where doing nothing with your friends, was enough, and the best time you can have,” Strand said. “We hope that we captured that with this movie, and that when viewers watch it, they get nostalgic and connect to it on that level.”

“We were hoping to write something really specific in the way that the characters talk, really detailed, and the type of connections that they had, and the hope is that it will remind the audience of a type of friendship or connection that they have in their own personal lives,” Cohen concluded.

Read More: “Rocky’s” review.