Adam Rifkin
| Adam Rifkin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
December 31, 1966 Chicago, Illinois, US |
| Other names | Rif Coogan |
| Occupation | Film director, screenwriter, producer, actor |
Adam Rifkin (born December 31, 1966 in Chicago), sometimes credited as Rif Coogan, is an American film director, producer, actor and screenwriter.[1]
His career ranges from broad family comedies to dark and gritty urban dramas. Rifkin is best known in Hollywood circles for writing family-friendly comedies like MouseHunt and 2007's Underdog.[2]
Most recently Rifkin directed Giuseppe Makes a Movie, a 2014 documentary about the micro-budget films of actor/director Giuseppe Andrews.[3] He completed work on feature film Director's Cut in 2015. As of May 2016, Rifkin was in pre-production on his next feature film, Dog Years.
Education
Adam Rifkin was a 1984 graduate of The Chicago Academy for the Arts.
Career
As a screenwriter, Rifkin has written several family-friendly movies. He wrote Knucklehead for WWE Studios, starring WWE star Big Show, Underdog for Walt Disney Animation Studios, Zoom, starring Tim Allen and two films for DreamWorks, MouseHunt and Small Soldiers. Continuing in the family film genre, he wrote the big screen version of He-Man for John Woo and 20th Century Fox. He also wrote the unused draft of Planet of the Apes in 1988.
Rifkin's film The Dark Backward was named one of the top ten films of its year by The New York Post. He was then the director responsible for New Line Cinema's Detroit Rock City.
Directing
Rifkin directed his first film Never on Tuesday in 1988. As of December 6, 2007, he has directed eleven others, including The Chase (1994), Detroit Rock City (1999) and the Night at the Golden Eagle (2002).
Production
Rifkin began his 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 Night at the Golden Eagle as well as Getting Hal by Tony Markes.
Acting
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, Night at the Golden Eagle, Without Charlie, Detroit Rock City, The Dark Backward, Denial and Psycho Cop 2. Rifkin also appeared as Croaker/Miss Spain 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. The film's ensemble cast includes Ali Larter, David Carradine, Talia Shire, Gary Busey, and Ron Jeremy.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Never on Tuesday | Writer, director, actor |
| 1989 | Going Overboard | Co-producer |
| Tale of Two Sisters | Director | |
| 1990 | The Invisible Maniac (a.k.a. The Invisible Sex Maniac) | Director and screenplay & story writer (all as Rif Coogan) |
| Disturbed | Actor | |
| 1991 | The Dark Backward | Writer, director, actor (all as Rif Coogan) |
| Bikini Island | Actor | |
| 1992 | Last Dance | Actor (as Rif Coogan) |
| The Nutt House (a.k.a. The Nutty Nut) | Director | |
| 1993 | The Flesh Merchant | Actor |
| Bikini Squad | Actor | |
| 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 | Denial | Writer, actor |
| Small Soldiers | Writer | |
| Susan's Plan (a.k.a. Dying to Get Rich) | Actor | |
| 1999 | Touch Me in the Morning | Producer |
| Detroit Rock City | Director, actor (both as Rif Coogan) | |
| Miscellaneous Shit: Behind the Scenes of Detroit Rock City | Actor | |
| 2000 | Welcome to Hollywood | Writer, director, actor |
| 2001 | Without Charlie | Writer, director, actor |
| Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy (a.k.a. The Legend of Ron Jeremy) | Actor | |
| 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 |
| Garbanzo Gas | Producer | |
| Look | Writer, director | |
| Underdog | Writer | |
| Blump's Squeezable Documentary | Producer, actor | |
| 2008 | Entertainment Tonight: Episode dated July 11, 2008 | Actor |
| Spread TV: Episode #4.2 | Actor | |
| Starz Inside: In the Gutter (TV Episode) | Actor | |
| Trailers From Hell | Actor | |
| Fairy Tail Police | Actor | |
| 2009 | Starz Inside: Sex and the Cinema (TV) | Actor |
| 2010 | Advice for New Screenwriters | Actor |
| Knucklehead | Writer | |
| Look: The Series | Writer, director (2010), executive producer | |
| 2011 | Chillerama | Actor, executive producer |
| 2012 | Reality Show | Actor, writer, director, executive producer |
| 2014 | Giuseppe Makes a Movie | Director, producer |
| 2015 | Shooting the Warwicks | Actor, director, producer, writer |
| Director's Cut | Director, producer | |
| 2017 | Dog Years | Writer, director |
References
- ↑ "Detroit Rock City + Christmas on Mars" (Podcast). April 15, 2010. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
- ↑ Hugh Hart (December 13, 2007). "Sneaky Sex, Spooky Scenes: Look Flick Eyes Voyeuristic Surveillance". Wired.
- ↑ Rapold, Nicolas (January 14, 2014). "Focusing on the Margins of Society". NYTimes.
External links
- Adam Rifkin on IMDb