The Washington Times
  • Subscribe
  • Times News Services
  • RSS
  • Mobile Headlines
  • e-edition
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • REGISTER
  • LOG IN
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • WELCOME
  • Your Profile
  • Log Out
  • Front Page Image
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Real Estate
  • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Customer Service
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Sports
    • NFL
    • NBA/WNBA
    • MLB
    • NHL
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Motorsports
    • Soccer
    • NCAA
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Other
  • Culture
    • Home & Living
    • Family & Kids
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Washington Visitors
    • Books
    • Military History
    • Life
    • Auto
    • TV Listings
    • Movie Listings
    • Death Notices
    • Entertainment
  • Themes
  • Communities
  • Marketplace
    • Autos
    • Jobs
    • Real Estate
    • Classifieds
    • Shopping
    • Dining Out
    • Education
    • TWT Store
  • Videos
    • Two Guys
    • Birnbaum on Washington
    • Liz Glover
    • Amanda Carpenter
    • Morning Briefing
    • Documentaries
    • Joe Giganti
    • Video Game Minute
  • Podcasts
    • About Headlines
    • Audio and Radio
    • America's Morning News
  • National

    HUTCHISON: Right must understand barriers to success

  • National

    WILLIAMS: Legislative malpractice practiced

  • Sports

    Redskins the ugliest show on Earth

  • Politics

    Obama: 'No faith justifies' Fort Hood rampage

  • National

    Michigan's cannabis college is quite a joint

  • Politics

    Obama looks to avoid pitfalls in Asia

  • Politics

    Kennedy's proposal could stall health bill

Home » News » Entertainment

Friday, August 17, 2007

Blitz of documentary ideas

Rate this story

Average 0.00
after 0 votes
Login or register to rate this story

  • Font Size -+
  • Print
  • Email
  • Comment
  • Tweet this!
  • Share
  • Article
  • Comments ()
  • Click-2-Listen
  • Videos
Please stand by, images loading!
  • Astrid Riecken/The Washington Times
"Rocket Science" director Jeffrey Blitz, who became known for his documentary "Spellbound," says his latest film is somewhat of an emotional autobiography.

More Entertainment Stories

  • Green & Glover: 'Bobby's' girl
  • Recession imagery captured in exhibit
  • Taking names
  • Tuning in to TV

By

If a funny, touching movie can be made about a stuttering boy who, against all odds, joins his high school debate team, then maybe one should be made about the boy's creator, a writer-director who was also a stutterer and is comfortably chatting with a reporter about his feature film debut.

"Rocket Science," which opens in theaters today, follows the fortunes of Hal Hefner, a New Jersey high schooler who is persuaded to join the debate team by the girl of his dreams. Director Jeffrey Blitz, on a recent press stop in the District, reveals that the film is something of an emotional autobiography.

"There are certain key facts that are drawn from my own life. And then a lot of stuff is just completely fanciful," he says. "I did stutter at that age and I still stutter now, but I stuttered intensely at that age."

One would hardly know Mr. Blitz, a smart and friendly guy in his late 30s, was a stutterer. There's little trace of it during our interview. It's worse on the telephone, he says.

"If we were doing this as a phoner right now, it'd be a big headache for you and for me," he says. "I think the psychology of it is the only thing I have to convey what I want to say or do on the telephone is my voice, so if I'm robbed of my voice, which I get worried about with my stuttering, there's just silence, nothing. Whereas in person, if I take a long pause to think about something, you know I'm still here."

Radio and television interviews can be hit or miss. "Stuttering is a circumstantial, random thing," he says. "I go through periods of being good or bad with it."

One of those bad periods, he recalls, was when he was writing the script to his film. But perhaps it just helped him get into the head of his main character, a boy who is finding his voice just as he's dealing with the end of his parents' marriage (one of the plot points that's completely made up).

High school debaters are an intense bunch; it's a milieu with plenty of dramatic — and comedic — possibilities.

"Kids can devote themselves to activities like that with abandon," he says. "So much of their ego gets bound in it that it has great potential for drama. Certainly, we found that in 'Spellbound' also."

Mr. Blitz explored another group of passionate teenagers in his 2002 documentary debut. "Spellbound," which followed contenders of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, was nominated for an Oscar.

12Next »

Post a comment

There are comments on this article, submit your opinion!

Please login or register to post a comment

Ask a Question

You Report

Do you have another point of view, photos, audio, video or more information about a story?

Top Stories

Most Read

  1. KELLNER: New Apple mouse really is 'Magic'
  2. EXCLUSIVE: Warner: Obama misplayed health care debate
  3. EXCLUSIVE: Rare virus poses new threat to troops
  4. PRUDEN: Fatal reluctance to see evil
  5. Families meet as sniper's execution nears
More Top Stories »
  1. Deer dies after leap into D.C. zoo lion exhibit
  2. Federal Reserve opposed as big bank savior by odd allies
  3. Court refuses to halt sniper's execution
  4. High court refuses to halt sniper execution
  5. Parents buying homes for kids at college

Most Shared

  1. PRUDEN: Fatal reluctance to see evil
  2. KELLNER: New Apple mouse really is 'Magic'
  3. Defense nominee won't reveal potential conflicts
  4. 'Fuzzy math' could drive health bill cost higher
  5. EDITORIAL: Too scared to recognize terrorism
More Top Stories »
  1. The siren call of Shariah
  2. EXCLUSIVE: Rare virus poses new threat to troops
  3. Deer dies after leap into D.C. zoo lion exhibit
  4. Sinking dollar fuels new gold rush
  5. Parents buying homes for kids at college

Most Commented

  1. PRUDEN: Fatal reluctance to see evil
  2. 'Fuzzy math' could drive health bill cost higher
  3. Defense nominee won't reveal potential conflicts
  4. EDITORIAL: Too scared to recognize terrorism
  5. Lieberman vows probe of Hood rampage
More Top Stories »
  1. Jihadists in the military
  2. Health bill faces roadblocks in Senate
  3. 'Anti-vaccine' attitude hampers H1N1 effort
  4. Hood suspect earlier came under FBI scrutiny
  5. EDITORIAL: Mr. Obama, stay away from this wall

Listen to Washington Times Radio

  • America's Morning News

    with John McCaslin and Melanie Morgan

Question of the day

D.C. sniper John Allen Muhammad is scheduled to die by lethal injection tonight. Do you believe in the death penalty?

Blogs & Columns

  • POTUS Notes

    New Dem talking point on Obama approval doesn't wash

  • The Back Story

    12 arrested at Pelosi's office

  • Belief Blog

    New Vatican constitution released

  • Out of Context

    Foods that might kill libido

  • Technology

    Facebook wins round against phishing spammer

  • On the Fly

    United lifts some 'award' blocking

  • Redskins 360

    Hall, Portis on radio

  • Tara's Two Cents

    On their way to summer vacation..

  • SNOBlog

    Beyond 'Woody'

Videos

Advertising Links
TWT Store
  • e-edition
  • Print Edition
  • Weekly Washington Times
TWT Affiliates
  • Middle East Times
  • Golf
  • UPI
  • Arbor Ballroom
  • Washington Times Global
  • About TWT
  • Press Room
  • F.A.Q.
  • Work for TWT
  • Advertise
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

All site contents © Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.