One of the cooler films I got to check out at this year's Tribeca Film Festival was Gardener of Eden. Screening this year as part of Tribeca's World Narrative Competition line-up, Gardener is best described as being a "suburban Taxi Driver," with equal parts comedy and drama. For screenwriter Adam 'Tex' Davis, this is his first produced film to go a darker route, after having already been the voice behind the hit comedy Just Friends. I sat down with Adam to talk about Gardener, his writing process, what it's like working with celebrity director Kevin Connolly, as well as how Leonardo DiCaprio became involved in the film. Check it out ...

Cinematical: Watching Gardener of Eden, I couldn't help but sense a Taxi Driver vibe. A little bit of Death Wish too. Did these movies serve as inspiration for you while writing the script?

Adam 'Tex' Davis: Absolutely Taxi Driver, which is probably my favorite movie -- well, not the movie that inspired to make movies; that was Jaws. But once I was becoming more mature and started to really get into movies, Taxi Driver, to me, became the be-all end-all. Especially Scorsese movies; I loved the style of it, the slow burn leading to a big finale. I loved that you had a character that was at times likable, but then at other times not likable. So in crafting the character and story beats, Taxi Driver was definitely the model. The Death Wish thing? Not so much. I mean, I loved the movie as a kid, even though with the sequels -- each one got a little bit more ridiculous. Look, yeah, there's the whole vigilante thing, but I was more inspired by the Bernard Getz vigilante shooting than Death Wish. But Taxi Driver ... absolutely.


Cinematical: Even though both Gardener and Just Friends are based in New Jersey, this one felt a lot more personal; almost as if you grew up with these people. I mean, the main character's name is Adam. Was this one of the first scripts you wrote?

AD: It's not the first script I wrote; I wrote a bunch before this one. But this script was written between jobs actually; between paid assignments. I was doing a lot of work for the studios, and I felt like I was losing my edge -- writing a bunch of PG-13 stuff. I was doing a lot of rewrites on Just Friends, and I was like, "I want to write an R-rated edgy, ballsy, dark comedy" -- and the easiest way to write a script like that is to take all these things that you know -- take people that you know -- and base the characters on them. So yeah, the main character is me in many respects. I worked at a deli, I did work with Israelis, so that's all based on a lot of true stuff. I took guys I knew from back home, shuffled and combined a few character types -- the drug dealer was based on guys I met. And, ya know, Kevin [Connolly] was also very helpful; he had Long Island drug dealers that he had known, and would tell me some anecdotes -- so that became a combination character. I had a neighbor who was a Vietnam vet; used to sit on his porch all day staring vacantly. I called him Viet-Tom. So that was that. I took a lot of things from my life and started shaping and spinning. Obviously, I'm not a vigilante -- I'm not fast or tough -- but I tried to keep it all very real.

Cinematical: When you heard that Kevin Connolly was going to direct it, did you feel good about that decision. Here's a newbie director from New York; did you feel like he would stay true to your concept?

AD: It's a funny question in the sense that -- okay, well, I wanted to direct. I was hoping to get a shot and direct this myself. So I said, "Look, I don't mind if I get bumped off the project for a big director like, say, Steven Soderbergh. But please don't get some first-time guy who had a short film that was in Sundance." And then they called me up and were like, "Hey, we got this guy -- he had a short film at Sundance, he's never directed a film before. He's directing the movie." So of course I hear that and I'm like, "Oh my God, I want to kill myself." Then I meet Kevin -- actually, before I even met Kevin, they sent me his film. And I watched it, and it was awesome. And I show it to my friends, and they thought it was awesome. Then I meet him and we start talking -- and he's so energetic, he was so into it. His enthusiasm was great. At the time, he wasn't on Entourage. He was on it, but it hadn't aired yet. So I had no idea really that he was going to become a celebrity himself. But the point is that while talking about it, I realized that he was going to keep me completely involved; he's not a writer, and I was going to be doing all that. He'd make suggestions, and I'd run with it. So, eventually, it turned out to be a great thing for me.

Cinematical: How did Leonardo DiCaprio get involved with it?

AD: Well I wrote this thing in two weeks, between projects -- no one knew I was writing it -- and when I turned it in, my agent didn't really get it. After a couple of readings, he started to see something there. He said, "This is dark, this is crazy, but I don't know if studio guys are going to get this. Producers might get this, but ya know, actors are going to love this." So he started looking at actors who had production companies that weren't just doing it for the vanity angle, but seriously wanted to make movies, not necessarily stuff for them to be in. So Leo was one of the guys at the top of the list; he had just started his company Appian Way. And he got it to Leo who had been working with Scorsese -- and he gets this thing that's described to him as a suburban Taxi Driver. And he started reading it, I start getting calls from his management company going "Leo's halfway done with your script, he's loving it." Finally, he gets to the end of the script, and next thing you know I'm sitting down meeting with him and he was all over it. And then he was friends with Kevin, and so that's how that whole chain began.

Cinematical: How close is what turned up onscreen to what you originally wrote?

AD: That's a tough question to answer in the sense that almost every scene that's in the movie now was in the original script. What's different is what's within each scene, most notably the main character. The main character originally was a very heavyset guy, and we were going to shoot with the actor Ethan Suplee. He was going to play the part and be this schlubby loser -- same thing, same scenario -- but during the course of the movie, he was going to lose weight, and get buff. There was a lot of jokes revolving around his weight, and stuff like that. But then we wound up losing Ethan to My Name is Earl, so then Lukas [Haas] came into the fold. So then I needed to rewrite the script to tailor it to Lukas and what he can do. All in all, the scenes are pretty much the same. The only other major thing is that the script I handed in was budgeted at $12 million. But they only had $4 million. So a lot of things got cut for budget reasons; there was a lot more action; there was a car chase -- I wanted him to be a full vigilante, and not just a guy who tries to catch muggers. I wanted him to go after everyone. So yeah, there were certain things that got cut out because we couldn't afford to do them.

Cinematical: Both of your produced films were based off original scripts. It seems like that's rare these days, as not a lot of original material makes it to the screen. Did you find that to be a battle?

AD: Well, I mean, look -- I wrote the original draft of Gardener of Eden in 2000. It's 2007. I wrote Just Friends in 1998, sold it in 1999 and it came out in 2005. Was it hard, was I constantly running around with the scripts in my briefcase trying to sell it? No. It just takes a long long time for things to get made. In the meantime, in order to put food on the table, you have to do the rewrites -- whatever work is out there. If an original idea really grabs them, they'll buy it. But they don't have to. And unfortunately the climate in Hollywood right now is that people are a little scared, they don't want to spend the money. It's harder and harder to sell original material. In fact, personally, I don't think I would write something on spec right now. You have to go out and pitch it, and hopefully sell the pitch. I recently sold an original pitch. But that's the amount of work you want to put into something -- enough to do a 15-minute pitch, and then hopefully try to sell that.

Cinematical: How involved were you in the production of this film, versus something like Just Friends that was a bit more commercial?

AD: Ya know what, I've been very fortunate. With Just Friends, I was there every day of the shoot. I was involved in 90-95% of what was going on there. And with Gardener, it was pretty much the same thing -- in fact, even more so. Kevin's not a writer, so if the actors had a problem with whatever, I would get a call. For the most part, I was on set a lot because we shot it right here in New York and New Jersey. The opening images of the movie were shot in my hometown in Bergenfield, New Jersey. We were going to shoot a lot of it there, but there were better tax breaks to shoot it in New York. So we took that and shot a lot in Staten Island.

Cinematical: In your opinion, is it harder to break into screenwriting now than it was, say, 10 years ago?

AD: That's an excellent question; I almost think it's easier to break in, but it's harder to get work once you're in. I have a friend who writes a lot of straight-to-DVD sequels, and they don't pay nearly as much, but they pay well. Look, one of those scripts will pay more than a cop's salary for the year. In the beginning, they used to get these guys for cheap straight out of film school -- but now you have guys who were making six, seven figures, and their agents are calling up asking, "Hey, do you need anybody to do The Girl Next Door 2?" Ya know, people just want to work. I think there are more ways to get into the business; every five minutes, there's some sort of writing festival, online competitions, management companies etc. Twenty years ago, you had to send out query letters and pray that one of the seven agencies would find time to read it. I think it's easy to get your stuff in front of people, there's just a lot of writers now. So it's harder to get the work; there's more competition.

Cinematical: I heard you're working on something with the Jackass boys. Tell me about that.

AD: I'm working on a project called Hosed ... exclamation point. Hosed! The guys from Jackass are managed by a company called Untitled, and that's the sister company of Maverick, which is Madonna's company. And so apparently these guys are sick of being bitten by sharks, having things stab them and whatnot -- and they want to do real movies. They wanted to do so some type of ensemble comedy, so they came to me saying, "We have the Jackass guys, what do you think -- maybe they can play firemen." So I came up with a story, went out and pitched it, and we sold that. So yeah, I'm writing a comedy with the Jackass guys playing firemen. A lot of stunts, I'm going to play to their strengths -- no one is going to have some big soliloquy or anything like that.

Cinematical: I know these days there a lot of superhero/graphic novel adaptations. Since Gardener has a lot of those same themes, are you looking to jump on that bandwagon at all?

AD: To be honest, no. I mean, one of the producers [on Gardener] was really into comic books, and he kept saying "Ya know, this could be like a comic book." And I was like, "Dude, the guy is not a hero. He's bad at it." You know if it was a comedy comic book, it would be about a guy who wants to be come a hero really badly, then turns out to be a really bad hero. As far as the whole graphic novel bandwagon, I love Sin City, 300 was kinda cool -- but, no, that's not really where my head is at. I try to work more in reality, and I think graphic novels sort of lend themselves to a non-real world.

Cinematical: You talked about wanting to direct Gardener before, is that something you're still looking to do?

AD: I'm not looking for projects to direct, I'm more trying to write something that will be on a low enough budget scale, to have someone say, "Okay, we'll give him a shot to direct." What's good is that, with all the contacts I've made through making Gardener, there were a lot of people who liked the script -- people who worked on getting money for Gardener. And they liked me as a writer, and seemed open to giving me a shot to direct something. So I plan to write something that I can tailor to, say, not many locations and only a few characters.

Cinematical: Ever thought about taking your own money and going that route?

AD: I used to think that way ... and then I got married, and had a kid, and had a mortgage. My money ... ya know, I can't imagine spending my money on making a movie. As much as I hate to say that because if the 36-year-old version of me would have said that to the 23-year-old version of me, the 23 year-old would've punched the 36-year-old out. But, look, a lot of people don't spend their own money. Leo DiCaprio is as rich as anybody, and he's not putting up his own money for Gardener. When you're powerful, you get someone else to spend their money because they trust you. So if I write something, I'll look to put together a group of people who want to invest in it.

Cinematical: Has Gardener been picked up yet? Will we see it in theaters?

AD: We're still looking for someone to buy it. There were acquisition people at the screening the other night, I'm sure they'll be some tonight -- ya know, it's gonna be tough. It's not a slam-dunk easy sell -- there are a lot of things in there that people might find disturbing. It's not necessarily the feel-good movie of the year, but at the same time it's very real and gritty -- I think it's cool, and I think it speaks on a couple of different levels to some stuff that people relate to. It's one of those movies that I think could succeed, so I'm hoping someone takes that chance. But like I said, it's a climate of fear out there. People are afraid. Sometimes people would rather take a step back instead of forward; completely out of fear. But with the names involved, and the quality of the movie -- I don't know, someone really should step up and buy this thing.

Cinematical: Just Friends was a comedy, Gardener had elements of comedy, but kind of genre jumped. Will you continue to write comedies, or will you veer off into another genre. Where do you see your career five years from now?

AD: Well hopefully I'll still have a career in five years. It's not that I pick the genre, it's like the genre sort of picks you. It's about telling a story -- like if went out tonight and hung out, I don't know what's going to happen. But if the next day something funny happened, I would be telling a comedy. If it was something bad, I'd be telling a drama. You just want to be a good storyteller. And as the story evolves, you look for the best way to tell it. To be honest, I don't think like the way a thriller writer thinks. It's like, "Okay, I'm going to come up with this premise, and ramp up the thrills, the whodunit" -- to me, that's very formulaic writing. I mean, there are guys who are great at it, and then guys are who are so-so. But I just want to tell a cool story. Usually that comes from something that's happened or could've happened -- you write what you know, you write about the people you know -- and I tend to look on the humorous side of things. So they'll be comedic elements to it. But I could just as easily see myself writing a drama with comedic elements to it. For the most part, I just like writing stories that feel real. Whatever the story lends itself to; I just want to write a good story.

Cinematical: Finally, what kind of advice would you give someone out there who's trying to break in to screenwriting?

AD: Let's see ... don't quit your day job until after you're sold something. Because there's nothing more daunting then having a full day to write, and knowing that you're not making any money unless you sell something. I was working in a factory, I worked in a bagel store, and some days I would only have an hour to write. But all day long I'd be working at that factory, thinking about what to write, and I'd go home and have one great hour of solid writing from all the stuff that's accumulated throughout the day. It's about writing -- it's about writing every day -- and not giving up.

For more on Gardener of Eden, check out my review of the film.