Podtalk: Filmmaker Cooper Raiff is Doing the ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’

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CHICAGO – Cooper Raiff was ready for his close-up. His improbable journey to filmmaker, aided in part by a random tweet to Jay Duplass, came to fruition with the success at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival with “Cha Cha Real Smooth.” The film streams on Apple TV+ beginning June 17th, 2022.

Cooper Raiff of ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

“Cha Cha Real Smooth” won the Audience Favorite Award at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, and writer/director Cooper Raiff also is featured as Andrew, a recent college grad whose aimlessness is perplexing his family, including his mother (Leslie Mann) and stepfather (Brad Garrett). His life changes when he begins a business as a “party starter/DJ” at various Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, where he meets Domino (Dakota Johnson) and her autistic daughter Lola (Vanessa Burghardt). Andrew is a hopeless romantic, which is his strength and weakness for Domino.

Cooper Raiff Promotes His Latest Production
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Cooper Raiff appeared in May at the 9th Chicago Critics Film Festival, the the only Film Festival curated by film critics, and highlights the 2022 films from the early year festivals like Sundance and SXSW. “Cha Cha Real Smooth” was featured at both festivals, as well as a showcase in this week’s Tribeca Film Festival.

In a Podtalk with Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com, Cooper Raiff talks of “Cha Cha,” his father and the amazing Jay Duplass discovery …

By PATRICK McDONALD Editor and Film Writer HollywoodChicago.com [email protected]