EAST BRUNSWICK – Less than five years ago, two friends from East Brunswick decided to write the screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman.”
Little did they know, they would premiere the Spike Lee-directed film at the Cannes Film Festival this month.
Based on the autobiographical book written by Ron Stallworth, “BlacKkKlansman” is about a detective who is the only black officer in his police department in Colorado Springs, Colo., in the 1970s, and skillfully deceived the then-local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan and Grand Wizard David Duke, according to Charlie Wachtel, who co-wrote the screenplay with David Rabinowitz.
“This all resulted from [Stallworth] discovering a klan recruitment ad in the paper and deciding to just courageously pursue membership to that, even though for obvious reasons he couldn’t directly go in and join the klan,” Wachtel said. “He ends up getting a white detective from the department to go in pretending to be him as he continues his conversations over the phone with them. Their work together led to him being elected head of the chapter of the Colorado Springs Ku Klux Klan.”
Wachtel said he discovered Stallworth’s book “Black Klansman” in July 2015. Scrolling through Facebook one day, Wachtel said, “… coincidentally somebody had shared a news story about this guy who pretended to be a white supremacist [who was a] black detective. I read it and I shared it with David and we both agreed there was a story here, even though at the time we didn’t know exactly what the story would be for a film.”
After reading the book, Wachtel said he and Rabinowitz got in contact with Stallworth and his publisher.
“We sent one sheet with sort of our vision as to how we wanted to adapt the book into a movie and that got us a phone call with [Stallworth] and his manager and we sold our passion,” Wachtel said. “At that point, we embarked on what would be a journey to getting this thing made.”
On Feb. 1, 2016, Wachtel and Rabinowitz were given an offer for their script.
Writing individually for years, Wachtel said “BlacKkKlansman” was the first script he and Rabinowitz wrote together. They worked with Stallworth in calls and interviews so he was comfortable with every word in their script.
“We would have calls for hours with him and it’s important, because [by] involving him, not only was he an amazing resource, [but] he helped us understand the inner workings of what it’s like to work at a police department,” Wachtel said. “It’s his story and he not only wrote the book, but it’s a true story, so you have to be very sensitive to that in representing him in every regard.”
Rabinowitz and Wachtel are credited as the writers of the screenplay with Spike Lee and his writing partner, Kevin Willmott. Wachtel and Rabinowitz are also credited as co-producers on the film.
“When we first started writing it, we literally joked that we would get Spike Lee to direct it. He’s made two of my favorite films, ‘Do the Right Thing’ and ’25th Hour.’ So it’s just crazy that he ended up actually directing it,” Rabinowitz said.
Screenwriter, actor and comedian Jordan Peele is one of the producers of the film.
“Once [Peele] came on as a producer, it validated a lot of the hard work we put in. We saw eye to eye with him on the type of movie we wanted to make and his enthusiasm for the project really pushed things over the edge into the script becoming a star-studded studio film,” Wachtel said. “Jordan was a joy to work with.”
John David Washington plays Stallworth; Adam Driver plays Flip Zimmerman, a white Jewish man who goes undercover pretending to be Stallworth; Topher Grace plays David Duke; and Laura Harrier plays Ron’s love interest Patrice. Alec Baldwin, Corey Hawkins, Paul Walter Hauser and Harry Belafonte also appear in the film, according to Wachtel.
The film will premiere worldwide on May 14 at the Cannes Film Festival in France.
“It’s not the final cut of the film. The film needs to go through focus groups and some editing sessions before its release on Aug. 10 nationwide,” Wachtel said.
Wachtel and Rabinowitz grew up in East Brunswick and currently live in Los Angeles, having known each other since the sixth grade.
Rabinowitz said he has been a movie fan since he was very young, and had also been interested in creative writing since attending Robert Frost Elementary School in East Brunswick.
“In high school I put these two interests together and became heavily interested in screenwriting and filmmaking. It has been my career aspiration ever since,” he said.
Wachtel said he was into politics and international relations in high school.
“I felt like I kind of got burnt out by it all and wanted to explore my creative side. I had the itch and I always had the itch,” Wachtel said. “For projects in high school, I would sometimes elect to do a video instead of a paper. I actually did it with David, who is my writing partner and that kind of encouraged our interests in the film industry.”
The two friends graduated from East Brunswick High School in 2005.
Rabinowitz went to Quinnipiac University in Connecticut and studied media production. He graduated in 2009.
Wachtel went to American University in Washington, D.C., and studied abroad through the university at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts film program in Prague, Czech Republic.
“Screenwriting does not cost you any money. You can write and have something you make never see the light of day or you could write something [or] do what we did which is sell it to a production company and have it turned into a major studio film,” Wachtel said. “So, the only thing it costs you is time and energy and probably a lot of frustration along the way, but if you stick with it, it can be very rewarding.”
Wachtel said it is difficult for him to process the fact that the film will have its premiere at Cannes.
“I don’t think it’s really going to hit me until I am sitting in the screening room watching the opening credits and seeing other people’s reactions to this,” Wachtel said. “It’s definitely surreal and when we are there hanging out with the movie stars … it’s going to be really special.”
“I’m very excited to go to the festival and to see the film,” Rabinowitz said.
Contact Vashti Harris at vharris@newspapermediagroup.com.
