‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’ Director Cooper Raiff Is Your Typical 20-Something… With a $15 Million Movie Deal

variety.com:

Cooper Raiff has been embracing a nomadic lifestyle, crashing with friends in Los Angeles and traveling to national parks while he’s in between jobs.

But the lack of a permanent residence does have its drawbacks. He moved into a new sublet in Queens — where he’s preparing to shoot a movie — late last week and opened the door to a disaster zone, the kind of mess that compels one to immediately wash the bed sheets.“If I’m going be put up by this movie for a year, I don’t want to pay for something during that,” he says, noting that producers of his upcoming film will soon supply housing. “That’s not smart.”The temporary living situation is not an atypical experience for a 25-year-old living in New York City, save for the fact that the move coincided with the release of Raiff’s second feature film, “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” which won the audience award at Sundance and sold to Apple for $15 million, in one of the biggest deals in the festival’s history.

Now, six months after charming the dancing shoes off virtual festival-goers, the sweet coming-of-age story has just opened in select theaters and on Apple TV+. “I felt ready for it to be out in the world.

But today feels overwhelming,” he admits just hours after his labor of love had premiered. “I’ve been getting so many texts and emails.