Filmmakers have certainly enjoyed making movies inspired by their own life/childhood. American Grafitti was inspired by George Lucas’s teenage years in Modesto, California. Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza was a love letter to the San Fernando Valley of his youth. In 2022, many filmmakers did semi-biographical takes on their stories, including James Grey’s Armageddon Time, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths, and, of course, Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans. The Fabelmans featured Gabriel LaBelle, who is also one of the stars of Snack Shack. Like the films mentioned before, Snack Shack draws heavily from the life and childhood of the movie director, Adam Rehmeier.
Rehmeier worked as a camera operator and cinematographer before his debut directorial effort, Bunny Game, in 2011. His previous feature film, Dinner in America, was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020, and he took the Grand Prix at the Odessa International Film Festival. It later won over 20 directing and audience awards at festivals such as Tallinn, Neuchatel, Dublin International, and Nighstream. Now, Snack Shack is arriving in theaters. It is a comedy about two young men during the summer of 1991 who buy out the snack shack at their local pool in an effort to make a lot of cash for the summer.
Rehmeier sat down with MovieWeb to discuss Snack Shack, share his inspiration for the movie, discuss the importance of the time period, and offer some insightful commentary on the state of the film industry.
Adam Rehmeier’s Summer Memories
Snack Shake draws heavily from Rehmeier’s own youth. Much of the film’s plot, including the young boys brewing their own beer and buying the local snack shack for the summer, came from his own childhood. “This film was built out of note cards over a 20 to 30-year period. I just kept adding memories into a file and eventually put everything up on a wall,” said Rehmeier. “Each one was an individual story, like greyhound racing, jumping pipe bikes into the pool, selling f-*** dogs, like all of these sense memories for me. Then taking them and stitching them all together with kind of an amalgamation of the people and memories that I had.”
The main character of A.J. is heavily inspired by Rehmeier as a youth, while the character of Moose is inspired by his best friend while he is growing up. Drawing from his own life was important for Rehmeier. “Some 100% real, some fictitious, and the ones that were fictitious were still true in the context of when we grew up and the space. It’s like my past and present combined together in a really surreal way.”
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For Rehmeier, location was very important. Since the film was drawing heavily from his childhood, he wanted the film to both be set and filmed in Nebraska. “I was able to convince the producers to let us shoot in Nebraska City, where a lot of these things took place. There’s not a huge tax incentive or any reason really to shoot there that would be, in their eyes, worth it other than what I told them. All the aspects of it would resonate very deeply with me, and I’m very thankful that they allowed me to do that.”
The location was important for Rehmeier, not only because it was where he grew up but also because he wanted his cast to truly feel at home in the town. “It came together pretty quickly, and really, the only real requirement that they asked for was that I had two weeks to spend with them prior to shooting so they could really absorb the community in which I was raised. They all came to Nebraska early and got to experience it.”
Both the actors got the full experience of their characters, which helped lend credibility to their performance. Rehmeier said, “We had Gabe [LaBelle] and Conor [Sherry] working in an actual snack shack at the pool before and just vibing on the town. We got them bikes so they could ride around and just experience it like my best friend and I had experienced it growing up. That was cool because Gabe’s from Canada and Conor’s from California, and it really gave them a sense of it. They just did such an incredible job absorbing the community. When I watch it, I really do feel like they live there.”
Before the ’90s Got Its Identity
Snack Shack
3.5/5
- Release Date
- March 15, 2024
- Director
- Adam Rehmeier
- Writers
- Adam Rehmeier
Snack Shack is set in the summer of 1991, a deliberate choice by Rehmeier as it was not only when he was a young man but also when it had a specific identity. “The era for me was so fascinating, and I had always framed it as this Post-Gulf War Pre-Nevermind [ting], there’s a little window in there, and the ’90s are not developed at all.” said Rehmeier. he elaborated:
“The ’90s hadn’t been decided yet. It hadn’t gotten to what it became, so that little window in there was really interesting because I really hadn’t seen much on film in that space. They’re more ’80s, the clothing is more late ’80s than anything. I was really interested in that particular year because I had a choice of 1991, 1992, or 1993, and ’91 was the most interesting for me.”
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Snack Shack is filled with small details throughout that ring true to the emerging decade, from the fact that more people are drinking Diet Coke, a relatively new soda at the time, to the film’s soundtrack with distinct and not obvious needle drops. “When people think of the ’90s, they’re really thinking of the mid, maybe even late ’90s. They’re thinking about the fashion and the stuff of that period,” said Rehmeier. “We’re in Nebraska; everything’s maybe a year or so behind whatever trend there is, except for Nirvana. When Nirvana came out, it was huge, and it changed everything overnight. But in this little period of time, the music we were listening to was like Yo, MTV RAPS, and Headbangers Ball.”
Theatrical Viability of Snack Shack
Much has been written about the state of comedy movies as a viable box office draw. While comedies had started to shift from theatrical priority to streaming, they still had a place at the box office. Yet the COVID-19 pandemic only fastened some audiences’ worse viewing habits. When it came time to go back to the theaters, there was an emphasis on big blockbuster cinema as big-screen worthy, whereas comedies, romances, and indie films got a reputation as films that could wait for streaming. While audiences have rushed out to see Dune: Part Two, smaller films that are good, like Lisa Frankenstein and Drive-Away Dolls, have struggled.
This has also resulted in a state where many coming-of-age films are rarely seen by general audiences. They are still being made, but they are put to streaming and not given a chance to be seen on a big screen, shared as a communal experience. When asked about the state of theatrical comedies and films aimed at and about young people’s experiences struggling to get made and released now, Rehmeier has this to say:
“Audiences are a lot smarter than people give them credit for […] Movies about young people, that tackle young people’s problems in a way that’s universal, are so needed. Like, where are these movies? They’re not happening. And why aren’t they happening? That’s what we should ask. Why? Why aren’t we demanding that?
“I was very moved by the cast’s performance in this film, and I loved working with them. You know, the boys and Mika, they’re just fantastic in it, and there’s so much soul in this movie. It’s just, it’s sad to see. Things do not get made like this anymore. I don’t know what the reason is.”
Thankfully, Snack Shack is getting a theatrical release and looking to cash in on the spring break crowds and give audiences a fun R-rated laugh-out-loud comedy. Hopefully, it finds its audience. The early screenings of the film have yielded positive results, with many speaking about how the film has a universal feel. That goes back to why Rehmeier made the movie and the impact it could have.
“I’d say the appetite that I had was to be really truthful and make something that resonated deeply with me, and then you hope that everyone else gets on board with it when they watch it. I feel like if you do, if you dig deep, and you do that kind of work, you can’t help but be universal. I’ve found that through some of these first screenings we’ve done this past week, the universal aspects of it across the board people are coming and people with different cultural backgrounds that have that that grew up in different countries and stuff.”
“I had one guy who was convinced this was just like him and his buddy growing up,” continued Rehmeier. “He grew up in China on the border with Russia, you know, and he he still was relating these aspects of how universal it was for him with his friends. I thought that that was really beautiful.”
Between the laughs, you’ll find a lot of really beautiful things in this film, too. From Republic Pictures, Snack Shack opens in theaters on Mar. 15, 2024. Check out the trailer below:
