What’s a girl with the soul of a poet doing living in the modern world? In this unusual character study, Scott Coffey’s Adult World follows Amy (a star-making performance from Emma Roberts), a young woman full of both anxiety and ambition who is struggling to find her way in life after college graduation. Unable to live off her parents’ charity as she pursues her poetry career, Amy takes steps to pave her own way in the world (or rather, Syracuse).  For starters, she secures a job at a local sex shop, interacting with complex people like Rubio, a local transvestite (Armando Riesco) and Rat Billings (a lively John Cusack), her poetic idol and her would-be mentor.

Written by Andy Cochran, the whip-smart script is full of clever references and biting wit. Funny, unexpected, poignant and brutally honest, Adult World is a realistic yet hopeful and sincere look at growing up in the modern world. Director Scott Coffey, writer Andy Cochran, and actors Emma Roberts, Evan Peters and Shannon Woodward were in attendance for the film’s world premiere. Here are three remarks compliments of Coffey from last night’s Q&A:

On Andy Cochran’s Script:

"One of the things I loved about Andy Cochran’s script is how satirical it was. It was really sharp and funny and, even in those moments of sincerity, there was always a sting in the undercurrent of the scene."

On Casting Emma Roberts:

"I saw a lot of young actresses for the role of Amy. I saw a lot of actresses, some even Academy-award nominated, and they were all very good, but nobody was Emma. I knew her work a little bit, but I didn’t really know anything about her. I met her at the Château Marmot. When I saw her coming towards me from across the courtyard, I knew that she was the girl I needed before she even sat down. She had quality that wasn’t actable; she just had it."

On Shooting in Syracuse:

"I really didn’t want to shoot this movie in Lost Angeles or New York. I wanted it to be set in small town America. I would have loved to shoot in Detroit or Cincinnati or another heartland American city that is in decay or had seen better days. Syracuse is a beautiful city, but the downtown is not what is used to be."   

For more information about Adult World, please visit our film guide.