Rocket Science, a film about a verbally challenged kid, premiered in Manhattan last night (and opens in New York, L.A., San Francisco, and Seattle August 10). Not since Mel Tillis slayed audiences in Cannonball Run has stuttering played so prominently on the silver screen. But how are real stutterers taking it?
"I just got a lovely e-mail today from the head of a stuttering group in New York who brought his kids to see a special screening last night, and they loved it," writer/director Jeffrey Blitz told Radar. "Most stutterers don't ever find a movie that portrays their own experience well, so I have a feeling the stuttering community is going to be very supportive."
The film's star, Reece Daniel Thompson, who's fluent (doesn't stutter) says he practiced his own stutter so much it became, well, natural. "After a while, I got so used to doing it, that I couldn't turn it off in real life," he said. "I'd be trying to order a meal and couldn't say it."