" I wrote the first draft of Novocaine in a dental office …"
writer-director David Atkins.

Whether you are reaching for the 'American Dream', or 'African Dream', it all takes time. For David Atkins, who gets to direct his own screenplay of Novocaine, it took ten years.

Ten years ago David Atkins received a MFA degree in directing and screenwriting from Columbia University. For his thesis project he wrote Arizona Dream, a screenplay about disaffected youth and the loss of the American Dream. Director Emir Kusturica read the script and subsequently made the film which became a cult hit, winning the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.  Following the filming of Arizona Dream, Atkins moved to Los Angeles where he worked as a studio screenwriter, writing scripts for Luc Besson and Oliver Stone. Determined to achieve greater control over his work, Atkins set out to write a more personal story for himself to direct.

For years, inspired by his father and two brothers, Aktins wanted to write a screenplay featuring a dentist protagonist.

"I think dentists are contemporary heroes," explains Atkins. "They epitomize the American Dream. People are wary of dentists and tend to go out of their way to avoid
them, and the dentists are aware of this. But instead of being bitter or mean-spirited, the dentists welcome them with open arms. Their only goal is to take away people's pain."

"Growing up I was intrigued by phone calls that would always come around dinner time," he continues. "My mother would get upset and I didn't know why. I discovered later that, more often than not, people would be trying to scam my father for drugs. I always thought that was a compelling scenario."

In 1997, Atkins decided to write the script and went "undercover" in the offices of his father and brothers. For more than a month, he posed as a dentist and studied the inner workings of a dental practice.

Atkins cites several influences for the unique style and tone of Novocaine, among them Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, the absurdist surrealism of Jacques Tati, and, of course, Alfred Hitchcock.

"My goal is to surprise the audience continually and keep things unpredictable," explains Atkins. " I like to veer back and forth between hard-edged noir violence and dark humour. I believe they are two sides of the same coin. Comedy comes out of fear and the macabre. That dichotomy is always interesting to me."

One of the distinguishing aspects of Novocaine is the manner in which Atkins appropriates film noir character types and playfully skews them beyond recognition.

"I wanted the script to fool with preconceived notions of character," says Atkins. "Frank Sangster, the gentle dentist, reveals a repressed side with darker desires. Similarly, the two women in his life turn out to be very different from how they initially appear."

Described as an "edgy, unpredictable crime thriller",  Novocaine features Steve Martin as prosperous dentist Frank Sangster whose well-ordered existence is thrown into turmoil when an alluring new patient draws him into a seedy underworld of sex, drugs and murder. This stylish macabre film also stars Laura Dern, Helena Bonham-Carter and Scott Caan.

Defying expectations at every turn, Novocaine takes a twisted look at the menace that lurks beneath the innocent veneer of the everyday. Atkins has turned classic film noir on its head, distinguishing his work with surprising plot twists, surrealist flourishes and a mischievous sense of humour.

Much like the disturbing x-ray images of masticating skulls which punctuate its story, Novocaine probes beneath the surface of things, examining the rot which lies at the heart of a seemingly perfect suburban world.

In creating Frank Sangster, an unwitting, innocent dentist hero, Aktins finds the perfect foil for the darkness he explores in his story. "Frank Sangster is a man who follows the path he believes he's supposed to follow. Under the surface, though, he's not completely satisfied," says Steve Martin. "In a sense, Frank creates the nightmarish drama that he falls into. I think the movie is about the subconscious mind trying to make itself happy by creating behaviour that will alter the status quo."

For Martin, one of America's foremost comedians who has also established himself as a critically lauded playwright and fiction writer, the challenges of Novocaine offered a welcome change of pace. "This is a break from high comedy, a good opportunity for me to do something different," says Martin. "Actually, I've always loved psychological thrillers," continues Martin, on a more serious note. "Steven Spielberg once said, 'Make the movies you would most want to see.' If someone described this movie to me, I would definitely want to see it."

For Atkins, the most exciting part of the film-making process was working with his talented cast. "The actors are all wild and amazing in their own way," says the director. "Each one brings a different color to the palette of the ensemble. They work very differently, which was a totally fascinating challenge to me. Some work well with complete improvisation, others approach it very technically."

Atkins, however, is realistic about the joys and pains of directing. "I would characterize this experience as the most beautiful nightmare I have ever had," he laughs. "It required an incredible amount of energy. But this is my American dream. Some days when all is snapping, when it's moving and grooving, I am Frank Sangster."