The Hangover<\/em> and an offhand thought landed harder than expected.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhat happened to the guy on the roof the whole time?\u201d Tate recalls them wondering.<\/p>\nThat curiosity became the seed for ROOF. The first draft was far more abstract: one man, alone, slowly unraveling. \u201cIt was very existential,\u201d Tate says. \u201cHe kind of goes crazy, talks to a bird, and the core theme was the destruction of identity.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Then came a blunt but invaluable note from a producer friend: you can\u2019t do a 90-minute one-man monologue.\u00a0\u00a0That note didn\u2019t just add a second character\u2014it changed the soul of the film. \u201cThat really pushed us,\u201d Tate explains, \u201cto rethink the theme as a journey from selfishness to selflessness.\u201d<\/p>\n
The finished film traps Dev and Mary on a downtown L.A. rooftop during a catastrophic blackout over the Fourth of July long weekend. Dev (played by Asif Ali) is a fast-talking trader who just torched millions of dollars. Mary (played by Bella Heathcote) is pregnant, practical, and immediately unimpressed by his bravado.<\/p>\n
Early on, Dev believes he\u2019s in charge\u2014money, confidence, \u201csolutions.\u201d But Sal is quick to point out how fragile that illusion is. \u201cThere\u2019s an earlier scene when he makes the trade,\u201d he says, \u201cand there\u2019s not someone there to call him out for being\u2026 a little bit ridiculous.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Mary becomes that voice. In one key moment, Sal explains, \u201cHe thinks he can control the situation\u2014but he can\u2019t. And there\u2019s this other person calling him out on it in real time.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the danger escalates, the dynamic flips. Mary becomes increasingly fearless\u2014even crawling into vents while pregnant\u2014while Dev grows more skittish. By the third act, Sal notes, \u201cThe playing field emotionally levels out. Power becomes shared instead of positional.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keeping a single rooftop visually engaging was the film\u2019s biggest technical challenge. Sciortino knew he needed a cinematographer who could turn limitation into language, and found that in Jonathan Pope.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe tried to make a crescendo across the film that follows our characters,\u201d Sal explains. \u201cIt starts with isolated shots, a lot of negative space, bodies literally facing away from each other\u2026 and gradually progresses to closer, tighter framings and extreme close-ups.\u201d<\/p>\n
Color followed the same arc. \u201cWe wanted to start with a washed-out, bleached vibe on the roof,\u201d Sal says, \u201cand then move into a more golden-hour, cinematic feel as the story goes on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lighting, too, embraced realism. \u201cWe knew there were going to be a lot of limitations,\u201d Sal says. \u201cSo we leaned into the grittiness\u2014bounce cards, flags to shade stuff, not a lot of literal lighting, except at night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Josh jumps in to underline how intentional the framing was. \u201cOur movie was shot with a lot of wides,\u201d he says. \u201cSizing was a big thing Sal and I talked about. We wanted it to feel big, even though we were limited.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0That choice pays off later. After so much distance, the close-ups hit hard\u2014tar under fingernails, cracked lips, sunburned skin. As you observed during the conversation, the contrast makes those moments land viscerally.<\/p>\n
One of the funniest reveals of the interview is how little of the rooftop actually existed.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThere was nothing on top of the roof,\u201d Sal laughs. \u201cThat was all the production department\u2014building the box, the air vent, the fire hose, the window washer rig. All of it.\u201d\u00a0 Those elements aren\u2019t just practical; they\u2019re playful and purposeful. The fire hose and vents recall Die Hard<\/em>, while the window washer rig echoes Martin Campbell\u2019s Cleaner<\/em>. When those nods came up, Josh immediately pounced: \u201cThat is not an accident. We talked about that.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0These aren\u2019t empty references. They give the audience instant genre shorthand, then subvert it. As Sal and Josh see it, viewers expect action-movie mastery\u2014but instead get anxious, imperfect humans negotiating fear, pregnancy, and bad decisions.<\/p>\nAlthough ROOF was largely shot in story order, post-production reshaped it dramatically. Editor Julian Smirke helped reorder scenes based on emotional logic rather than chronology.\u00a0\u00a0Josh is candid about the lesson. \u201cYou can\u2019t be precious,\u201d he says. \u201cYou have to let the film decide what it wants to be.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0That flexibility extended to performance. While the script was refined over a year and a half of constant collaboration, Sciortino encouraged improvisation\u2014especially from Ali. Some of the film\u2019s biggest laughs came straight from the moment, not the page.<\/p>\n
Composer Curtis Green was tasked with expanding the emotional canvas. \u201cHe\u2019s such a talented guy,\u201d Sal says. \u201cHe really elevates the film to another degree.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Early cues lean almost into horror, priming the audience for confinement and threat, before evolving into something more lyrical. \u201cSome of the cello at the end was played live and recorded live,\u201d Sal notes, acknowledging how rare that is on an indie budget.\u00a0\u00a0The emotional release comes with the end-credit song, \u201cAlive,\u201d written and performed by Kate Grahn.\u00a0 (All of the General Hospital<\/em> fans out there are already familiar with Kate thanks to her mother, soap legend Nancy Lee Grahn, who often sings her daughter’s praises on social media.)\u00a0 Josh explains that they gave her almost no instruction. \u201cI think it was like a two-sentence brief,\u201d he laughs. \u201cWe wanted it to burst.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0When they heard it, the response was immediate. \u201cAs soon as we heard it, we were like, yes,\u201d Sal says. \u201cThat\u2019s the greatest feeling in the world.\u201d<\/p>\nFor Sciortino, his feature debut clarified what directing really means. \u201cIt\u2019s not just line readings,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s people management. Understanding that every actor needs a different communication style.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Tate, the film was equally clarifying. \u201cThis is the place I want to be,\u201d he says. \u201cI love big movies\u2014but as a storyteller, I realized I want to make small ones.\u201d<\/p>\n
Together, ROOF became more than a debut\u2014it became a statement of intent. And as it premieres at Dances With Films, it\u2019s clear this rooftop wasn\u2019t a creative dead end. It was a launch point.<\/p>\n
TAKE A LISTEN. . .<\/strong><\/h2>\nby debbie elias, 01\/09\/2026<\/p>\n
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ROOF makes its World Premiere at Dances With Films New York on January 18th, 2026.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
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