Naked Singularity, based on the novel by Sergio De La Pava, is about an idealistic young New York City public defender burned out by the system who decides to rob a multi-million drug deal of one of his clients.

 

Chase talks to Write On about adapting the novel for the screen. "The unifying voice of the film, I hope, comes from the book, which is the reason I wanted to do this. The author, Sergio De La Pava, is a public defender of 20 years; his wife, Susanna, is a public defender of 20 years, and he wrote this book that is a very well observed, funny, absurdist, kind of outraged novel that juggles in all of these different genres, but there's something very specific about his voice. It was like a new way into a discussion about social justice, and it was sort of a new way into seeing a story about a young public defender."

 

Chase goes on to discuss the challenges of adapting: "With [adapting] a book, the first thing is 'What's the spirit of the book?' and trying to really get into your head, like what do you love about it? And what's the spirit of it, before even getting into the nuts and bolts of what characters are you going to cut and consolidate and plot points? It's just sort of understanding what you're writing from the book or what are you extracting tonally from it."