Thanks to Michigan’s aggressive film incentives, several feature films have been shot in the area lately. But only one earned permission to use the University of Michigan’s name (for the first time ever), and was created by two brothers who grew up in Ann Arbor.

Chris (writer/director) and Mike (producer) Farah filmed “Answer This!” — previously titled “Trivial Pursuits” — in Ann Arbor in August 2009, and this Friday at 7:30 p.m., at the Michigan Theater, locals will get their first sneak peek at the film (and hear from members of the cast and crew) before it hits the festival circuit.

Focusing on longtime U-M grad student Paul (Chris Gorham, now the star of TV’s “Covert Affairs”) — who feels overshadowed by his father, a legendary professor on campus (played by U-M professor Ralph Williams) — “Answer This!” follows Paul as he gets involved with local pub trivia tournaments and stares down the daunting specter of his own graduation.

The Farah brothers shared a few rough clips with an invite-only crowd in the Michigan’s screening room in May, but this will be the public’s first chance to see the film in its entirety, and possibly provide feedback that the filmmakers might use to improve the movie.

Chris Farah — a grad of Father Gabriel Richard High School and U-M — recently stopped by AnnArbor.com’s community space to answer some questions about his film.

Q. As a promotion for the film, you’ve started selling T-shirts with Ralph Williams’ face and the words “Yay/Nay?” How did Professor Williams first react to the idea?

A. I think one’s natural response would be to think that he would be uncomfortable with it, but he’s really enjoying the entire process.

Q. You’d hoped to screen the film at the Traverse City Film Festival in July, but that didn’t happen. Why not?

A. A lot of this continues to be a learning experience for us. We were saying, ‘Oh, we want to take it to Traverse City and Toronto, and then we want to have our national release in November.’ And we did not realize how incredibly ambitious and fast our plans were. … With an operation like ours, it’s enough just trying to get things ready for next March and April, which is now what we’re focused on. So I’m very happy that we’ve extended our game plan.

Q. Tell me about your experience with trying to get distribution for the film.

A. Like a lot of the things in the film world, there’s no one way. Everybody has a million different opinions, which is why we have a few people advising us on the way ahead. … It can just be a rollercoaster, basically. You get a lot of ‘no’s, and you get a lot of initial ‘yes’s that become ‘no’s. … And we don’t want to just count on somebody coming in and just giving us some whopping big check to buy all the rights for the movie. That happens very, very rarely now, and the problem is, even when you do that, you lose complete control over what happens with your film.

So what we’re looking at now, or at least what we’re preparing for, is doing a theatrical release of our own that would consist of a college tour, because (‘Answer This!’) is obviously a good college movie, and there are consultants out there who specialize in that, who we’re working with already. And then going to major markets, especially big trivia towns like Portland and Philadelphia and Boston and that kind of thing. We’ve already started talking to the big trivia gurus there.

Q. The movie was originally called “Trivial Pursuits.” What made you go with “Answer This!” in the end?

A. It was suggested by one of our fans, and then we held votes about it, both on the internet and the special sneak peek that we had in May, and ‘Answer This!’ won. And it just so happened that we liked it, also. It works very well because it speaks to both the trivia gaming nature (of the film), but also the fact that it’s a movie about bigger questions as well.

Q. What was it like to put your hometown on the big screen?

A. We shot one of the closing scenes outside of Ashley’s, and it just looks so big and epic and cinematic. And now when I walk down there, I think, ‘This is what I’ve been looking at? It’s just a little sidewalk.’ But when you capture it in that medium, it just does something to the way you see it.

Q. What was it like to see the movie all pieced together for the first time?

A. It was the roughest, roughest cut, … and this cut was something like 2 hours and 20 minutes, which is absurd. But still, you see that there’s an actual story there. And you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, this works!’ Because when you’re doing a film, you’re shooting little bits and pieces all over the place, and a lot of it is just done in faith. You’re like, ‘OK, this will connect in the way we want it to connect.’ But you’re moving so fast, there’s no way to try to think of it that altogether way.

Q. The last shooting you did was at the first U-M football game of the 2009 season, inside the stadium. How did that go?

A. We were on the aisle, and we had to stop people from walking up. … And of course, people want to get a drink, and they want to use the bathroom. So everybody’s getting grouchy and that kind of thing. But still, we wanted to get a shot where the main characters stood up with all the fans around them, and everybody cheered at the same time. And this was during an intermission. My brother and I look at each other, and we’re just like, ‘What do we do?’ And then my brother just stood up on top of one of the benches, raised his hands and said, ‘Everybody stand up,’ and then everybody jumped up and cheered immediately. And we just looked at each other and were like, ‘I can’t believe that worked.’ But it did. For all the irritability and everything like that, everybody still totally got into it and loved it, and frankly, it’s one of the best shots of the movie.

Q. While watching the scene in which we see Ralph Williams in front of a class, I wondered exactly how much you let him just be himself, and how much was scripted.

A. I was a student of his also, and a (grad student instructor). I’d been to that class a million times, so I was able to write it from memory. And when I was having people read the script beforehand, they would read it and they would say, ‘One note I have: the professor seems a little over the top. And I would say, ‘I understand. If we don’t get who I’m thinking of getting as the actor, then I will re-write the professor because nobody else could make it work.’ … I knew from the beginning that he was was going to have to be Ralph Williams, and used things like asking students If they were happy to be back from summer break as a placeholder. But (Williams) came up with the vocabulary for that.

Q. What are the reactions you’ve gotten thus far from the few people who have viewed the film?

A. The casting and the acting are things we’ve gotten huge praise for. Which is great, because we don’t have any big names, but there’s an amazing amount of chemistry. … (Having a marquee star) might get you more looks at Sundance or from big distributors. But at the end of the day, we’d rather have a great movie. Which is what we have.

Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.