It all began with a book. A little book, paperbacked, with a strange picture on the cover of a gravestone-style drawing which depicted several angels, a skull, and (perhaps strangest of all) a palm tree. I got it at a dusty, old, used-book shop, in the dusty, old city of Monroe, NC for 75 cents. It was a book of short stories, some of which I had read before and some which were new to me. The author was Nathanial Hawthorne.
One of the stories was called "The Artist of the Beautiful." It was a strange little tale, about a watchmaker with a passion for art and creativity and a secret project all his own. Although I found it a bit difficult to read (very heady and philosophical), I was drawn to the beautiful imagery in the story, its the interesting characters, and its element of mild science fiction/fantasy. It is at its heart a fable, a commentary on art-- on different people's perceptions of it and on the unique relationship that is shared between an artist and his work. The story began to turn itself over in my mind, and I began to visualise what it would look like as a film.
I called up my good friend, Aaron Jolly. We had recently finished up a short film based on Edgar Allen Poe's classic, "The Tell-Tale Heart," and had been casting around ideas for a new project. He liked the story, but we decided that it would be impossible to do it justice if we attempted to fund it out of our own pockets (as we did for Tell-Tale). The idea was shelved for a number of months, and all but forgotten.
Enter Grant possibility, stage left. We had already decided that we wanted our friend, Frank Ponce (who we knew from Tell-Tale), to act as Producer on our next film project. We found out from him about the possibility of getting a film grant from the South Carolina Commission for the Arts. From that point we tossed around several ideas (including several months of discussing and working on a screenplay based on "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"). After much frustration and deliberation, I again remembered "The Artist of the Beautiful." If we were able to receive the grant, then we would certainly be able to do the story justice in film form.
I wrote the first draft of the screenplay over the course of a couple days, and sent it to Aaron and Frank. Both liked it, and the idea was settled. I am pleased to announce that we are going to move forward with the planning and production of The Artist of the Beautiful.
The three of us met today at No-Name Deli, a little establishment in Columbia, SC to talk about the project. I think I speak for the group when I say that we're excited. There's a lot of potential in this story. A lot of heart. A lot of, well, beauty. We want to do this one right.
The purpose of this blog is to be a chronicle of the process of the creation of this film. I'd like to invite you to join us, as we embark on what could be a fantastic journey. There's no telling what the future holds-- we're going to do our very best, though. Hold on to your hats, folks. This could be a wild ride.
P.S. I'm planning to work out the second draft of the screenplay this week. Yeah.
Here's a link to the original short story.
http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=HawArti.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1
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