Animal magnetism and Kinsey

Upon exiting the film Kinsey there was a horse trotting alongside, appearing almost as if on cue, strolling with a majestic equine gait next to my soulful shuffle. The two of us, that is me on the left and the horse and his two handlers on the right, were parallel to all those new outside poster marquees the Greenway Three just installed in the concrete walkway to the underground Greenway parking lot. I had just departed through the Greenway side exit door and the horse, no doubt a stud on display, was being led out of the Stouffer’s Hotel
The point being that Kinsey is a movie rich in animal magnetism, a film which saves the educational animal sex films (lizards, skunks, kitty cats) for the end credit roll. Making a biopic of the life of Alfred Kinsey, a prominent zoologist who devoted a generation of his life to cataloguing gall wasps (non stinging insects), then turned his ardent scientific mind to itemizing humans and their attitudes toward sex, would seem to be quite a stretch as far as narrative goes. But that’s exactly what writer-director Bill Condon does. Condon, who previously helmed Gods and Monsters, fleshes out dramatic incident from pure emotions and the result is more hit than miss.
As for Kinsey, he claimed to be a 3 on his own sexuality scale of 0 to 6. Zero being an absolutely heterosexual and six being openly gay.
Kinsey (played with stern open mindedness by Liam Neeson) has a liberated marriage with wife Clara (Laura Linney in the kind of solid performance that really just requires looking concerned at the right moments) and a solid relationship with his staff. Kinsey always knows the right thing to say. For instance when Kinsey catches Clara talking privately with her lover, who also happens to be Kinsey’s chief assistant and sometimes-male lover Clyde (Peter Sarsgaard), he reminds them of being on time for an appointment. Kinsey had his priorities in line, business first, then plenty of sex. Kinsey it turns out feels resentment at his old man, John Lithgow dredging up the puritanical paternal stuff he patented in Footloose, who raised him in a repressed manner. Before Kinsey returns to nature he confronts Lithgow if for nothing else than to up the melodrama quotient of Kinsey.
By contrast, there’s less hanky panky and practically no drug use in Kinsey versus the biopic of Ray Charles, Ray.

On Neverland

Finding Neverland: Interview with writer David Magee
by Michael Bergeron

Finding Neverland places the audience alongside James M. Barrie as he creates the immortal story of Peter Pan. Naturally in true movie style the film stars the handsome and ever resourceful Johnny Depp as Barrie who in real life was a meek, almost unsightly man.
Recently speaking with David Magee the writer of the film, the creative process of seeing the film to fruition, as well as some insights into Barrie himself, are revealed. Peter Pan is 100 years old this year.

MB: You mentioned at the screening last night that Universal had made a deal with Miramax regarding the final release date of Finding Neverland. They released Peter Pan last Christmas and Miramax has Finding Neverland this year.
DM: The movie was on track to be released last year. At the time I thought changing the release date was wrong. This was all happening so far above my head in terms of the business aspect of things, I was hearing about it third or fourth hand. In retrospect, with the Peter Pan centennial happening, without the comparisons between the two films, it is actually working out well for us. At the time I was desperate to have the movie come out. I just wanted to see it on the screen.

MB: You wrote the script in 1998.
DM: In Hollywood six years is not that long. Five months of that was me writing the first draft. The play The Man Who Was Peter Pan by Allan Knee was performed in a workshop off 42nd Street. I was also a member of that workshop. The producer (Nellie Bellflower) had also done one of my plays out in the Hamptons, so she knew me as a writer. I was in her office one day and she was talking about the project. I told her I wanted to write it. ‘I’ll dive right in and if you don’t like it throw it away.’ I knew there was a story there, and she gave me that chance.
Five months later I had a draft. Someone from Miramax had actually seen that first staged reading of Knee’s play, which is very different but does have a wonderful tone. So it was on their radar. But after I wrote my draft Nellie shipped it to her friend who’s an agent. The agent said they would be happy to shop it around. Richard Gladstein became another producer, he had a relation with Miramax. When he became involved Miramax became very interested.
Now a year has elapsed. Contracts had to be signed. Then there are some small re-writes to prepare it to show to a director. Once we got the script the way we want it, the question is who is the right director? Every time you approach a director you tell them that they are the only one you are considering. So it takes them four weeks just to get around to reading it. So that kind of back and forth takes a while. Harvey Weinstein settled on Marc Forster just before Monster’s Ball came out. I happened to be in Los Angeles that week and I got a call from Gladstein. He said to come by the office, ‘We’re going to screen the film Monster’s Ball for you.’ After seeing the film I was a little stunned. It was not what I expected. But as soon as I met Marc, he was polite, very sensitive to the material. Everything he said about the script made sense. He had a feeling of restraint for the script – not letting the performances get too big, not letting the sentimentality run away with the story.
Now the film is going into its third year. You have to get the actors in the right season. Those things took up the next part of the process. By the time that year has evolved you’re ready to open and they tell you it is going to be one more year because of some rights issues. A year and a half ago it was finished and they wanted to release it as a summer movie.

MB: You mention the rights issue. The play Peter Pan was first performed in 1904. Haven’t the rights elapsed?
DM: It’s a wonderful story. James Barrie would have made a fortune off Peter Pan. But shortly after the play premiered he donated all subsequent royalties to the Great Ormond Street Orphanage. Because he cared about children he did that. An act was written into British law that the rights to Peter Pan would be extended to donate money to this charity in perpetuity. When I was first writing this I had no idea how easy or difficult it would be to get the rights to Peter Pan. I had as few lines as possible from the play in my first draft. Once Miramax got involved it was not considered a problem. With the second draft a few more line found there way in. Then Marc came on board and some more scenes from Peter Pan were added. Ultimately Universal [distributor of Peter Pan domestically], and Columbia and Revolution Films – it was a huge budget film – had bought all subsequent rights to motion picture use of everything else.

MB: Of the many writers from the first half of the 20th century Depp actually resembles W. B. Yeats. [I show Magee a picture of Yeats.]
DM: He really does look like him.

MB: But James Barrie was this diminutive man, right?
DM: He was a small man with a huge bushy moustache that hid his mouth, and a receding hairline. And sad eyes. He was not a handsome man. He stayed a boy in a sense. He did not grow into his body.

MB: The film was in production under the title Neverland.
DM: My original title was Neverland. I love that title. There was a very small, dark independent film called Neverland that came out a couple of years ago. It’s not about Barrie at all, I never saw it. Our film became J. M Barrie’s Neverland, which no one was ever entirely satisfied with. Then in the last few months someone suggested Finding Neverland.

MB: Did Barrie and his wife actually get divorced during the original run of the play Peter Pan?
DM: No, that was one of the things we abridged for the movie. His wife did run off with another man. The divorce was extremely painful for Barrie to confront. Much more so than we had time to go into in the film. Also Kate Winslet’s character [Sylvia Llewelyn Davies] had five boys, not four as in our film. But the fifth one was a baby and we didn’t want her carrying around a baby through the whole film.

MB: Charles Frohman, the character that Dustin Hoffman plays, how integral was he to Barrie’s success?
DM: He was a close friend of his and he was his main producer at that time. And as a side note that has nothing to do with this film, Frohman actually ended up dying on the Lusitania. This deeply affected Barrie. He had many tragedies that circled around his life.

Dead and Breakfast

THE CREAKY STEPS or Dead and Breakfast

EXT. Day
A car pulls up to a gated drive. The gate slowly opens and the car proceeds in, pulling up to a century-old two-story house.

INT. House. Day
An older woman opens the door to welcome a couple. The woman is Mrs. Smith. The couple, John and Mary, recently married; he’s early 30s, she’s 5 or 6 years younger.

Smith: Well hope you two had no trouble finding the Smith Antebellum Board and Breakfast.

Mary: Oh this is such a beautiful place, even nicer than the brochure.

John: I only got lost once. We drove up from Austin, but I have never been in this area before.

Smith: You are the only guest staying here tonight. Let me show you around.

They walk through the house past a staircase as Mrs. Smith explains some of the houses features.

Mrs. Smith: The house was constructed in 1852, but the whole place was refurbished and the kitchen we have now was added in the early 20th century. We built the pool in 1955. Of course the whole place was miles from the next house back when it was built. Now there’s a strip mall around the corner. I will be back to stock the kitchen later tonight, but of course you help yourself to anything you might need. The fridge and pantry are pretty full. The keys and gate opener are hanging on the shelf next to the kitchen door, and there is a couple of three emergency numbers next to the phone.

Mary: So you don’t live here?

Smith: Oh no, Mr. Smith and I are down the block a ways. You can see the roof of our place from the second story. Things fall off this time of year, not too busy this month. But you’re a young couple and I bet you’ll enjoy your privacy. (she winks)

QUICK FADE

INT. Upstairs Bedroom. Day
From the window of their room we can see the gate closing and Mrs. Smith’s car driving out of the frame.

Mary: Baby I am so tired. That drive took it all out of me. I am going to take a nap.

We notice that Mary is about 4 months pregnant.

Mary: Do you remember our first date?

John: You had just discovered that your biological father was alive, and you gotten a letter that day that he had sent you.

Mary: He had written me a poem, and you read it out loud and we both cried.

John (kisses her): Love you baby. There was a library downstairs. I’m going to check that out.

INT. Library. Day
There is an open book on a shelf next to a case of books. A breeze blows the pages. The camera pans to show that there are no open windows, fans or vents. John walks in and notices the book. He picks it up, looks at the pages the book is open to as he sits down.

John: (aloud to himself) Wow, this is about this house. The Smith Antebellum Board and Breakfast joins the list of confirmed haunted hotels in America. (His jaw is agape.)

INT. Bathroom. Day
John comes in to do his business but leaves the door open as he is alone and Mary is upstairs asleep. John drops trousers and sits on the toilet. He hears the noticeable slam of a door. This causes him to hop up and go to the bathroom door. He pauses.

John: Hello?

No answer. He closes the door. We hear a flush, and a second later he emerges adjusting his belt. John walks from room to room. He looks out the front window but the gate is closed and there is no car but his in the driveway.
John walks upstairs, each step makes a light creaking sound, and he looks in on Mary. She is fast asleep with a smile on her face. John walks back downstairs, again some creaky sounds on the stairs. When John is in the middle of the foyer he freezes in the middle on the hall. He moves about, coming back to the middle of the hall.

John: Strange!

INT. Day. Bedroom
Mary is lying prone, dozing. There appear indentions around her body on the bed. For a moment the bed seems to moves up and down. There is a squeaky noise to the mattress softly rising.



INT. Night
John and Mary are in the kitchen. Mrs. Smith comes in the door carrying a bag of supplies. She starts putting them in the fridge and pantry.

John: Mrs. Smith. Do you mind if I ask a question. Well, I noticed a cold spot in the middle of the hall, but there is no air conditioner and … Well, is this … is your house haunted.

Mrs. Smith: (smiling) We like to call it a presence. Did anything happen?

John: No but, I thought a noise but there was nobody there, and the cold spot …

Mrs. Smith: My dears you are under no obligation to stay here and I will certainly refund your money if you want to find another place for the night.

Mary: Oh no.

John: I didn’t mean that. I was just, you know, wondering.

Mrs. Smith: Sit down my children and hear the tale of the Smith Bed and Breakfast. As you can see this house was built before the Civil War. And my family has owned it every since. We’re talking about my great great great grandfather.

Mary: That’s a lot of greats.

Mrs. Smith: During the War, the Union penetrated as far as this part of Texas with scouts. One day, a wounded Yankee found his way onto the property. Absolom Smith refused to help him, and let him die where he lay. Once the poor fellow was dead, the buried him in the cellar rather than risk reprisals from the Union army should they find the body. After the war, sometime latter as a matter of fact they moved his body, or what was left of his body to an unmarked grave in the county cemetery. The point is there is a force here that occasionally makes itself known. But … we like to call him Willy, we don’t know his name or who he really was, but we had a dog named Willie a long time ago … Anywho, our Willy has always been friendly, and the fact that he makes himself known means he like you. Many a guest has specifically come to the Smith Antebellum Bed and Breakfast just to experience this, ah, ghostly presence, only to leave disappointed.

INT. Bedroom. Night
John and Mary are in bed. She is about to doze off. John however is wide-awake.

John: That is so funny about your sister.

Mary: (yawns) Yeah, she found a pair of panties under the bed of her fiancée. Before she left, and she left for good, she peed on them and put them on top of his pillow.

They both giggle. They both snuggle. John turns out the light on the bedside table.

John: I ain’t scared of no ghost.

Mary: It’s fun staying here. I feel for Willie or whatever his name was.

John: This definitely makes for a cool story.

Mary: My sister will love it.

John: And we’re the only ones here tonight. (Mary has fallen off to sleep.)

The sound of one of the steps creaking grabs John’s attention. He looks over towards the door.

INT. Night. Stairway

INT. Night. Bedroom
John continues to listen and look at the door. We hear a creak every few seconds.

INT. Night. Hallway outside bedroom
Camera pushes towards the door.

Fade to black.