Film and Television
The Casino Royale You Never Saw
The Telegraph has a fascinating story today about development of Ben Hecht’s unproduced screenplays for CASINO ROYALE…which eventually morphed into the comedy debacle that starred David Niven, Peter Sellers and Woody Allen. Here’s an excerpt:
The fact that Ben Hecht contributed to the script of Casino Royale has been known for decades, and is mentioned in passing in many books. But perhaps because the film Feldman eventually released in 1967 was a near-incoherent spoof, nobody has followed up to find out precisely what his contribution entailed. My interest was piqued when I came across an article in a May 1966 issue of Time, which mentioned that the screenplay of Casino Royale had started many years earlier “as a literal adaptation of the novel”, and that Hecht had had “three bashes at it”. I decided to go looking for it.
To my amazement, I found that Hecht not only contributed to Casino Royale, but produced several complete drafts, and that much of the material survived. It was stored in folders with the rest of his papers in the Newberry Library in Chicago, where it had been sitting since 1979. And, outside of the people involved in trying to make the film, it seemed nobody had read it. Here was a lost chapter, not just in the world of the Bond films, but in cinema history: before the spoof, Ben Hecht adapted Ian Fleming’s first novel as a straight Bond adventure.
[…] these drafts are a master-class in thriller-writing, from the man who arguably perfected the form with Notorious. Hecht made vice central to the plot, with Le Chiffre actively controlling a network of brothels and beautiful women who he is using to blackmail powerful people around the world. Just as the theme of Fleming’s Goldfinger is avarice and power, the theme of Hecht’s Casino Royale is sex and sin. It’s an idea that seems obvious in hindsight, and Hecht used it both to raise the stakes of Fleming’s plot and to deepen the story’s emotional resonance.
UPDATE: You can read excerpts from one of those terrific lost scripts here.
Festival Reports
The Derby City Film Festival in Louisville was a lot of fun. We didn't win any awards, but Sebrina Siegel, one of our stars, was a finalist for Best Actress, and I was thrilled just to see her recognized for her great work.
REMAINDERED cast members Todd Reynolds and Lisa Stewart showed up (that's me with them in the photo), as did our assistant director Rachel Nunn and our graphic artist Brian Bolin (Sebrina was sent on a business trip at the last minute). It was great that they had the opportunity to finally see the film with an audience of about 100 people…and I was really glad we had the chance to get together again.
The audience seemed to really enjoy the screening of our movie. But I didn't. All I saw were the projection and sound problems. Up until that moment, I thought most of the short films that we were up against had terrible sound and strange color composition…but then I discovered it wasn't the films that were at fault, it was the lousy projection and sound system in the theatre.
That said, I saw some really terrific short films…my favorites included the Polish short documentary CHARCOAL BURNERS, Nate Morguelan's nasty little thriller K, Max Rosen's very "Monk"-ish MARBLE RYE, Matthew Maney's incredibly slick METH (which deservedly swept all the short film awards), Pardis Parker's hilarious TWO MEN, TWO COWS, TWO GUNS, and KNIFE, a remarkably accomplished five-minute film written and directed by 14-year-old Matthew Rivera. There were a lot of directors, DPs, and editors at the festival who could learn a lot from Matthew…and you can count me among them.
I only saw one of the feature length movies, and even though the lighting was horrendous (the DP had no clue what he was doing), the camera work was inept, the editing was clumsy, and the sound was awful (I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on that one), the movie worked despite it all thanks to a clever script and surprisingly good actors…proving that production value, cool camera work and slick editing mean nothing if your script sucks and your actors can't act. But if you have a strong script, and good actors, all the rest doesn't really matter, you'll get caught up in characters anyway.
REMAINDERED was also in competition at the Beaufort International Film Festival in South Carolina this weekend…and although we didn't in any awards there, either, I heard from our contingent there that the film was a big crowd pleaser.
"Had a wildly successful screening of REMAINDERED at the Beaufort Int. Film Fest. Very well received, lots of laughs," tweeted PJ Starks, our DP. "Congrats to Lee, the cast & crew for making such a fun & funny short. REMAINDERED was neck & neck w/ some amazing nominees at the awards ceremony. We may not have walked away with an award, but instead with overwhelming praise and support for the film. Listening to all the kind words validates our hard work. If we can entertain at least one person we've done our job. We definitely left BIFF with a job well done."
Next up for us: The Beverly Hills Shorts Film Festival.
Festival Bound
As you read this, I'm on my way to Louisville, Kentucky today to attend the Derby City Film Festival, where my film REMAINDERED is screening this Sunday and where our leading lady, Sebrina Siegel, is up for Best Actress Honors.
As fate would have it, REMAINDERED is an official selection of the Beaufort International Film Festival, which is also being held this weekend, way out in South Carolina. Since I can't be in two places at once, our film will be represented there by PJ Starks, our DP, and Rodney Newton, one of our producers.
I chose to go to the Kentucky festival because our movie was shot in Owensboro and it's a chance to finally have the cast-and-crew screening we never had. And it's a rare opportunity to be addressed as Colonel Goldberg everywhere I go (yes, I am an official Kentucky Colonel).
By the way, REMAINDERED has just been picked as an official selection of the Beverly Hills Shorts Film Festival, which is being held in Beverly Hills in March. At least I won't have to catch a plane for this one…but with LA traffic, it will probably take as long for me to get from my house to Beverly Hills as it does to fly to Louisville.
I will report back and let you know how we fare in Louisville and Beaufort.
A&E Loves Casting Australians as Americans
Matt Passmore, the Australian lead of A&E's hit detective series THE GLADES, may soon have some company from down under. The network has cast Aussie Robert Taylor, best known here for his role as Agent Jones in The Matrix, as the lead in LONGMIRE, the pilot based on my buddy Craig Johnson's terrific series of books about Walt Longmire, the sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming (not to be confused with Jim Longworth, the Florida detective in THE GLADES).
Pictured: Taylor starring in the Aussie version of BALLYKISSANGEL.