Grace, Magic, and Power

I took a moment yesterday, amongst the barrage of phone calls and emails, to consider how far my film project has come.  It was born out of frustration and intense creative desire and a need to change the whole way I thought of my work and my career.  I’ve done it my way, on my own, after a lot of years of thinking (or being told) that I couldn’t, or shouldn’t.  That I was thinking too big, or coming up with ideas that were too out there; that no one was making grown-up movies.  Or that no one would take a chance on a first-time director.  Well, of all the many mind-blowing things that have happened over these past few months, maybe the most amazing is this sense of what is possible.  Goethe once wrote this: “Whatever you dream you can do, or believe you can do, begin it.  Boldness has grace, magic and power in it.”

Tomorrow I’m heading back to LA with my producing partner for a few jam-packed days of meetings with actors, our casting director, agents, a cinematographer, and investors.  Several of the key roles in  “A Short History of Decay” have been cast with some staggeringly wonderful, remarkable, gifted and well-known actors.  I’m not being coy here – I’m just not comfortable naming names yet.  Call me superstitious.  But suffice it to say that I am beyond gratified with the response to the script, and with the support I’ve received from people in the industry.  I’ve come to see that casting a movie like this is like putting together a giant puzzle.  Or, as my wife has recently described it, like building a skyscraper from the top down.  We have most of the pieces in place, and still a few more key ones to go.

After my LA trip I’m meeting my producer/first assistant director Buffalo Mike Hausman in Florida where we’ll cover a lot of ground – from Jacksonville to Sarasota – location scouting and meeting with crews.  ASHOD has a start date.  Mind-blowing but true.  We’re set to begin shooting this thing in early June.

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