I had set out this semester with an idea in mind and plans in motion to make a short film on the life of a heroin addict. Completely fictitious. Nothing personal held on to it in any specific way. It was and is just a story and I am okay with that. Throughout this entire unravelling process of screenwriting, casting and working with my little motley crew, it has been an astonishing period of growth and development in the story behind the story. We all live with compulsive acts, addictions, but if we don't try to overcome them they will overcome us. That is the message behind my movie.
He dies at one point in the film due to a bad heroin hit. He's strung out in front of a car and whats worse, it's raining. I realize I'm giving away important details of the plot but I just feel that the nature of the film must be made known before any processing can happen. I find myself second guessing myself for why it is I chose to do this type of story. Why not a comedy? Deep within ourselves is a very painful place. Maybe it was a past event or a fearful uncertainty about future points in life. Nevertheless there is a part of us that is predisposed to the tragic elements of life.
My mom dies after I turned fourteen. An unnatural time for such an event of that enormity in my life and my inner being was bombarded by heaving emotions--a climatic pitfall in my own personal story. I couldn't possibly relive that one. You couldn't pay me to go through that one again. Mark McGraaf is a character that will only have to live this compulsive period of of drug abuse for just one embarrassing moment, and then it's over. Done. Lights. It's over.
I want truth to be painted onto the screen while at the same time our disbelief is suspended just enough to enroll into the thought process of a lunatic and a scoundrel. What do I hope to accomplish in the telling of this story. I want to make way for more to come out from deep inside of me. I need to tell stories or I'll die, just like Mark but hopefully not in the same way as that would not be very accommodating to a career which I hope to invest in. Drugs for me have never been an option nor have they been an idea. I have questioned what I would do if they took down the marijuanas and made the substance legal but it isn't the most important thing to me right now. Storytelling is.
Premiering April 29th and 30th is my film, "White Fight" and I am sure that it will ignite passion, controversy, clenched fists and romance. I want to stare opposition right in the face and say "here I am." I think raising awareness about the deadliness of a drug is a very good thing to do. Why sweep any issue under the rug when we could make something out of it using a creative process to draw people in.
Come see it! At Evangel University- 8:00 and 9 (I think) It'll be great! Dandy!
Don't forget to "like" my movie page as well!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/White-Fight/197270283641787
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