Last night’s reading at the Richard Hugo House went extremely well. It was an eclectic event, mixing film and other subjects into the conversation — with Grant Cogswell leading everything off with an unrelated reading of poetry — but it was a great way to re-introduce the idea of my book to the city of Seattle.
More importantly, I got Stephen Gyllenhaal on stage to tell him how I would have made the same film, had I been the director. Of course he knows I liked his film Grassroots, but he DID change my story, and in my opinion there were elements that were removed from the story that could instead have become major thematic ideas instead of abandoned ones. When I get the video I’ll post that explanation. Or when I have more time. Or somesuch. Anyway, Stephen defended himself and his film gracefully, while also suggesting that I am wrong. More later.
Jason Biggs also showed up to talk about how he played me in the film. It was an interesting answer. Well, I should probably say it was a humbling answer, as Jason didn’t exactly play “me” as he played the dictates of the script Stephen had written. He played a role; he wasn’t trying to play a specific Phil Campbell. An ordinary person at this point would probably abandon the concept of my project “Phil Campbell, Character,” as it’s clear that Jason was channeling some other force in the universe to act his role, but I am no ordinary person, I’m a writer trying to build myself a damn platform from which I can sell some more damn books. As a writer in such a position, it behooves me to stay with the project and milk the film idea as far as possible (Should I add an LOL to the end of this sentence?).
I’m blogging on the run right now so I’m afraid my post may be making little sense. There’s so much to say about these past few days and very little time to say it. I don’t even have the time right now to add all the little bullshit links that a successfull blogger should add, to show everyone how seriously I’m taking the act of blogging.
