021 - #blogjune - LOVE and MOVIE making

“Read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read, read... 

if you don't read, you will never be a filmmaker.”  - Werner Herzog

Song of the day:
"Life's like a movie
Write your own ending
Keep believing,  Keep pretending
We done just what we set out to do"
- Kermit, Muppet Movie Soundtrack.



1986 - The year of the Halley's comet, not to be seen again untill 28 July 2061. Hmm... don't think I will be around for that one. The International Year of Peace, hmm... that worked out well, with both the Chernobyl and the Challenger disaster. For me it was a year of LOVE!

I can't really remember WHAT happened to the money we did collect...

I was deeply in love with several girls (Martine, Michelle, Susan, Monique, Wilma and Selma). I guess it was quite a turbulent time; most  of these "relationships" were often short but powerful in different ways. Every person shapes us as an individual in ways that the other might not ever realize.  Mean while, joining our love and passion for movies, my best friend Aiko and I had BIG plans to create our own movie. FLAUWOCCULT (the English title was to be Hanky Panky). I had written the script (under the name Richard Weed) and we had already found some of the locations in Leiden. Remember, this was in a time when video cameras were rare and camera phones were not even thought of. So, in order to fund the process of hiring a video camera, we started a campaign to collect $6.66 from friends and family to fund the project. This was way before KICKSTARTER or any other online variations, remember - there was no ONLINE. There were no computers available either, so we created our cards by hand.

 

Early movie poster design and one of the early storyboard /script pages.

Posters were all drawn and later painted by hand. The script started of hand-written, later typed. We actually had some test footage shot on an old video camera and someday I hope to digitize some of these fun scenes. Sadly, due to other things that happened in 1987 (to be continued) the movie was never made. Other than some photos, an early movie poster design and a few copies of the script not much is left over from that time. I have since been playing with the idea to resurrect the project as a comic book story!

In 1987, the script had been adapted with Rotterdam as its location and friends were cast into roles.

In the end Aiko and I did feature in an Oscar winning movie together, that came out in 1985. The Assault (De Aanslag), based on a wellknown Dutch novel by Harry Mulish. We were only extras, though! Never the less, you can see us in some of the end scenes. Great movie, btw - see if you can find it online!

Aiko, Saida, Edine, eRiQ -   THE ASSAULT movie poster - Aiko and eRiQ as extras, behind Derek the Lint