From: UFO UpDates - Toronto <ufoupdates@home.com>
Date: Tue, 09 Oct 2001 10:50:17 -0400
Fwd Date: Tue, 09 Oct 2001 10:50:17 -0400
Subject: Mothman Movie Release Now 02-22-02

http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/36036p1.html

[Sony Pictures release date now set for February 22nd, 2002 --ebk]


The Stax Report: Script Review of The Mothman Prophecies

Stax looks at the screenplay based on the 1975 cult classic book
by aclaimed ufologist John A. Keel, set to star Richard Gere and
Laura Linney, and be directed by Mark Pellington... by Stax

11-21-00

Stax here with my reaction to the screenplay for The Mothman
Prophecies! This 120-page "first rewrite" by Richard Hatem
(Under Siege 2: Dark Territory) is dated August 4th, 1998. Becky
Johnson is currently rewriting the script, which is based on the
1975 cult classic book by acclaimed ufologist John A. Keel.
Primal Fear co-stars Richard Gere and Laura Linney will reunite
for this film with Mark Pellington (Arlington Road) set to
direct. Lakeshore Entertainment is producing the film with
Sony's Screen Gems serving as its distributor. Production begins
this January with a release date set for
fall 2001.

The Mothman Prophecies is a cerebral and creepy tale of the
paranormal that, like the book it's based on, claims to be based
on actual events that allegedly transpired in Point Pleasant,
West Virginia between November 1966 and December 1967. Hatem's
script has updated and condensed the time frame of the original
occurrences; the story now happens over the course of a few
weeks during the present. Hatem's also changed the names of the
principle characters, some of whom are based on actual people.

The protagonist is Washington Post political reporter John Klein
(Gere), an up-and-coming journalist who interacts with fat cats
on Capitol Hill and is being eyed for a job at CNN. He has a
beautiful wife named Mary and life seems to be going his way.
What follows shouldn't be considered a spoiler since the
industry trades already let this cat out of the bag. A
Christmas-time car accident befalls the Kleins, which leads to
an X-ray of Mary's skull that reveals a heretofore-undiagnosed
brain tumor. It's terminal.

Mary's hospitalized and begins immediate cancer treatments. One
day while she is resting, John discovers a bizarre drawing of a
bug-like man that Mary had inexplicably sketched. The grotesque
image is burned into John's memory. Mary passes away shortly
thereafter. John is devastated by her loss and his promising
career flounders.

One year later. Still lonely and pained by Mary's death, John
has forsaken dating and thrown himself into his work. While
driving all night to Alexandria in order to interview the
governor, John's car breaks down during a storm. He approaches a
rural home for assistance and is dismayed when its inhabitant,
Gordon Smallwood, pulls a gun on him and calls the police.

Gordon explains to John and Sgt. Connie Parker (Linney) that
John has come to his door the past three nights at exactly the
same time asking for help. Naturally, John declines the
accusation but this won't be his first brush here with
weirdness. It turns out that John's not where he should be. He's
actually in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, having somehow
traveled four hundred miles out of his way in less time than was
possible.

Curiosity gets the better of John and he soon learns of all the
other odd goings-on that have been happening lately in Point
Pleasant. It seems a number of locals, including many "normal"
and well regarded folks, have seen strange lights over the Ohio
River while others have had visions of a strange bug or
bird-like man. A drawing of this creature rocks John when he
realizes this is the exact same image Mary drew before she died.
As they dig deeper into the meaning behind all these bizarre
events, John and Connie develop romantic feelings for one
another.

Are these strange occurrences tied to UFOs? Or are they instead
indications of intelligent life existing here on earth but
within another dimension? One thing is certain. This "Mothman"
people keep seeing has become a harbinger of doom. The story
barrels toward a frightening conclusion as a prediction of a
disaster in Point Pleasant comes true. And just how and why is
John's late wife tied to all this? John Klein will find these
shocking answers by story's end.

The Mothman Prophecies was not nearly as hokey or contrived as
I'd feared it might be. (Although the title's still ludicrous.)
I was genuinely enthralled by John Klein's quest, and I bought
into the story's premise. This was because Hatem created
characters I could care about. These protagonists anchored an
otherwise fantastical story firmly in (emotional) reality. Since
I cared about what these events meant to the characters, I then
cared about what would happen next in the story. That's what
helped suspend my disbelief.

John and Connie were well-realized characters who formed a
believable and even poignant romance. This is also one of the
few scripts I've read recently where a child of one of the main
characters didn't hinder the story. All too often writers create
"movie kids," little smart-alecks who cause either a lot of
"cute" moments or over-the-top mischief. Connie's young son
Kevin, however, is just a regular kid who likes his mother's
newfound friend; he does nothing to spoil things. Also, while
this draft may take place in a small town, there aren't,
thankfully, any stereotypical oddball locals.

This script also worked because it was more about what was left
unseen rather than what was seen. There were no monster attacks,
no people running around yelling "Go! Move!" None of that loud
nonsense that ruins so many genre films today. Hatem's draft
recalled older works like The Twilight Zone, The Night Stalker,
and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It was more cerebral
than visceral, more about human beings than entities from
beyond.

This draft's biggest weakness was that there were as many
questions were raised by all the supernatural "clues" provided
as there were answers. In hindsight, some of these clues didn't
really seem to matter or to even make much sense. One character
saw vague images of naked people walking the streets on his
otherwise static-filled TV screen. What the hell was that all
about anyway?! Just what did it have to do with "The Mothman"?
I'm still unsure.

My fear is that The Mothman Prophecies could be script-doctored
into a more generic, special effects-heavy movie. That it'll
become preoccupied with all the fantastic goings-on rather than
staying focused on people. Or that, even if the final script
does retain most of Hatem's work, that the material will be
interpreted poorly by its director. Of course, these are all
unfounded (and slightly cynical) suspicions on my part but I've
seen enough good genre scripts transformed into mediocre
"Hollywood blockbusters" lately to remain skeptical. I sincerely
hope to be proven wrong here.

The Mothman Prophecies was an intriguing tale about a man who
finds the answers to all the Big Questions he's been asking
about life. For John Klein, it becomes a lesson in "be careful
what you wish for" as he's drawn into an increasingly harrowing
examination of the paranormal. Despite some plot holes and a
potentially high "cheese factor", The Mothman Prophecies
remained involving because it was about people and not about
fantastic events where people are secondary.

STAX