The Storytellers

I watched the Academy Awards the other night, as, I imagine many of you did. While I could have skipped some of it, there were two things, no, people, that redeemed the event as more than evidence of the shallowness of American culture.( I have to admit, I'm still clueless about Three 6 Mafia and "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp") The two were Robert Altman and Bobby Moresco.

Altman isn't exactly a household name but his work is. He directed "M.A.S.H." and so many more, including my all time favorite, "Short Cut"s. Altman has always been a maverick in Hollywood, and, I suppose it has cost him some opportunities. But what I like about Altman's work is the layering--of dialogue, story lines, individual characters. One of his hallmarks is to use overlapping dialogue that can tend to keep an audience off balance as they try to work their way through the plot. But isn't that the way life is? I loved the parody Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep did to showcase that element on the Awards show. They were to give the award to Altman but before they did, the two of them did what appeared to be a loosely scripted piece--interrupting one another and finishing sentences or letting a sentence fade. It was very brave on national TV, In receiving the award, Altman, who can be a bit of a curmudgeon, said: " I don't think of my work as many movies, but one long attempt to realize my vision."

Bobby Moresco lived his vision, too, but in a very different way. Moresco, a 54 year old former New Yorker, won the Academy Award for best screenplay for "Crash". If you haven't seen it, I strongly urge you to rent it tomorrow. The story line is really several stories. It is based on the premise that we are all so busy being busy that we are profoundly lonely-and will do almost anything to reach one another unconsciously, including accidents.
But while I love the work, it's Moresco that I find newsworthy. Here's his bio. Moresco was raised in Hell's Kitchen on the west side of Manhattan in the 50s and 60s. It was a tough neighborhood then, mostly working class Irish and Italians. His father was a longshoreman. Bobby wanted to act, which he tried for 8 years during the 70s, accruing $3000 for that entire work period. His wife threatened divorce as his his drinking and gambling escalated, and their finances disappeared. The family moved to L.A. where he thought he had a shot at Hollywood. Instead, he drove a cab and tended bar for 10 years.During that time, he helped open an actors' workshop and volunteered his time to keep it going.

In the early 80s, his brother was murdered in Hell's Kitchen, so he and his family, now two girls and his wife, moved back to New York. He worked construction to pay the rent and tried to find theater work at night. Are you exhausted yet?

Bobby hadn't given up his creative dream. He wrote a play, based on his brothers' death that was staged Off Broadway in 1988. A producer from Warner Brothers happened to see it, and offered him work rewriting a screenplay for Warner. He had never written a screenplay, so he went to Barnes and Noble and bought everything about the skill he could put his hands on.

That was Bobby Moresco's first real job in show business. He was 36. During the next 15 years, he found work in television with Paul Haggis( his co-writer on "Crash" ), returned to L.A. But it was still a struggle.

When Haggis approached him about the film concept for "Crash" in 2003, he found Moresco broke and out of work again. They wrote the script anyway. Every studio turned it down. So, Moresco sold his house in Burbank, and borrowed money to keep trying to get the story on the screen. Finally, an independent producer, Bob Yari, got the financing. The budget was so low, the two writers deferred their salaries. The movie grossed $53 million here in the U.S. And you know the rest.

I'm only sorry that Jon Stewart et al didn't profile this story. It's a real, honest-to-god struggle with demons, insecurities, real life failures. I don't know the ins and outs of this man, and I'm sure there is more to the story than I know from the Times. But for me, Bobby Moresco is a hero. He believed in his vision, his possibility to make a difference, or try to, by broadcasting his life view. I admire that. It is one of the reasons I write these entries. I want to own, explore, advocate for my point of view.

So, today, after the red carpet is surely gone, and the party tents are all folded, I think these two men are worth remembering. They believed in their vision, understood the consequences, and went ahead anyway. That's what I call hope. That's what I call courage.
M.C.