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Student filmmaker turns his dream into movie reality
"The movie is an allegorical piece about addiction and dependency.Many people think it's about drugs,but it really is about relationships and many other things."
David Gramly
Lawrence
graduate
student
Sometimes when David Gramly dreams at night, those dreams come alive. And this time, his dream might even include you. Gramly.
Gramly, a 36-year-old Lawrence graduate student in the theater and film, will hold a casting call this week for his last cinematic endeavor, the short film Bottled Up.
Gramly said the idea for the movie, which will be produced and filmed locally, came from a dream he had almost ten years ago. In the years since, the concept has nagged him. He worked sporadically on the project and eventually wrote a script. Finally, ready for production, the film will be shot in December and January between academic semesters at Oldfather Studios and a yet-to-be chosen house in Lawrence. Gramly expects to complete the film in June.
The film, described as romantic horror, has four characters: a teenage boy and girl, an old man and a monkey with mind-controlling powers. A real monkey will not be used in the film. The film begins with the grandfather telling his grandson the story of a dangerous monkey he has bottled up and buried in the cellar.
The story then goes into a flashback mode of the grandfather's youth, in which he and a girl are drawn into a sort of never-land by the monkey. The creature, which they name Cupid, uses its powers to make the two fall in love. Cupid eventually kills the girl, causing the boy to kill the crazed monkey. But the monkey's supernatural powers allow it to come back to life. The best the boy can do is capture the monkey and bury it in the cellar.
"The movie is an allegorical piece about addiction and dependency," Gramly said. "Many people think it's about drugs, but it really is about relationships and many other things. The creature is a force of nature."
Gramly is making the film as part of an independent study at the University. He and Kirsten Peterson, the producer of Bottled Up, are paying for the $10.000 project out of their own pockets. They also are seeking donations from the community. Because the film
is an academic project,Gramly and Peterson are not supposed to make a profit on it, and actors will not be paid
Pieces of the Ride with the Devil cave scenery held in storage at Oldfather Studios will be used as the monkey's lair in Bottled Up.
This is a project that Gramly considers important, but one that he almost didn't live to make happen. This summer, he suffered life-
threatening injuries in a motorcycle accident. Gramly has no memory of the accident or several days on either side of it. He lay in a coma with a broken back, punctured lungs
and nerve damage in his hands
Peterson, Sioux City, Iowa, graduate student in arts management, said Gramly possessed exemplary talent and determination.
Just four months later, despite severe, chronic pain, Gramly is back on his feet and attending physical therapy that will bring function in his hands back to full strength.
"His definite strength is perseverance and positivity," Peterson said. "When things get down, he is raring to go."
Matt Jacobson, an associate professor of theater and film, said he had been taken with Gramly's determination as well.
"It is worthwhile when you have someone like David who has obviously overcome great personal difficulty to get to this point," Jacobson said.
Gramly and Peterson hope to enter the movie into the KAN Film Festival, sponsored by the Kansas Film Commission, in June. From there, the film could be shown at Liberty Hall or on cable television. Gramly's dream, though a long shot, would be to see the script sold for revision into a full-length film.
The fireplace from the set of Ride with the Devil, a film about Lawrence during the Civil War, will also appear in Gramly's movie.
"I want to see my dream made real and share that with people," Gramly said. "At the least, this will be a good portfolio piece for me. You have to do this kind of work to do more later on."
Open auditions
Wednesday
5:30-9 p.m.
Where: 235 Murphy
Hall
Thursday
5:30-9 p.m.
Where: 100 Oldfather
Studios
A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. J. K. L. M. N. O. P. Q. R. S. T. U. V. W. X. Y. Z.
SNL album ignores best of show's performances
By Chris Eckert
Kansas music critic
Kansan music critic
In the middle of celebrating its 25th anniversary, long-running television series Saturday Night Live has released two compact discs touting once in a lifetime performances by musicians appear on the show.
But while the liner notes point out many memorable moments from the last two and a half decades, the producers of the compilation ignore most of them.
Disc facts
Artist:
Various
Title:
SNL25
Volume one,
which should
be labeled the
baby boomer
targeted volume,
touts the
classic performances of various 1970s luminaries, such as jazz great Ornette Coleman's only network appearance and Paul Simon's many appearances in the early run.
Grade:
Vol. 1: C+
Vol. 2: C
Label:
Dreamworks
However, these performances only make it into the liner notes. When listening to the album, lesser-known talents like Coleman or Patti Smith lose their spots to multi-platinum acts like Jewel and Dave Matthews Band trudging through their signature hits. There are some nice performances on the disc, such as a somber You Look Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton and a peppy Casey Jones from the Grateful Dead. The only true standout is Elvis Costello's fake-out start of Less Than Zero that switches into Radio Radio against the wishes of the network and record label. Having Costello appear on a network show in 1977 was the closest thing to the cutting edge the liner notes describe on either album.
Elsewhere on volume one, superior early performances by David Bowie, Randy Newman and Tom Petty are all forsaken for tepid recent appearances.
Volume Two features a similarly confusing lineup. Janet Jackson, Mary J Blige and TLC seem somewhat out of place next to the alternative nature of other performers, and Arrested Development's Tennessee seems to be strange choice for rap's album representative.
There are a few unexpected songs, like Oasis' B-side Acquisence or Nirvana's Rape me, but it's doubtful what another live version of Hand in My Pocket or Losing My Religion can contribute to any musical archive.
And again, where are the legendary moments like Sinead O'Conner's attack on the Pope or Steve Forbes introduction of Rage Against the Machine?
The list of musical guests that have appeared on Saturday Night Live can be impressive and gives a rage of hope that further volumes of this series will not be as mired in mediocry as these are.
top ten
1. Heartbreaker, Mariah Carey
2. Smooth, Santana (feat.
Rob Thomas)
3. Unpretty, TLC
4. Mambo No. 5, Lou Bega
5. She's all I ever had, Ricky Martin
6. Genie in a bottle, Christina Aguilera
7. Someday Sugar, Ray
8. I need to know, Marc
Anthony
9. My love is your love, Whitney Houston
10. Scar Tissue, Red Hot Chili Peppers