In Old Arizona

Thursday, January 20, 2022

I just heard the news that they would shoot my script "In Old Arizona," filmed outdoors. It's a western, and I can't imagine a western without the outdoors and a horse or two. These days it is not practical to film a horse inside a room. It has been reported that Lord Berners had a pet horse that ran freely in his home in England, but alas, I don't feel that's natural. A Western by all means and by definition is 'natural.' 

The good and bad news is that our leading actor is Colin Clive. The bad part of the news is that he's English with a powerful accent, and also, he is drunk 90% of the day. The producer told me that I would have to slightly re-write his character as a drunk 'dandy' (due to his accent) cowboy. When you are a writer and especially working in the film industry, you must compromise. I know the responsibility of the work itself and the production costs of making such a film. To give the movie its retro western look, which I envisioned being like watching it as a child on Channel 11 (Los Angeles) on Saturday mornings, we will be using old stock Fuji Film transported by air from Japan. 

This will be my first filmed script, and I feel already successful. To celebrate my once-in-a-lifetime mood change, I put on a recording by Juan García Esquivel, who by his nature is always lively and fun. The one thing that is missing from my life daily is a sense of fun. Writing this Western was my attempt to approach 'fun' from a distance. I feel I can never allow myself the luxury to feel good. 

To give the film the authentic touch, we tried to get the music rights of Slim Whitman, who I think would be perfect for this film. The first thing I wrote for this script is the Colin Clive character on his horse (which I wish had the same color of fur or skin as Lassie) riding towards the dark skies of the Arizona landscape. At this point, the Slim Whitman song will come over the soundtrack. The very thought of this made me cry, but it gave me the image to work on to finish this script. Once you get the ending, the rest of the writing becomes easy. I like death because it is such a natural ending for a narrative.

I often wished that Federico Fellini had made a Western. One of my literary references for "In Old Arizona" was the French novel by Eugène Sue called "Mystères de Paris." Although Arizona seems so far from Paris, I still think of landscape as a place that only exists in one's mind or imagination. I hope everyone who will see this film will and can enjoy it.