The life of Frank Lloyd Wright may be coming to the big screen.
"We're in the very early stages of planning," says co-producer J. Todd Harris, of Branded Pictures Entertainment. "The current instinct is to base in Chicago with some potential location work in a few other sites, including Wisconsin."
The feature film, so far untitled, will focus on the architect's affair with Mamah Cheney and the formation of his Taliesin studio in Spring Green.
"It's amazing that the life of this larger-than-life creative genius has never been undertaken for the screen," says the project's director, Bruce Beresford, two-time Academy Award nominee. His credits include Breaker Morant, Tender Mercies and Driving Miss Daisy.
The script is by Ed Bachrach and Nicholas Meyer, best known for having written Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, which he also directed. Meyer co-wrote two other Star Trek features and directed The Day After, a 1983 television movie that portrays the aftermath of nuclear war.
Bachrach, a Chicago-based businessman, has long been fascinated by Wright.
"Growing up in Illinois, the heart of Frank Lloyd Wright country, I was mesmerized by his work, which you can see everywhere," he says. "I've seen almost everything he's built and researched his life in great depth. As many people know, Wright was a brilliant and complicated artist."
Beresford says that the story will cover the architect's brilliance as well as his personal foibles.
"Nick and Ed have done a marvelous job capturing the essence of a man who changed the very nature of the way we live," he says.
Wright's life was previously dramatized in Shining Brow, by Daron Hagen and Paul Muldoon, commissioned by the Madison Opera and premiered in 1993 at the Madison Civic Center, predecessor of Overture Center for the Arts.
One lucky Dane County artist has a chance to visit the county of Kassel, Germany. Our sister region has extended an invitation to attend its avant-garde festival, held every five years. The European Art Camp will feature artists from various countries, July 6-20.
The Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission and Dane County Board of Supervisors Office are making a special grant available for the trip. The deadline for applying is Feb. 1. For more information, visit culturalaffairscommission.com.
