Interview: Andrew Doster

 

Welcome back for another edition of Interview! This time around, Last Resort Films president Phil Dolan sits down with writer Andrew Doster (Redhead, Flames) to discuss his latest film, The Eye of History....

PD: What it is about Margaret Bourke-White's life that made you want to give it the biopic treatment?

AD: I honestly didn't know much about Margaret Bourke-White until a few years ago. I mean, I knew she existed and that she was a famous photographer but I didn't know much more. It was seeing the beautiful film "Gandhi" by Richard Attenborough in which she was played by Candice Bergen that gave me the opportunity to know her a little and convinced me to go and read and learn more about her life and I was fascinated by the love for her work, the courage and determination that she had at the time. During her career for Life magazine, Bourke-White documented some of the most significant moments of the twentieth century. She documented the ever-increasing rise of Nazism in Germany and many moments of the conflict. During this period, she was the first accredited American female correspondent during World War II and the first authorized to fly on a combat mission. She was also the only foreign photographer in the Soviet Union to photograph factories working on the Soviet Five-Year Plans in the early 1930s, and the only American photographer in the Soviet Union during the German invasion (where she reportedly met with Stalin). She also covered operations in North Africa during World War II and spent several months on the Italian front. Her photographs of the recently liberated Buchenwald concentration camp, taken in 1945, remain among the most powerful testimonies of the Holocaust. And then she went to India where she interviewed and photographed Gandhi and many other things. All of this made me think, "What if I tried to write a film about this extraordinary woman?"

PD: How did you decide which of Bourke-White's extensive portfolio of photographs and events to include in The Eye of History?

AD: I had already started writing the plot of the film last year. It was a more conventional and old-fashioned biopic that recounted her life in a more classical way. The release of "Becoming Carole Lombard", its flop at the box office and the three reviews that agreed on the fact that the film had a narrative made me think. So I deleted everything and came up with the idea of ​​using Margaret's photos to mark the passage of time and focus only on some events. The idea seemed nice to me... but did I succeed? I absolutely do not know, I am still a fairly mediocre screenwriter who had a couple of exploits thanks to the wonderful help of Dwight Gallo and Chad Taylor for "Tinseltown" and "The Deadliest Night in Show Business". As for the choice of photos to use in the film, I went to read and search and in the end I found the moments that seemed most significant to enter into the film. You didn't ask me but from the first moment I thought about the film last year I only had one name in mind to play Margaret and it was Kirsten Dunst. I don't know why but as soon as I thought about the film I had the flash of association to her. I have always adored Kirsten, I grew up with her when I was little between Jumanji, Small Soldiers and also Little Women and so I am a little fond of her. I think she is a good actress, perhaps even a little underrated and therefore I absolutely wanted her as the protagonist. If she hadn't accepted or hadn't been available the film wouldn't have been made or the script would have ended up in a drawer until I decided to contact the second choice which was Sienna Miller. Of course...now someone will think "Maybe it would have been better if you kept the script in a drawer Andrew Doster".

PD: Your filmography generally consists of horror/thriller films and historical films. What is it about those genres that appeal to you as a writer?

AD: Yes, my films have often been horror/thriller, genres that have always been my favorite genres since I was little. Then I started writing something else since the reviews were often mediocre or terrible. So I started focusing on historical films both based on literary works and then set in classic cinema. I love classic cinema, I also have a huge DVD collection and there are so many stories waiting to be discovered and written. Also Tinseltown is still my favorite film of the filmography, initially it was even longer with details and scenes that I then had to remove from the final script. By the way I heard that Ben Collins wrote one with the actress Julia Garner as the protagonist, is that true?

PD: Do you have any other projects in the works?

AD: Yes, in a few seasons there is a film scheduled that is different from the genres I usually deal with since it is a drama set in the world of artistic gymnastics. A story of falling, fighting, getting up and then being reborn that I hope will be a good film with a young and talented English actress as the protagonist. I also have a horror that I have started to write but it is still in its early stages.