Being Himself

My ‘storyteller’ must, I feel, above all other characteristics, be authentic. The person in whom I will entrust the power to narrate the story, on who’s shoulders rests the immense weight of success (or its entertainment counter, boredom) must be real. So real you can, as often said, ‘relate.’

Which of course got me to thinking as I sat to write this morning, what qualities demonstrate this important trait?

First off it is important to recognize that my character is based upon a real person. Someone who was in a place and time able to interact with events that would become pivotal in the course of our history. My instinct is to make an editors note here emphasizing the importance of the scope of that statement. So let me try another take. My protagonist was present at a time when the course of human history was about to be forever changed.

The guy had better be authentic what that responsibility at stake!

Secondly, and from my involvement, equally important, is the responsibility I feel in providing him with sufficient fealty, honor, purposeful motivation, humor, courage and humility. Do we like him yet? The challenge of taking a real person and assigning to him lines of dialogue, stage movements and the third-act opportunity to be a hero, is one that screenwriters have struggled with since the days of silent movies. Look at any biopic and consider if the titular character applauds the screen portrayal of him or herself, or feels that the truth was somehow ‘missed.’ A shadow of the bike racer is not the bike racer himself.

I recall at festival screening of a twenty-minute documentary I produced about a doctor who was hit by a drunk driver. He spent months in rehab regaining not only his physical capabilities but the spiritual and emotional ones as well. After the screening a question was asked of him in Q&A about anything that the my doc might have missed, or understated. Without missing a beat replied that the rehab process was a lot harder and longer that how I had shown it on screen. The audience responded knowingly and I learned a valuable lesson.

Show the struggle. There must be a moment where it might be easier to quit, to just say to hell with all this effort, pain, suffering, doubt and fear. It is at that moment that the authenticity of the hero is tested.

My guy will be an understated hero. He will be true to himself, his morals and ethics. He has a personal involvement with the action and his retrospective narrative will show compassion, wisdom and presence. He will portray kindness and respect under fire. He, and this is one of the thematic comparisons, demonstrate a very Zen-like awareness and ability to stay in the present moment. He is open-minded, open to the fairness of equal opportunity. He recognizes his imperfections and vulnerabilities.

And perhaps at the heart of his character, of his authenticity, is his deep belief that he is worthy of love.

I pray that I may do justice to his legacy, to his actions and words even through my story is based on his actual events in response to a dramatic circumstance in which he played a (relatively) small part. With this backdrop I will be assigning a role for him to play.

The role of being himself.