Saw a link on mandolincafe.com to another article about the Bill Monroe movie that's in the works...
John http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/yb/149878570 Producer hopes to shoot part of film in Rosine and Owensboro Sept. 16--Bessie Lee Mauldin was 17 when she met Bill Monroe in the fall of 1938. He had just turned 27, was already a singing star with his brother, Charlie, in the Monroe Brothers -- and was married. But three years later, Monroe, by then a member of the Grand Ole Opry, moved Mauldin to Nashville and made her his "road girlfriend," Richard D. Smith wrote in "Can't You Hear Me Callin'," his 2000 biography of "the father of bluegrass music." Over the next four decades, Monroe and Mauldin had a turbulent romance that inspired several major bluegrass songs -- apparently including "Blue Moon of Kentucky," Smith wrote. Now, a Hollywood company is gearing up to film a movie based on Smith's book. And the producer, Trevor Jolly, hopes to shoot part of it in Owensboro and Monroe's hometown of Rosine, he said in an e-mail. "I've read the script," said Owensboro businessman Terry Woodward, who is vice chairman of the International Bluegrass Music Museum. "It's a love story about Bill and Bessie Lee." And that worries Campbell Mercer, executive director of the Jerusalem Ridge Foundation, which owns Monroe's childhood home and farm in Ohio County. "My concern is that the film not make a mockery of Bill," Mercer, a keeper of the Monroe flame, said Tuesday. "It's based on a book by Richard D. Smith. It was a book that needed to be written, but it was written by the wrong guy." Mercer would prefer a movie that focused on Monroe's music, not his infidelities. But Mauldin is considered to have been Monroe's muse. Their child, which she gave up for adoption, according to the book, inspired the song, "My Little Georgia Rose." And Mauldin, a bass player with Monroe's Blue Grass Boys off and on for two decades, played on 99 of Monroe's recordings. Reminded that the soundtrack for "Bonnie and Clyde," the 1967 movie about gangsters Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, contained a lot of bluegrass music and brought a lot of new fans to the genre, Mercer said, "This time I'm afraid Bill is going to be Clyde." Funny stories out there Still, he says, "there are some awful funny stories about Bill and Bessie Lee out there," including one about Mauldin wrestling another of Monroe's girlfriends to the ground in North Carolina. Maggie Gyllenhaal, 32, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role in last year's "Crazy Heart," recently told ScreenCrave.com that she will portray Mauldin in the movie. Her husband, Peter Sarsgaard, 39, is cast as Monroe. "I talked to Peter on the phone the other day," Woodward said. "He was in New York taking mandolin lessons. He plays guitar, but he needs to be able to play mandolin for the movie." Woodward said: "He's very enthusiastic about the movie. He said his father was a big bluegrass fan." The ScreenCrave story said Joseph Henry "T-Bone" Burnett, who produced the soundtrack for "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," which sold 8 million copies, and collaborated on "Crazy Heart" will do the music for "Blue Moon." Callie Khouri, who grew up in Paducah and wrote "Thelma & Louise," wrote the script. "She and T-Bone are married," Woodward said. Jolly, whose credits include being sound supervisor on "American Beauty" and "The Whole Ten Yards" as well as on episodes of "Lost," "The Shield" and "Alias," is producing. Finn Taylor ("The Darwin Awards," "Cherish," "Dream With The Fishes") will direct. Taylor has visited Owensboro four times and Jolly, three times so far, Woodward said. "One day when they were here, we walked down to the Famous Bistro for lunch," he said. "They said they liked some of the buildings downtown and might want to film some here. I just listened." "Yes, hoping to shoot scenes at Rosine and Owensboro," Jolly said in an e-mail Tuesday. "Too early for specifics though." Woodward says the movie should be filmed in Kentucky. Monroe was born -- and is buried -- in Kentucky. His band and the genre of music he created use the state's nickname. And his "Blue Moon of Kentucky" is the state's official bluegrass song. But Tennessee also wants the movie shot there. Battle of incentives And a battle of incentives is ensuing. "They didn't understand our incentives," state Rep. Tommy Thompson, who represents Ohio County and eastern Daviess County, said Monday. "I had the film office call and explain it to them," said Thompson, who pushed a film incentive package through the legislature in 2009. "I think we may have a shot now. It's about bluegrass and Bill Monroe. It should be filmed in Kentucky." Business Lexington reported this week that the 2009 legislation would make filmmakers who spend at least $500,000 in Kentucky eligible to receive "a 20 percent refundable tax credit for production and post-production expenses." Tennessee, the article said, "offers a 13-17 percent tax rebate, depending on the production budget and percentage of in-state production." "Finn and them want to make it in Kentucky," Woodward said, "but the money guys will probably have the final say." "Trevor came here 18 months ago," Mercer said. "He videotaped me playing a fiddle on the porch. We had some coffee, and I showed him tapes of different singers." Jolly wrote on Facebook in June: "Finn and I drove to Rosine to check out Bill Monroe's hometown. Happened to be holding a benefit auction for a gal who is suffering from cancer and the townsfolk raised $27,000 by selling chickens, farm implements and pies etc. Local bluegrass bands were playing. I recorded one and Finn shot some pics on his phone." Mercer said: "I'm sure they'll use the homeplace" in the movie. "They know it's open to them. I've been putting off getting back in touch with them, but I'll e-mail Trevor this week. I've got to get involved and help them make it good. We've got a wealth of information here that should be tapped." Movie should help museum A major movie about Monroe, coming during the celebration of the centennial of his birth (Sept. 13, 1911), is expected to give the bluegrass museum a major boost, Woodward said. "I think it can be tremendous for the museum," he said. He owns the fiddle of Pendleton Vandiver, Monroe's uncle who inspired the song, "Uncle Pen." It's now on display in the museum. "It's being used on the soundtrack," Woodward said. "I don't know if it will be shown in the movie." He said, "with Bill's 100th birthday next year and this movie, we really need to capitalize on it." Mercer said he's heard that Gyllenhaal and Sarsgaard may attend Rosine's Jerusalem Ridge Bluegrass Festival, scheduled for Sept. 30-Oct. 3. "They have tickets," he said. But Woodward said Sarsgaard is supposed to be at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco that weekend. "They say they want to end the movie with a montage of scenes from bluegrass festivals," he said. Thompson describes Mauldin -- "The Carolina Songbird" -- as "a hefty blond, flashy dresser, strong, spirited and quite earthy." Monroe's wife, Carolyn, finally accused him of adultery and divorced him in 1960. The divorce decree forbade Monroe from marrying Mauldin as long as Carolyn Monroe lived. "I don't know how that was legal," Mercer said. Maudlin died Feb. 8, 1983, after suffering a heart attack at 63. Carolyn Monroe outlived her by nearly 18 months, dying on July 31, 1984. Monroe died on Sept. 9, 1996. Keith Lawrence, 691-7301, [email protected] -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en.
