Mr. Fishburne and the alchemist

Sydney, Australia, 2001-2002 

In late 2000, my partner, make-up artist Deb Taylor, received a telephone call offering her the chance to work on The Matrix sequels. She had worked on the first film in 1998 as personal make-up artist to Laurence Fishburne (Morpheus) and having worked together on several other films, including Sci-Fi / horror Event Horizon, Othello and Fishburne’s own film Once in the Life, the two had developed a rapport. Naturally he wanted her to work with him on Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions which were scheduled for shooting back-to-back throughout 2001 and 2002. It would mean returning to Sydney, Australia (Fox Studios) where the first film was shot, but what a fantastic place and certainly not a hardship. However, before that there were going to be four months of filming in California. The job was getting better by the minute.

At the time I had recently quit working as an Assistant Producer at the BBC as a result of staffing changes and in order to spend time with my daughter, Ruby, who at the time was just ten months old. It was also a chance to try and develop some personal writing projects I had started but stalled on, so the decision to travel as a family was a no-brainer much to Deb’s relief as she was not looking forward to leaving either of us for such a long period of time.

So we headed off to California and were based in Alameda in the East Bay across from San Francisco. Alameda was home to a decommissioned US naval base and the Matrix production (Burly Man) had effectively taken over the disused sprawling facility and created a mile-long stretch of freeway on the airstrip, complete with wooden facade walls and bridges, that had been finished to look like concrete. To all intents and purposes it looked just like the real thing.

It wasn’t long before I was introduced to Kristel Crews, Mr Fishburne’s Personal Assistant at the time and she seemed very interested in what I did, ‘Honey, you’re not just a house husband are you?’ she asked. I discussed with her my experience in journalism, television research and production and she seemed quite interested. 

At the time I thought she was just being polite rather than being genuinely engaged by my past work but that would be misrepresenting her. I grew to find her a very magnanimous woman and she was always thinking of other people. A few weeks later, to my surprise I was called to see Mr Fishburne and he explained that Kristel had told him about me. I had met him several times before socially when invited to attend film sets by Deb or at wrap parties for films they had worked on together and I always found him very courteous and agreeable with a keen sense of humour; so it wasn’t like meeting a total stranger. Nevertheless, a Hollywood actor carries with them a certain aura and gravitas. You know when they are in the room even if you don’t see them enter. In other words you don’t have to see the man to feel his presence.

As it turned out, or as luck would have it, he happened to be looking for a researcher to do some background work for him on a stage play he was developing entitled Strange Tongue and, for want of a better description, a James Bond-style, high concept, action-movie idea, but, as Mr Fishburne emphasised, with a more intelligent and intriguing undercurrent to it. Mr Fishburne told me that Kristel had recommended me as the man for the job, ‘We’re going to make things very interesting for you.’ I was more than happy to accept. The adage ‘right place, right time’ sprung to mind as well as ‘There is no such thing as luck, only preparation meets opportunity’.

Mr Fishburne explained that his proposed stage play was about five contemporary African-American characters and their different perspectives on life, ranging from the outlook of a Congressman to the views of a State Trooper. He also explained the action movie concept and I suddenly found myself with the brief to find out everything I could on Micronesia. Micronesia? I hear you ask. Yes, me too, I didn’t have a clue where it was without looking at a map of the globe. I also had to try and set up some interviews with ex-National Security Agency operatives to talk about their former work. Wow, I thought, this is either going to be very interesting or I’m going to get arrested. Obviously I kept my thoughts to myself and we agreed that I would do some digging around, set up some interviews and report to Mr Fishburne when he wasn’t directly involved in the filming of the Matrix, in order to bring him up to date with my research work. I was contracted to do the work on a freelance basis. Little did I know my role was about to take an unexpected turn.

Mr Fishburne told me that he had been given a screenplay by Warner Brothers, to whom he was contracted whilst he made the Matrix movies. The screenplay was an early draft of an adaptation of Paolo Coelho’s best selling novella The Alchemist. Warner Brothers had negotiated rights to the book with the author and had begun the process of getting it onto the big screen. Mr Fishburne had been earmarked to play one of the leading characters but as a writer and producer himself he wanted to read the screenplay and have a say in the pre-production process. When he told me the news he had already read both texts and had strong opinions on the book and the screenplay.

However he kept his counsel and asked me to read them both over the weekend then meet with him to discuss my thoughts and feelings. By now I had won his confidence, as he had been pleased with the research work I had presented but for the first time in my personal contact with him, I felt uneasy. I felt as if he was setting a test for me. Would he agree with my analysis or vehemently disagree and terminate my work with him? I mulled it over and discussed it with Deb. What the hell, I thought, Hollywood actor or not, the best course of action was to be true to myself and completely honest with him. 

First of all I read Paulo Coelho’s book, which, for those of you who are not familiar with the work, is beautifully written, quite poetic and ethereal, yet ultimately is also a fairly simple, rites-of-passage tale. That’s not a bad thing by the way. The best stories are usually simple tales at their heart. Anyway, I whisked my way through it in a couple of hours and enjoyable as it was I realised I was probably not its target audience, I was in my late 30s and the book was more intended for teenagers and young adults. Don’t shout if you disagree, it’s just a personal feeling. I made lots of notes as I read the book but Mr Fishburne had already said he didn’t want me to give him any written analysis, I just had to tell him what I thought, so the notes were more for my benefit, as revision and preparation for our meeting. 

Next I read the screenplay and frankly it was hard work. It was the type of script that drives you to distraction, literally. Without intending to sound disrespectful to the writer, I know how hard it is to write anything, I nevertheless found myself looking out of the window, drifting off, wondering what to have for supper, doing the washing and generally not paying much attention. 

This meant that by the time I had limped then crawled to the end I had probably read it three times over, having had to re-read several pages as a result of losing my concentration. The problem was the writer, who shall remain nameless, had tried to be too faithful to the book and as a result the work was slow, lacked visual grammar and above all wasn’t very exciting. I spent the rest of the weekend thinking about what I was going to say to Mr Fishburne. After all this was a screenplay written by a screenwriter contracted to the studio. 

Nevertheless there was no way I could truly say it was a good script, it simply wasn’t cinematic enough. So fait accompli, I met with Mr Fishburne and told him how I saw it. To my surprise he totally agreed with me, which shouldn’t have surprised me at all as he is a very intelligent guy, a leading actor, as well as writer, director and producer who understands how and why stories work and above all what makes a movie work. He completely agreed with me. The difficulty was that he had to tell the producers at Warner Brothers, the script ‘sucked’ to use the US vernacular. I made a suggestion, “You’re a writer, why don’t you do a draft?” He looked at me for a moment then said, in that deep, resonant timbre, “Mr Kline, you’re right. Let’s do a draft.” 

Over the next week or so we talked at length about how to make the book work as a film. Mr Fishburne said he had an idea of making the film like a mix of David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia, with beautiful cinematography, featuring vast, sweeping desert vistas and a rich and panoramic palette of colour but also the swashbuckling action / adventure style of Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. Now, before the Coelho purists get upset, such changes were necessary to make the novella work on screen. A novel or novella is actually too dense and detailed to work as a two-hour movie and has to be stripped down to its bare essentials then written visually as possible in order for it to work for an audience. That’s why people often complain ‘It’s nothing like the book.’ Cinemagoers want to watch a movie, not listen to it or read it off the screen. Given the history and nature of Warner Brothers films, action was going to be central to the film’s appeal.

Mr Fishburne’s first draft was much better and had taken into account all the faults with the version he had been given by Warner Brothers. The story flowed and was much more visual. However it was still very long and ultimately it lacked a real kick and big climax that would make it a great movie. We talked about adding more ‘obstacles’ for the protagonist to overcome and this led me to research North African mythology. We thought it would be great visually and add to the drama if we included various ‘monsters’ and physical challenges, a sort of Jason and the Argonauts-style quest. Again, probably not an idea the purists would accept but it would make the screenplay and any film more exciting. I found information on various beasts and creatures that had entered North African folklore such as the Basilisk, a half-man, half-lizard type creature. With the new information and greater enthusiasm Mr Fishburne set about re-writing the screenplay.

There was a break in filming on the Matrix sequels and Mr Fishburne headed up the coast to Queensland with his wife-to-be, the actress Gina Torres and his then teenage children, Landon and Montana from his previous marriage, who were visiting. Meanwhile, Deb, Ruby and myself headed up to Byron Bay for a well-earned break. 

When we all returned to Sydney, some weeks later, Mr Fishburne proudly presented me with a second draft of the screenplay. I eagerly read the work and could not believe how much he had changed the script and really tightened it up, losing lots of unnecessary dialogue and strengthening the visual side of the script. It was still too long but the story worked well now. Over the next few weeks he reduced its length without compromising the story. As filming on the Matrix drew to a close we talked about how to present the new screenplay to Warner Brothers. There were concerns they may object to it being so different to the original screenplay. We agreed that a good approach would be to pitch the screenplay to try and sell the new idea to the studio. So Mr Fishburne engaged a storyboard artist to work with him on creating some key pre-visualisation images from the screenplay that would be added to a multimedia presentation (including animatics with Laurence’s narration and music) for a pitch to executives. 

My employment with Mr Fishburne drew to a close as he had finished filming on the Matrix. He headed back to the States and Deb, Ruby and myself returned to London. The adventure was almost over. Yet there was one further surprise. Deb and myself were invited to Laurence and Gina’s wedding in the Bronx, New York in September 2002. We excitedly flew out for the occasion and were waiting in the reception area after the ceremony surrounded by other guests, including various luminaries from music and film. Mr Fishburne entered to greet people, he shook a few hands then scanned the room. I couldn’t quite believe it when he saw me, smiled and made a bee-line, giving me a huge bear hug. He then exalted, ‘They greenlit the movie man!’ I had to sit down, I was so overcome, this felt amazing. All the effort and time had paid off. He told me the film was rostered to start production in Jordan the following year (2003). Unfortunately world events intervened and the Iraq war put paid to filming going ahead because security in the Middle East was compromised, especially for Americans. Later, producer changes at Warner Brothers meant the screenplay we developed was shelved and, to date, the film is yet to see the light of day. 

In my time with him Mr Fishburne he imparted many words of wisdom but the one adage that stuck with me and later motivated my own script writing was ‘Don’t get it right, get it written.’ It’s easy to put off the pain and anguish of writing any concept but you have to get an idea down in order to share it with collaborators and get their feedback. Every writer, new or established, would do well to accept that unless an idea is shared it cannot grow and improve. Feedback and constructive criticism are essential for the writer and responding with good grace to them is crucial in order to get better.

--- David Kline, 2009