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#Post#: 29--------------------------------------------------
Re: Preparatory notes & discussion
DIR By: matthew
Date: June 5, 2020, 11:41 am
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Haha. I was skimming a couple books on Aristotle Onassis and
conspiracy theories. From there, The Gemstone File came up, and
then I just wanted to know more about the guy who wrote it (who
was inevitably going to be a weirdo). I'm not exactly inclined
to do a biopic, but I'm interested in the idea of modeling a
character on a real person if we're doing a historical thing.
#Post#: 38--------------------------------------------------
Re: Preparatory notes & discussion
DIR By: azuliani
Date: June 11, 2020, 8:54 pm
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On the whole "stations of the cross" idea, for a triptych of
reenacted scenes —
I love how this positions JFK as JC, as this is probably exactly
what the vast majority of ship-goers would either a) want to see
or b) want to sneer at, and this would be a great way to divide
the room between the "invested in the Kennedys" clan and the
"invested in the conspiracy theories regarding the Kennedys"
clan.
I think that, at least in keeping with the Stations of the
Cross, the assassination scene should be the middle one;
something like:
First scene: his election, or some political triumph (or some
surreal collage of his election, his "evasion" of nuclear war,
the launching of astronauts into space, etc.)
Second scene: The assassination, i.e. the very christlike scene
of fatal betrayal by his own people (maybe the actors who play
the parts become queasy and unsure about just how Christian this
is all getting. I know I am.)
Third scene: The swearing-in of Lyndon B Johnson. This is sort
of an anti-ascension into Heaven — especially in the eyes of the
real-life Jackie O — but it does position her as a quasi-Mary
Madgdalene figure, an image of suffering, etc; and it would give
a very good reason for, as Geoffrey said, her being pulled out
of the car quickly and put at the front of the stage.
#Post#: 39--------------------------------------------------
Re: Preparatory notes & discussion
DIR By: azuliani
Date: June 11, 2020, 9:49 pm
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Also: it's entirely likely, what with the sturm und drang of the
re-enactments, and being hustled on and off of the stage, the
Jackie O. actor wouldn't really be able to process and reflect
until she gets back to her cabin, or at least in the dressing
rooms backstage.
I'm imagining a good deal of Lynchian flavour in a scene wherein
she's sitting with her faux-Chanel pink dress in her hands,
inspecting it, and finding bits of blood, brain, and hair... The
dress as material witness that convinces her that she's right,
something did go wrong, bodied forth in some pretty grisly
details.
#Post#: 40--------------------------------------------------
Re: Preparatory notes & discussion
DIR By: azuliani
Date: June 12, 2020, 2:15 pm
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Some thoughts on how to handle the layers of conspiracy — I
agree with Geoffrey that the "rival actors" subplot isn't really
enough to carry it, unless we worked in some kind of Rosemary's
Baby ritualistic aspect, or unless we yoked it to a larger plot
as just one small but crucial component. So I was thinking:
First layer of conspiracy: “the rival actors”
Lee Harvey Oswald #2 kills J.F.K. #2 because they are
professional rivals; LHO has in a Machivellian scheme managed to
convince JFK2 to take on the role, and has arranged for himself
to play LHO; he switches out the prop gun for a real gun, and
plans to escape the next day when the ship docks in Bermuda.
This is Stace Ackerman's initial theory, based on conversations
she has with L.H.O. #2 and with other actors who have been
listen to him waxing way too intense about how much he hates
J.F.K. #2. This theory unravels as Stace Ackerman — at this
point all alone in her investigation — probes further.
Second layer of conspiracy: “the LHO over-identifier”
The bullet holes in the seats of the limousine, as well as the
phone camera footage, suggest that LHO #2 was actually trying
to kill Lilian Moran, whose Kennedy: What Really Happened
exhaustively debunks any possibility that Lee Harvey Oswald was
actually involved in the Kennedy assassination. The actor
playing LHO#2 is a staunch, rabid Republican, and worships LHO
as a personal hero, meaning he takes Moran’s book as a personal
and ideological assault. He plans to shoot her, and escape the
next day when the ship docks in, etc. Stace reaches out to
Lilian, and manages to partway convince her of this theory, at
least enough to have her join the investigation.
Third layer of conspiracy: “the rival conspiracies”
Stace and Lilian discover that, while LHO#2 was indeed trying to
kill Lilian Moran, he did so at the suggestion of Aleksantari
Christodoulopoulos, the cruise liner magnate who has
orchestrated the cruise as a pet project, inviting his favourite
conspiracy theorist, Lillian Moran, as a celebrity guest; and
then she publishes a scathing review of Christodoulopoulos’s own
fairly shoddy and hysterical JFK-assassination book in a major
newspaper. Infuriated and drunk with power, he plans to have her
killed. He is surprised at how easy it is to get L.H.O. #2 to do
it, but when the plan fails and J.F.K. #2 is murdered by
accident, he descends into an increasingly frantic cover-up
scheme, all the while with Lilian Moran and Stace Ackerman on
his tail.
#Post#: 41--------------------------------------------------
Re: Preparatory notes & discussion
DIR By: matthew
Date: June 14, 2020, 1:20 pm
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Casting:
Mos Def?
Mackenzie Davis?
Katherine Waterston?
Matthew Lillard?
Awkwafina?
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