Armistead Maupin - Maybe the Moon

Dear Di ,

Gee, it was terrific to see you at the tribute last week. You and Roger both looked great, and it was good to hear the new screenplay is coming along so well. Tell Marty hes a fool if he doesnt shoot the third act as written .

The enclosed notebooks are sent to you in strictest confidence for reasons youll understand as soon as you read them. Theyre the diaries of Cady Roth, the dwarf we hired for the additional movement sequences in Mr. Woods. Remember? They were delivered to me, at her instruction, by one Jeff Kassabian, who turned up here several days ago in a T-shirt that depicted Clark Kent and Dick Tracy kissing each other. (All will be explained in the manuscript.) Cadys very illin a coma at a hospital in the Valleyif she hasnt already passed away .

Bear with me. Im sending you this because I value your opinion more than any other and because your own brilliant mythology looms large in the story that (I hope) youre about to read. I could be way off the deep end here, but I think this material could be the basis for an important film. That may surprise you when you read it, since Im cast as kind of a heavy, but Im sure youll understand my excitement over the chance to reflect ironically on the ramifications of my own workof our work. This could be a small film that would stand as a wise and elegant companion piece to a mainstream classic without detracting from it in any way. No director in my memory has ever done this, so Id like to be the first to try. Of course, certain elements of the story would have to be altered for legal and dramatic purposes, but the central idea is extremely appealing to me. See what you think, anyway. Look at this as raw material and go from there. Youre obviously the only one to write the movie .

Lucy would want me to send you her love .

Philip

Dear Philip ,

I actually woke this morning thinking about those diaries, so I guess its time I told you I think youre onto something big. The idea of this tiny, ambitious, infuriating, lovable woman who is both enslaved and ennobled by an icon of popular culture is one that seems completely fresh to me. At the same time, its old-fashioned and highly moral in the best sort of Dickensian way. There is, as well, a liberal feminist subtext that suits me to a T, as you no doubt recognized when you sent it to me .

I presume youll want to fictionalize the story, so were dealing more in terms of a modern parable than a docudrama. This would give us the freedom to play and explore our themes more fully without the attendant legal hassles. (Its fascinating to consider what Mr. Woods might become in this new version. An interplanetary creature? A troll who lives under a bridge?) In any event, the fact that youre holding a mirror to your own lifes work, much as Fellini did in 8 1/2, wont be lost on anyone in the critical establishment .

The trick will be to keep our heroine fully human, to position the audience at her level, on her side through it all, without resorting heavily to low-level camera angles. (Not that you would, my love.) I hardly need tell you that such an off-the-wall character, particularly a central one, has to be set amid familiar and reassuring points of reference, so that the audience will accept her into their hearts with the same matter-of-factness with which Jeremy accepted Mr. Woods. To this end, here are a few thoughts :

How wed are we to Cadys romantic life? The sex scenes made me extremely uncomfortable, and I can assure you I wont be the only woman wholl feel that way, however priggish that makes me sound. It seems to me the real relationship in the diaries is between Cady and Renee, two women held hostage by their own bodies for entirely different reasons. Thats where the crux of the drama lies, thats what we should build on. If I were God here, the central romantic relationship would be between Renee and Neil. I felt there was potential for that all along, and I would find it far more intriguing (and moving, ultimately) if Cady were acting as a sort of witty mediator between the full-sized lovers. We dont want to know who she fucks. We really dont .