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I stumbled on this story, reading today’s Times and I immediately thought it would make a wonderful film… Take a look at the following snippet:
A Dazzling Priest’s Lurid Fall, to Drug Case Suspect – New York Times
From the time he joined the priesthood three decades ago, he seemed destined to become a star. As a confidant to two bishops and then as the erudite and clubbable pastor of two churches, Msgr. Kevin Wallin was a towering figure in the Roman Catholic Church in southwestern Connecticut. Parishioners felt buoyed by his homilies. They hungrily signed up for his far-flung spiritual pilgrimages, flocked to church fund-raisers to catch his melodious voice interpreting show tunes. He attended opera with a man who would become a cardinal and he himself appeared bound for a bishop’s miter. But then about two years ago troubling questions began to be whispered. He acted odd. He was thinner. He walked stooped over. He was absent. Was he sick? Or dying? And then the spicy talk about suspicious men trooping in and out of the rectory. Finally, last month’s revelation. The priest was locked up, charged with dealing crystal methamphetamine. At a time when priests from California to Delaware have been accused of loathsome deeds, the allegations against Monsignor Wallin, the former pastor of the Cathedral of St. Augustine in Bridgeport, are of a notably different dimension: that he was a drug dealer and addict who was buying an adult novelty shop to launder ill-gotten proceeds, a priest who was cross-dressing and having sex with men. (Read More)
The problem that came to my mind immediately was the following… Should the film be a tragedy? A comedy? A tragicomedy?
Who should direct it? Michael Haneke? Terry Gilliam? Stephen Spielberg? The Coen brothers? Or David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker?
Who would you cast as Father Wallin? Matt Damon? Ryan Gosling? Michael Bublé? Or Peewee Herman?
I really would love readers to riff on this one!
5 Comments
It is a great storyline with a nice twist. I see it as a kind of David Lynch piece, ala ‘Blue Velvet”. Creepy and probably a tragedy. In the end it’s chances as a comedy are slim, as it’s just not that funny, no matter how jaded or cynical we’ve become. Unless youtake it over the top. Still, not that funny. Certainly there can be some dark humor, like the padre first making the decision to open an adult emporium to fund his habit, but in the end, he’ll have to go down even farther. Maybe he becomes an underworld kingpin in his own right. The best he can hope for is to be defrocked, and retreat to the boozy, drug-addled world of the underworld. I see him dropping to the street, offering his sagging ass to any takers for the price of a fix. I like Liam Neeson or Colin Farrel, (if you’re going for the younger audience), for the protagonist.
The Vatican Connection or The Monsignor goes Bohemian. Directed by Tim Burton staring Johnny Depp.
I’m sorry, but I don’t find methamphetamine addiction funny at all. I’ve seen the effects of it up close and personal. People who lost everything, families torn apart, violence, bizarre behavior, and worse. And one well-known side-effect of this addiction is compulsive sexual behavior.
Or maybe you find this story potentially humorous because the addict was a priest. Would it be so if he was a Great Liberal politician, a prime minister, a LGBT activist, a noted film maker?
I, for one, would have absolutely no interest in the movie, no matter whom the subject is. Too damned depressing for me.
Tragedy then, Michael Haneke to direct, who do you cast as Father Wallin?
There are a number of former Catholics — particularly those of the GLBT persuasion — who would find this full of schadenfreude.
I’m betting David Ehrenstein would do it.