On the run for 40 years, Wright's tale has what it takes for screen success. But such storytelling needs a conscientious approach
If the story of George Wright, the convicted murderer captured this week in Portugal after 40 years on the run, has not yet been optioned by an enterprising producer, then the film industry has really missed a trick. From a cinematic storytelling perspective, this tale has everything. Wright, who had participated in a spree of armed robberies, was imprisoned for the murder of the service station owner Walter Patterson in 1962, only to escape from the Bayside state prison farm in Leesburg, New Jersey, in 1970. Already you've got the heist movie and the prison break-out movie covered. That's a big market: expressed in mathematical terms the potential audience would be (fans of Bonnie and Clyde) + (fans of The Shawshank Redemption). And only a fool would rule out defenders of Buster.
But there's more.
If the story of George Wright, the convicted murderer captured this week in Portugal after 40 years on the run, has not yet been optioned by an enterprising producer, then the film industry has really missed a trick. From a cinematic storytelling perspective, this tale has everything. Wright, who had participated in a spree of armed robberies, was imprisoned for the murder of the service station owner Walter Patterson in 1962, only to escape from the Bayside state prison farm in Leesburg, New Jersey, in 1970. Already you've got the heist movie and the prison break-out movie covered. That's a big market: expressed in mathematical terms the potential audience would be (fans of Bonnie and Clyde) + (fans of The Shawshank Redemption). And only a fool would rule out defenders of Buster.
But there's more.
- 9/28/2011
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
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