Yesterday I had a pleasant and unexpected chat with
Ochiltree County Sheriff Terry Bouchard
Grace and I drove to Perryton, and while she took care of her business,
she dropped me off at the sheriff's office for an impromptu and off the record visit.
While there,
the whole idea of THE movie script took a different path from what I had originally planned.
Let me explain...
from the very beginning, when I read the first word of this 2010 murder case,
I had a vision....of a movie based on this true story, set in the Texas Panhandle
after talking to Sheriff Bouchard,
I realized the movie will be more about him, and Chuckwa will take the 2nd lead
ACT I Scene I
set along the woodsy creek...two young boys are running shirtless and barefoot
with fishing poles...along the creek bed..
their spotted coon hound chasing them not far behind...
the voice of Chuckwa begins to tell the story of his childhood....
"I was raised by a coon tick hound and an appaloosa...."
ACT I Scene II
A loud bang scatters the birds from the trees at the homeplace
we hear the real 911 call from Chucwa's mother, as
the Ochiltree County Sheriff cars race
to the farm of Mike Miller....to find he has been shot dead
the manhunt begins....
when you read, do you see words or pictures?
When I read the report of this murder...I saw a movie...from the very beginning
and the story of how life can go so wrong...how can life go so wrong?
things like this don't happen very often..hardly ever in fact, in our small rural communities
IN COLD BLOOD
is a famous novel and movie about the Cutter Family Murder
in a town near us...Holcomb, Kansas.
Our local swim team competes here each summer and I have always been intrigued with this story written by Truman Capote.
As we drove home through Ochiltree County into Hansford County,
I mentally gathered my cast of characters
My school chum, actor Rex Linn, will play the part of Sheriff Bouchard
he will have to get some hair but he is no stranger to a cowboy hat or a badge
The Callisburg Kid
Robert Knott will play the part of Old Chuckwa
it hasn't come to me who will play Young Chuckwa
John Cusack will play Mike Miller...the victim
Sadly DA David Scott and Philip Seymour Hoffman are both deceased
he would have been perfect!
Defense Attorney Mike Mosely will be represented by John Lithgow
Susan Sarandon....Diane Crabtree (Chuckwa's mother)
Scott Glenn...Jimmy Crabtree (Cuckwa's dad)
*my grandad told me when I was a little girl that someday I'd be famous*
I have never cared at all for the thought of being famous as I highly regard my privacy
however...it is very appealing to me to bring opportunity to my friend and loved one Rex,
and to bring a monetary gain to our area through the making of a movie filmed on location
I have no idea if this idea in my head will ever make it past being an idea in my head
but one can never get anything done in life if they don't just go out and give it a try
It's so strange...it just all continues to continue..
and I just do the thing that grows in my chest
as if...as if...
something larger than me
is at work
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