Michael Moriarty is completing the screenplay for The Has Been, a breezy comedy about the misadventures of a grandiose actor and his eccentric entourage.
Mr. Moriarty notes that: "The Has Been is a satire on the changing nature of the entertainment business. It's about an actor trained in the legitimate theatre, as he tries to mesh with Hollywood North. His own snobbery is part of the comedy."
Mr. Moriarty is putting the finishing touches on another personal project - the film version of his stage play Hitler Meets Christ, shot entirely on location in Vancouver's Downtown East Side "combat zone."
Mr. Moriarty is seeking partners/investors for The Has Been. Serious expressions of interest should be sent to Tyman Stewart, Characters Talent Agency; tel. (604) 733-9800; fax (604) 733-6000; e-mail: tyman@canadafilm.com.
An excerpt from The Has Been screenplay is reproduced here for the first time.
______________________________________________________________________Hollywood mansion, Bel Air, day.
35 mm. It could be part of the film within the film.
An older man, perhaps 60 or 70, Laurence Montreux, is lying on an air mattress, in a pool. He's drinking and smoking and falling asleep. His cigarette falls on the mattress and the mattress explodes and he goes down into the bottom of the pool.
His Hindi house boy, ABBY, sees this and begins to shout and scream hysterically.
The bodyguard, BOBBY, doesn't seem the least bit concerned.
Suddenly, Laurence Montreux rises from the pool.
The bodyguard, BOBBY, hands Laurence a cigarette.
Credits.
During this monologue, we see excerpts of Laurence Montreux's television series.
We are now in black and white, documentary style.
Shots of the trailer camp and the trailer they live in.
Cut to aerial views of a beaten-up Mercedes Benz, driven by ABBY. Laurence Montreux is, once again, falling asleep in the back of the car. BOBBY, the bodyguard, takes the cigarette from Laurence's hand and tosses it out the window.
The four of them, ABBY, BOBBY, OPY and LAURENCE enter the restaurant at Horseshoe Bay. The headwaiter grimaces at the sight of them.
Bernard reluctantly escorts the four of them to their table.
Cut to 35 mm views of Horseshoe Bay and the mountains.
OPY is suitably intimidated. He backs off.
Cut to a view of six men outside the restaurant, one with a still camera, looking about the area.
The six men walk toward the restaurant and enter. They look around the establishment. One spies MONTREUX and looks away. Another sees MONTREUX and slowly sidles over toward him.
Once the "other" gets near MONTREUX's table, MONTREUX breaks the ice.
STRANGER TWO, the director, accepts the attention and walks over to MONTREUX.
Well, the ferries honk almost every hour. It might put a blanket on your perfection if, indeed, that, as a movie producer, is what you're after…. If you shoot your film at night, you should have no problem.
Oh, God! I'll lose this place as my watering hole for at least three days. If I owned this joint…I'd charge you an arm and a leg.