BOOK TO FILM
Virga
Screenplay
INT. ART GALLERY — MOCA in LA — 1998 (PRESENT DAY)
A portion of a black and white photograph fills the screen — abstract texture of gravel and highway. The gallery is noisy with an installation in progress: HAMMERING, PEOPLE TALKING to direct the hanging of large, mural-scale photographs. Through the noise, a woman is speaking. Her calm, steady voice
gradually
clarifies until all other sounds dissolve.
- BERTIE (O.S.)
No. You know this too well. You want to kill him? Then you kill them, too. It’s not one or the other, Dennis. You know this.
The full photograph comes into view as she’s speaking. A man and his kid pose, laughing and full of life sitting on a HARLEY (SOFTAIL — early 1970s model) parked among other bikes on the side of a desert road.
Continuing to pull back, DENNIS CORBEL (28, black t-shirt and jeans) is standing still, facing the photo with his back to the room. BERTIE (Navajo, early 50s) stands beside him with her hand flat on the center of his back, between the shoulder blades. They stare forward at the photograph. This is a big day for the artist, the culmination of a decade of his work leading to a marquee installation in this esteemed arena. Although it’s a moment worthy of celebration, his demeanor…
