A Brief History of Living Forever by Jaroslav Kalfar

A Brief History of Living Forever by Jaroslav Kalfar

Author:Jaroslav Kalfar [Kalfař, Jaroslav]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 2023-03-28T00:00:00+00:00


THE YEAR IS 1987

MICHAEL AND I spent over a year developing the seed of my Newts idea into a script, then a better script, then, against all odds, a full-blown production. In October of 1987, as the passing of the tourist season thinned out the herd of visitors on the Siesta Key beaches, we began to shoot our adaptation, titled The Great Newt War. Michael had rented a 35 mm Moviecam and decided to act as his own cinematographer, a monumental addition to his directing responsibilities. Five of his film-school friends had joined us to help, in exchange for experience and free food. Then there was my counterpart, the second star of the film: Rostislav, an animatronic salamander puppet who would represent the entirety of the salamander species. Rostislav had been built by Alphonse, a disgraced Hollywood puppeteer with a gambling problem who had come to the Sunshine State seeking opportunities to remake himself. Alphonse constructed Rostislav from an old animatronic skeleton he’d stolen from the Universal lot upon his departure from Los Angeles. Spielberg had managed to make a timeless blockbuster using a beach town and a half-broken animatronic shark—why couldn’t we?

My character was Ava Andersson, a rich young widow living by the sea, finding little satisfaction in her money and the lifestyle it affords. She lives in a world on the brink of something new, as the destiny of the salamander species has become interlocked with our own. The newts have been deployed to mine for manganese, iron, copper, and nickel at the bottom of the ocean. They maintain massive fishing farms and build complicated power plants that convert tidal energy into mainland electricity. They are learning human languages, living in underwater settlements along most of the world’s major coasts. The salamander has become a part of human economy and culture, yet humans still treat newts as degenerate sea monsters with a knack for underwater engineering. This tension will soon result in a hostile takeover.

I channeled these thoughts as I shot my first scene of the film, walking around the beach near my mansion, lost within the march of modernity.



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