Movie makers interested in Hannah Duston story

Eagle-Tribune ^ | August 23, 2006 | Shawn Regan

[Pharmboy]

HAVERHILL - Several independent movie makers and script writers are interested in bringing controversial Colonial heroine Hannah Duston to the big screen. Scott Baron, CEO of Los Angeles-based Dynamo Entertainment, a new film-making company that seeks to produce as many as five low- to mid-budget movies per year, said his writers have already started developing a script about Duston "to see if we can do her story justice while creating a moving and exciting film."

Duston made history March 15, 1697, when she was kidnapped by Abenaki Indians, who killed her infant daughter by bashing the baby's head against a tree. Two weeks later on March 30, Duston escaped with her nursemaid and a young boy from an island in the middle of the Merrimack River near present-day Concord, N.H., by killing and scalping as many as 10 of her captors.

"The Colonial time and locale of the story really caught my eye," said Baron, stepson of prolific movie producer Art Levinson. "There seems to be such a reliance on weaponry, gadgets and explosions these days. But Hannah Duston's story is compelling without relying on such devices.

"This is a story not only with a strong female lead but also a solid tale of triumph over adversity and overwhelming odds," Baron said.

Hollywood has served up such recent movies based in Colonial Massachusetts as "Amistad," "The Crucible" and "The Scarlet Letter."

Benjamin Jackendoff, another Los Angeles film producer who recently worked with director Larry Cohen on "Phone Booth," is also intrigued by Duston's story, which he said he read about as a college literature student and recently in a newspaper account of her re-emergence as a controversial figure in Haverhill.

"Her story is every parent's worst nightmare," Jackendoff said. "She's a strong, complex and ambiguous character. That lends itself to a narrative that combines the very different versions of her story from Cotton Mather and the Abenaki. After working with Larry Cohen, you can't help but see the commercial potential for a thriller in a story like that."

In a version of the story by the Abenaki tribe, Duston is more blood-thirsty murderess and less victim. In the Abenaki account, she befriended members of the tribe, got several of them drunk and then slaughtered them with a hatchet as they slept.

In the Colonial version, Duston returned home to Haverhill in a canoe, and the government rewarded her with 50 pounds sterling and other gifts. In 1879, she became the first woman in America to be immortalized with a statue, and her story was told in accounts by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Cotton Mather and Henry David Thoreau. Although she is the heroine of several books, she has yet to be portrayed in a movie.

Interest in Duston's story and her past were rekindled recently when she was made official ambassador of this Saturday's battle of the bands organized by Team Haverhill and the city. Posters of Duston holding an electric guitar, in place of the axe she wields in her Main Street statue, have been hung throughout the city.

Media accounts of Duston and Haverhill have appeared in newspapers across the country since The Eagle-Tribune published a story Friday about the city's use of Duston as a symbol of its downtown revival.

"It's the ultimate feminist story," said Rebecca Day, a Massachusetts native and freelance writer who has done script development for Hallmark Entertainment and Lifetime Television. "It has all the qualities of a hot Lifetime movie. I would pitch it as 'Ransom' meets 'The Crucible.'"

Day said she is particularly intrigued by Duston's psychological makeup.

"What interests me is exploring what made her tick," Day said. "I think the story perfectly illustrates what happens when one's world turns into chaos. A person really has to go into survival mode, regardless of what role society thinks he or she is supposed to play. Although women at this time were considered second-class citizens, I think it's funny how many men so easily became her followers and admirers."

Constantine Valhouli, principal of a Bradford company that specializes in revitalizing historic urban centers and who is helping to promote the music festival, said he has spoken to representatives from New York and Los Angeles production houses about Duston.

"Hannah's story would make a good film for the same reason she makes a great symbol for Haverhill," Valhouli said. "Her story of courage and conflict is timeless. Change the details slightly and it is still happening around the world."

Day, the Los Angeles producer, said he believes Duston's story could be produced on a reasonable budget and still connect with audiences.

"The biggest issue that films like this will face is that period films are often expensive to produce," he said, noting that the most recent film of the genre, "The New World," was a critical disappointment. On the other hand, "Dances with Wolves" grossed over $424 million, and "Last of the Mohicans" made over $100 million, he said.

Haverhill reporter Shawn Regan may be contacted at 978-373-1000, or sregan@eagletribune.com.

[Pharmboy]

I know I know...that's what I hear from every single woman I say that to. All we can go by is facial features, and to our man-eyes, Cruise has better features than Pitt. This also works the other way too, in that oftentimes women do not see the sexiness of another woman that all men are hot for.

[Tax-chick]

Yes - my point was that I have a general appreciation for the Native American type, not just for the actors!

[Tax-chick]

I don't get any of those guys!

Michael Mann seems, just from that picture, to be a not-bad-looking, late-middle-aged gent.

[Guenevere]

My guess is he's your dreamguy! :)
...Good for you!!

[Tax-chick]

Just lucky!

[Guenevere]

Just lucky!...
Blessed, indeed!

[metesky]

A woman who went dhimmi and became an Indian is more exciting than a woman who overcame her captors and made good her escape?

I don't think so, but maybe I'm prejudiced having grown up in Haverhill and been surrounded by historic images of Dustin and the Colonial era.

Some historic houses from the 17th century still have what were known as "Indian shutters" that slid closed over the windows leaving only a slit for musket fire and Powder House Hill, the local repository for arms and ammo, complete with the actual Powder House is right behind the house I grew up in.

Most of the movies about our history, with few exceptions (Last of the Mohicans), are of the Western Indians when the reality is that the fight against the Eastern tribes lasted a heck of a lot longer and the odds against the Colonists were a lot higher than the odds against the Western settlers.

Metesky - HHS - Class of '62

Haverhill, Massachusetts, the town too tough to die.

[rabidralph]

Perfect!

[Hemingway's Ghost]

I hope they film this picture in Haverhill. Of course, they'd have to dodge the bullets flying all around the Acre, but there's a great gay club by the river called Friend's Landing!

[Gondring]

Article>>...Abenaki Indians, who killed her infant daughter by bashing the baby's head against a tree.

Alouette>They were just fulfilling the scriptural prophecy of Psalms 137:9.

Nope...no petrified trees in that area. ;-)

But you do make a good point at how many atrocities are mentioned in the Bible, and how things we see in today's world as horrific and barbaric and uncivilized were sometimes commanded by God.

[t_skoz]

This is the guy who should make the next revolutionary era film.

If that guy connected to "Phone Booth" gets anywhere near this project, it's going to suck. Probably one of the worst movies ever.

However, Last Of The Mohicans....

:)

[KosmicKitty]

Took the time to scalp them, did she? She sounds at least as blood-thirsty as the people who captured her and killed her child.

Payback's a b#@*h

If they killed my infant, I might be tempted to remove some other parts along w/ their scalps.

[Gothmog]

Actually, my sister did some research and claims my family is somehow related to Hannah. She told me this story some years ago. I think I'll send her this link and see what she says.

[Pharmboy]

Check out post #19 above, and click on the link. You are likely also related to Dick Cheney.

[madison10]

Why'd she slay her infant girl so brutally?

It's what enemies do. Read some of the Biblical stories of wars and conquerings, "dashing your children against the rocks" was a dire warning to the Jews. OTOH, just check out your nearest Islamic-Jihadist training camp.

[TChris]

I'm a descendant of Hannah Duston, IIRC.

[IYAAYAS]

Here's the statue of Hannah Dustin in Haverhill, MA. I too grew up in Haverhill and had heard the Hannah Dustin story since I was a kid. I grew up on the banks of the Merrimac river near the Methuen line. There is a monument at the spot where she came ashore after escaping that was erected in the early 1800's. The monument is about 100yds south of the rest area hidden by dense undergrowth on the river bank. There's probably only a handfull of people who know the monument is there (besides the neighborhood kids :) ), it's so well hidden.

Haverhill, the city that refuses to die I like that, and soo true.

[Gothmog]

Yeah, I checked it out, but it did not go into any great detail about generations more than a few removed, focusing more on contemporary relatives. But that's fine, I'll direct her to that link as well and see what she says.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

Thanks for the ping.

[Pharmboy]

My pleasure...