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Movie makers interested in Hannah Duston story
Eagle-Tribune ^ | August 23, 2006 | Shawn Regan

Posted on 08/24/2006 3:02:10 PM PDT by 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.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: Massachusetts; US: New Hampshire; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: abenakis; godsgravesglyphs; hannahduston; hollywood; indians; kidnapping; savagery
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Interesting.
1 posted on 08/24/2006 3:02:11 PM PDT by Pharmboy
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To: Pharmboy

Paging Milla Jovovich. Milla Jovovich, line 1, please.


2 posted on 08/24/2006 3:05:25 PM PDT by Thrusher ("...there is no peace without victory.")
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To: Pharmboy

THE REDEEMED CAPTIVE RETURNING TO ZION is an interesting account similar to this in some ways. Same time period, the Indians were proven to be heartless murderers and quite savage.


3 posted on 08/24/2006 3:05:36 PM PDT by RaceBannon (Innocent until proven guilty: The Pendleton 8)
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To: indcons; Chani; thefactor; blam; aculeus; ELS; Doctor Raoul; mainepatsfan; timpad; ...
RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington Ping list

Please freepmail me to get ON or OFF this list.

4 posted on 08/24/2006 3:06:16 PM PDT by Pharmboy (Every single day provides at least one new reason to hate the mainstream media...)
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To: RaceBannon

You must be mistaken...they were all harmless, lovable beings communing with nature and only became EVIL after the white man came here. /sarcasm


5 posted on 08/24/2006 3:07:59 PM PDT by Pharmboy (Every single day provides at least one new reason to hate the mainstream media...)
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To: All

Sounds like Wes Studi will be in another picture. You can bet he'll be one of the villans.


6 posted on 08/24/2006 3:09:14 PM PDT by Bringbackthedraft (If Bin Laden kidnapped Jimmy Carter, would you care?)
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To: Pharmboy

Why'd she slay her infant girl so brutally?


7 posted on 08/24/2006 3:09:18 PM PDT by ExcursionGuy84 ("Jesus, Your Love takes my breath away.")
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To: RaceBannon
Indians were proven to be heartless murderers and quite savage - the image of the peaceful Indian is totally bogus; there is a reason they were called savages and it was not table manners.
8 posted on 08/24/2006 3:10:38 PM PDT by SF Republican
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To: ExcursionGuy84

The Abenakis killed her infant...


9 posted on 08/24/2006 3:11:41 PM PDT by Pharmboy (Every single day provides at least one new reason to hate the mainstream media...)
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To: SF Republican

But...but...what about the Indian with the tear rolling down his cheek at the pollution?


10 posted on 08/24/2006 3:11:56 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (404 Page Error Found)
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To: Pharmboy
What about the Cynthia Parker story? Much more exciting IMO.
11 posted on 08/24/2006 3:13:00 PM PDT by Alouette (Psalms of the Day: 145-150)
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To: Pharmboy
If someone bashed my newborn's head against a rock, I might change from mild mannered mom to bloodthirsty revenger too!

It has nothing to do with feminism and everything to do with the maternal instinct.....IMO

12 posted on 08/24/2006 3:14:25 PM PDT by Guenevere
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To: Pharmboy

The film maker was careful not to use the "E" word. It was "adversity" she faced. 300 years later a Hezbollah terrorist hero did the same thing to an Israeli toddler after killing the child's father. Hezbollah now seeks his release in a prisoner exchange. Should have scalped him when they caught him, IMHO.


13 posted on 08/24/2006 3:15:55 PM PDT by jschwartz
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To: SF Republican
"Indians were proven to be heartless murderers and quite savage - the image of the peaceful Indian is totally bogus; there is a reason they were called savages and it was not table manners."

Blasphemer!!!!! How dare you speak against the Church of the Politically Correct!! I'm sentence you to........................TIMEOUT!
14 posted on 08/24/2006 3:16:14 PM PDT by MPJackal ("If you are not with us, you are against us.")
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To: Pharmboy

Sounds like a fusion of
"The Searchers" and
"Lizzie Borden!"


15 posted on 08/24/2006 3:17:20 PM PDT by Grendel9
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To: Pharmboy

Not gonna happen. There's no homosexual love angle.


16 posted on 08/24/2006 3:17:30 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Guenevere

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


17 posted on 08/24/2006 3:17:32 PM PDT by Alouette (Psalms of the Day: 145-150)
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To: Pharmboy
You must be mistaken...they were all harmless, lovable beings communing with nature and only became EVIL after the white man came here.

*cough* Crow Creek *cough*

18 posted on 08/24/2006 3:18:16 PM PDT by Question_Assumptions
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To: Pharmboy

Go here to see the connection of Hannah Dustin genealogy and Cheney genealogy.

http://www.hannahdustin.com/index2.html


19 posted on 08/24/2006 3:19:08 PM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: Pharmboy
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."

That could be because you have no comprehension of how men viewed women, but simply detail in abbreviated cliches.

20 posted on 08/24/2006 3:20:31 PM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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