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.
This was the standard Modus Operandi during raids for captives and loot by Eastern Indians (especially the Shawnees), who killed the infants because they did not want their locations given away by the crying. The various captivity narratives are filled with these types of barbarous killings...
Whoa...can I find that book on the shelves at Barnes and Noble or Borders? I think not...
Probably closer to the truth, but I imagine the film portraying the Indians as victims of the violent colonists.
Maybe she was just sending them a message in a language they understood.
I didn't know you could splice the bloodline that much?
My great grandmother was Cherokee...whatever that makes me.
You think Wes Studi is cute..?....or Michael Mann :)
He's the stuff of nightmares...especially in Last of the Mohicans
...Now that other Indian...Uncas (Eric something)....oh my.
Great comment...
Interesting thread Pharmboy. I have several relatives that lived in Haverhill at that time.
Relatives who also were killed or captured by Indians there and other areas of New England in 1600s.
Actually the name tickled a memory cell and sure enough, he is mentioned in Fehrenbach's Comanches.
Qanah Parker had the last laugh on everyone, though.
Wow, she was a regular Lady Rambo. I hope this film does get made, although one can expect the multicultural crowd to make the usual noises.
Excellent...I'm sure if you traced your geneaology you would find that you have some Dunston blood in you.
For some reason, this story strikes me as one you'd find interesting.
Have done 30 years of genealogy research. Some really great stories.
Abenaki Indians, who killed her infant daughter by bashing the baby's head against a tree.
In the new version. The child will be killed by an evil corporation run by a white Christian. Or the baby will live in harmony with the indians, jumping through gum drop field and swimming in chocolat erivers.
Now THERE's an unfortunate name!
Cheers!
Well, I had relatives kidnapped tortured and had their infant killed by Indians in the 1770's (and their 6 yr old kidnapped and kept as a slave for 3 years)- but killing and scalping 10 Indians/renegades is this woman's claim to fame. No wonder it appeals to Hollywood. A 17th century slasher flick
"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."
Nice job, Hannah!
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