By RAY KELLY
An as-yet-unproduced screenplay by Devin Lucas focusing on the Mercury Theatre on the Air radio production of War of the Worlds is gaining attention on the West Coast.
Orson’s War recently won a professional table read through Coverfly — something the Southern California writer hopes will move the 112-page script closer to production. Sean Astin (Rudy, The Lord of the Rings) will read the part of Welles. (Note: The table read is open to Wellesnetters, see the details below.)
Lucas’ script takes an approach quite different than Nicholas Meyer’s The Night That Panicked America or Michael Dowling and Jody Lambert’s Brave New Jersey.
Part mockumentary and part reenactment, the witty Orson’s War finds Welles and his Mercury Theatre troupe decades later reflecting on the planning, broadcast, and aftermath of the infamous 1938 radio drama.
“The idea to write a script about War of the Worlds had been floating around my head for 10 years, but I could never find the right point of view to tell the story from that hadn’t already been done. Then one night it popped into my head… ‘why not let Orson Welles tell the story himself?’,” Lucas said. “Inspired most by F for Fake and The Trial, I combined different elements and created Orson’s War.”
He added, “A mockumentary style runs throughout, and dramatic recreations of the actual events fill in the rest. As there was nobody there that night left to interview for research, I tried my best to tell the story in Orson’s ‘voice’ with a little of the Welles flair. What resulted was something I hope Orson Welles would be pleased with… a fake about a phony about a fake! The story was made even more timely by the events of the past few years in the United States. War of the Worlds was for sure fake news.”
The script for Orson’s War finds Welles sometime in the early 1970s recalling the broadcast. Lucas has clearly done his homework into Welles’ career in the late 1930s and the story has actors portraying John Houseman, Paul Stewart, Howard Koch, Frank Readick, Bernard Herrmann and William Paley.
With the permission of the Welles Estate, Lucas submitted his script to various film festivals and screenwriting contests. It was nominated for Best Screenplay in the Irvine International Film Festival writing contest and more recently won the Coverfly contest in which the winner ‘s screenplay is performed by professional actors at a live table read with potential producers invited.
The Coverfly table read is done in partnership with the Screen Actors Guild and The Storytellers Conservatory. It is scheduled for Friday, June 26, at 2 p.m. PT.
Normally, a table read would be done in-person, but due to the current pandemic the Orson’s War reading will be conducted as a Zoom meeting.
Coverfly and Lucas are allowing Wellesnet readers the opportunity to watch the table read at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81560256942?pwd=bmluSkQzVFpDb3VrSEhiYUxKVlBZQT09 The meeting ID is 815 6025 6942 and the password is 765419.
A self-professed film geek, Lucas has had a lifelong interest in the War of the Worlds radio show.
“Growing up I was always fascinated with the War of the Worlds broadcast. I had it on a record that I played until the grooves were worn out. I hadn’t discovered Citizen Kane or any of the films yet, but I recall being aware that the lead voice in the radio play was the big guy in the wine commercials,” he said.
Lucas added, “I became a Welles fan in my teen years, upon finally seeing Kane. I already had filmmaking aspirations and the style of Citizen Kane inspired me. It would be a few more years before I discovered the bulk of his work. I was an usher at New York City’s legendary Film Forum when they ran an eight-week Orson Welles festival, and I took in as many as I could when not on the clock.”
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