• Location: Hobbiton
• Mood: pleasantly tired
• Music: Spooky talking to Hubero

"Hell is empty, and all the devils are here"

Just saw what is very near to the final cut for the full-length trailer (something like draft 13) for The Drowning Girl. I'm sort of dumbstruck that we actually did this thing, all of us who were there acting and filming and photographing and directing and running errands, and all of those who kindly donated to the Kickstarter project and made it possible. Wow. I hope it will debut on my website (and elsewhere) on March 6th.

Spooky and I watched Julie Taymor's The Tempest. A pox on the critics who panned this film! It's truly one of the most beautiful film versions I have ever scene of a Shakespearian play. Helen Mirren is a miracle to behold as Prospera, truly, truly, truly. And I have never seen a better Ariel than Ben Whishaw's. Never. Then again, never have I seen cosmicism in Shakespeare! But here it is. The music, the songs, are handled with great care and skill, and Beth Gibbons' closing vocals over the end credits were...I feel I'm doing the film a disservice by heaping all this hyperbole upon it. Okay. How's this. Djimon Hounsou's Caliban is, in fact, excellently played, but...I have the same reservations I have with almost all Calibans: he simply was not monstrous enough. All my life, I've wanted to play Prospero or Caliban. Now, I'm imagining Sycorax's daughter. There could be a whole new play in a forgotten daughter, could there not? Or a novel? sovay? nineweaving?

And now, back to Bag End, as Gandalf tells Frodo the truth about the Ring...