Designed by Elizabeth Grace Ryan, Photos by Lennox George
Well that’s a wrap for the first incarnation of ‘Slingshot Wonder’ – a short film I’ve been working on for a while now. For those who aren’t in the know, ‘Slingshot Wonder’ is a short film following the story of David and Goliath plopped straight into 1930s New York & I have to admit, it adapted to the change in setting really well.
For me it’s a story about ‘better men’. Better men were pushed aside when David was chosen by Samuel over his brothers to be the hope for the people. Better men realised their glittering titles had corrupted their hearts when Saul was denounced by Samuel (fun fact: the real mayor of New York in the 1930s was publicly reprimanded by the Archbishop of the city for similar corruption)
Audience response from our two screenings have been overwhelmingly positive and there’s been plenty constructive criticism to help me knock it into shape for the next phase: film festivals.
I don’t think any of us knew what we were getting ourselves into when we picked up the original stage play & decided that we were going to get this thing made, whatever it took. Of course it ended up as something quite different, going from play to 2.5 hour feature to 25 minute short was a difficult process but it all made sense. We created something unique & exciting, made from a slurry of elbow grease & gall where anyone else would have tried to just throw as much money at it as possible & hoped that something might stick. The process turned it into something more intimate & raw, in comparison to the full story that was far more grand & shocking.
Although I’ve seen people cheer to ‘Slingshot Wonder’ on the big screen twice now, I can’t help but imagine the film that’s still begging to be made. The one where the main character in a David & Goliath story is actually Saul, the mayor crumbling in his own Shakespearean tragedy whilst his protege rises to take his place through the raw force of faith.
When I saw the news that a big budget sword and sandals epic may be on its way I thought it would be the perfect time to tell it from a different angle. If you haven’t seen ‘Slingshot Wonder’ the short film, you’ll see what I mean soon when it goes online in its ‘festival’ form. If you already have, well in comparison to everything we have in mind for the feature, you really haven’t seen anything yet.
Volume! 