Truth? Is there anything I can say is the truth about this project? Am I looking for a particular truth? Is it already formed in my mind, prefabricated for a predictable outcome. I ask myself this. I make no excuses for the flaws of John Keehan. I want to let the story tell itself. In order to do that I need all the parties involved to be willing to participate. I take no sides, I play no favorites. Am I fascinated ny Keehan? Yes, most of us are. Was he my hero? I do not think I ever had a hero to speak of, maybe Martin Luther King, maybe Malcolm X or Amilcar Cabral. Only thing Keehan has in common with them is he is dead also.
It was curiosity that lead me to this project. It was the truth stranger than fiction. It was the man who dies with an incomplete legacy, a markerless grave. A neglected history, a misunderstood life? Maybe? A squandered life? Anakin and Darth Vader of the martial arts? When he was good, he was very good, and when he was bad, he was awful…or something like that.
We humans seem to be fascinated with the underworld, the dark side of life, those areas in which we dare not dwell. We have no problem living it vicariously through the lives of others. Maybe this is a healthy thing. we see forbidden pathways and want the tales of what it was like to travel it. I am sure there is some dark psychology here somewhere. All I can do is make the best film I can, from my heart, get it all good bad and horrific.
I want to talk to Bill Aguiar III, Ashida Kim, and anyone that I think can contribute to this story in a significant way. I am not part of anyones wars. I want the Green Dragons to come forward and finally tell their side of the story. I need these peopel to tell the whole story and many many more. To me this is an opportunity to tell a story that will close a chapter that has reamind open for 36 years and tell a century long history of martial arts in the midwestern United States.
I got questioned about my commitment to the truth regarding Keehan/Dante. What I like about John, I will always like about him. What I dislike about him will be evident in the film.
He lost his way. Where is the lesson in this for all of us. In this there is a cautionary tale I think.
That is what I am thinking about this morning, after a conversation I had yesterday and after awaking from a dream of a getting trapped in a gym where a Gorgeous George looking midget tricked me into signing up for some wrestling matches 5 minutes before fight time when I wa supposed to be at working out on the treadmill. What duh hell did I eat for dinner???
