Dogmouth

Dogmouth - The Film by John Steppling directed by Stephan Morrow

Support a film project that is significant in these days of soul sucking rollercoaster rides and special effects or stories that drip with self-righteousness. Steppling is the most dangerous writer in America because he makes you feel uncomfortable with the easily digested ideas we have all been filled with. After two controversial but powerful stage runs and a successful video we are passionate about now bringing this truly disturbing story to the screen as a minimum budget independent film to be shot in Clifton, New Jersey this summer. To wit: a mysterious mafia of ex-Viet Nam Vets hopping freights, go against their avowed enemy and suffer the consequences while their leader Dogmouth is nearing his end from cancer and his 20 year old girlfriend is nearing childbirth. They may long for the freedom the rails' afford but the end is closing in on them - the long arm of the law is never far behind and relentless. Add to this mix, the media - insatiable in its hunger for sensationalist stories - creates them as some leviathan of an organization - and you have a story that has a nightmarish inevitability. That Steppling (who wrote '52 Pickup' with Roy Scheider and Ann Margaret directed by John Frankenheimer and mentored playwright Jon Robin Baitz) manages to also pack powerful reveries on death and dying, the measure of existence, the gap between the wealthy and the moneyless, even the survival of the fittest - is a tribute to the power of his writing. If you think of a mix of 'Dead Man Walking' (before Penn's incarceration), 'In Cold Blood' (from the pt of view of the killers), 'Cape Fear'(from Max Cady's perspective) and 'American History X' - this gives you a sense of the film. (I don't think you could find a more vile set of people and it will disturb and provoke the audience that sees it. ), but it's this kind of writing where we are forced to ponder people who we would more likely than not, find repulsive - is where the power of great stories lives. I think that when the audience is made uncomfortable and forced to examine their preconceived notions about certain kinds of people, then a story has achieved something that's rare and of real value. As Steppling is fond of saying ' Art is not your friend'. I would add that truth can be brutal. And violence, real violence, can come in small dripping measures rather than mind numbing explosions and special effects that have no meaning at all. That's also the lesson from this saga - which is based on a true story. So come join us in a project which is dark but which has some of the most evocative writing around. Support something that lives outside our comfort zone: A film that makes a difference!
Stephan Morrow, Director