Let's see, where did I leave off?
Last I posted, I was giving you the rundown on the interesting week we had, and I left off with Feria Friday.
Well, on Sunday we were invited to La Terraza B&B to attend a birthday party and to meet a "special guest" writer who was visiting from the states.
We love going to La Terraza. It's a beautiful place and we always have a lot of fun. The food is great and we meet some very interesting people. So of course, we were excited to go.
As we are all sitting around chatting and having a good time, the guests began to arrive one by one.
We were seated at the 2nd table with our friends, Jennifer & Curtis and Tom as a couple joined us at the table, introducing themselves as Patsy and Ron.
We all began to talk and get to know each other but nothing is being said about the "writer" and to be honest, we weren't sure if he had arrived yet. We did have some prior knowledge that the writer was associated with the Academy Award winning movie, "BlacKkKlansman" by Spike Lee. The night before I looked up the movie's screen writers and none of them matched the people at either table. As we were talking with the couple, we learned that they were from El Paso and that they were celebrating their "honeymoon". So far, still nothing about either of them being writers. So, we went on with our meal.
At some point during the conversation, Patsy said something like "I'm just going to out him" and laughed. She said "this is Ron Stallworth!" "What?" I thought to myself. The real Ron Stallworth? Ron Stallworth is the leading character in the movie and played by John David Washington (son of Denzel Washington) Ron Stallworth is the writer of the book that the movie was based on. Now, it all made sense, but what a big surprise and what an honor!
For those who are not familiar with the movie
(BTW if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it!!)
BlacKkKlansman is a 2018 American biographical crime film directed by Spike Lee and written by Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, and Lee. The film is based on the 2014 memoir Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth. The film stars John David Washington as Stallworth, along with Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, and Topher Grace. Set in the early-1970s Colorado Springs, the plot follows the first African-American detective in the city's police department as he sets out to infiltrate and expose the local Ku Klux Klan chapter.
BlacKkKlansman premiered on May 14, 2018 at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix. It was theatrically released in the United States on August 10, 2018, a day before the first anniversary of the Unite the Right rally ( a white supremacist and neo-Nazi rally that was conducted in Charlottesville, Virginia Aug 11 to 12, 2017). The film received acclaim from critics, who praised the performances (particularly of Washington and Driver). It received six nominations at the 91st Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Lee's first directing nomination), and Best Supporting Actor for Driver, and won for Best Adapted Screenplay, making it Lee's first competitive Academy Award. The American Film Institute also selected it as one of the top 10 films of the 2018, and at the 76th Golden Globe Awards it earned four nominations, including Best Motion Picture – Drama.
We chatted away with the couple, asking them all sorts of questions, which they willingly answered. They were very talkative and the conversation flowed smoothly. One of the important facts that we learned was that 80% of the movie was based completely on his experiences (click link for NPR interview) He showed us his phone with the phone number for David Duke, who he spoke with on a fairly regular basis in the past and his official Ku Klux Klan card.
He also recited the cinematic "gottcha" dialog between he and David Duke where he deceived Duke into thinking he was white! Too funny!!!
Thank you Debbie - it was quite an evening to say the least LOL!!!
Sounds like a great evening and insight to the actual events. Great conersations in paradise. Love it.
Thanks Cheryle - It was really fascinating to be able to ask any question we wanted. And it was totally a surprise to us all that he was the guest writer. Great experience!!!
Interesting! Saw this movie some time ago, and I remember being very impressed at Spike Lee's content and emphasis on the facts and the experience. The face to face for you must have been an experience in itself, although I imagine it would have been an even better experience for you if you could have put it in total context. Would have loved to have been part of the conversation, yes, just around the table and the reality of it all! Thanks for sharing!