Marbles and Bullets - A filmmakers Reflection (Part 1)
PART 1
In reflecting on the journey of the making of the movie, Marbles and Bullets the time capsule of its creation plays like a mythological metamorphosis. The first draft of the screenplay of Marbles & Bullets was completed in the year, 2001 just as the world trade center was attacked and the United States really felt united. It was a time when all our historical struggles were fading with the smoke of 9/11 and our future with our homeland and the world was really soul-searching for a better understanding of our differences. At that time, the essence of the story was to reflect on our troubled past in a light-hearted way and support a glimmer of hope and harmony on the horizon of our future. The film is set during the American Civil War, a time of unimaginable division. Still, the story is a cinematic odyssey in that the two main characters are truly opposites on every level. One is an adult, a caucasian Confederate soldier, and the other a ten-year-old slave boy which by our review is a first in movie history. When I wrote the script the decision of story, characters, and place in time was a pure expression of the moment in time.
Richard DeWitt and Assistant shooting Marbles & Bullets in Knoxville, TN
It was going to be a movie that amusingly faced our country’s fears and at the same time, embraced our social transformation as being one with our world of differences. This script being the tenth of more than a dozen screenplays is a part of my philosophical adventure with life. It was the one script in my library of work that was going to be a one-of-a-kind story that was not solely based on entertainment value, but rather a valuable and entertaining story told in the likes of classics such as Mark Twain’s, Tom Sawyer and the subtle complexities of Tennessee Williams. Marbles and Bullets were going to be a bright-spirited, soul-searching adventure that would challenge the audience to rise above our dark and relenting history and help illuminate the healing of our wounded world. But like every good story, there is a plot twist and as the world continued to turn and burn the possibility of a unifying transformation faded into once again focusing on our differences and marching into the cycle of war which buried the intended message of the script in the dust of desire. A desire that continued to ride the tides of time when our country again attempted to crawl out of the ashes of war and divisions during the monumental political renaissance from 2009 - 2017. A time that once again, Marbles and Bullets felt like it had life, but was really clouded in a part of a false narrative that was slowly being undermined by once again the darkness of the American past that actually resented the possibility of a political and cultural renaissance. As I watched our country sink back into the darkness and division of our past history that ricocheted across the world that was consumed by a biological and psychological pandemic, I realized that the message of Marbles and Bullets was the same but that it had a different purpose.
It was the same story, but rather than being a beacon for a new cultural and political renaissance, it was now a story about looking at the darkness of our past and trying to figure out how to get back to finding the light of a much brighter future.
~Richard De Witt, Filmmaker
TL;DR:
"Unveiling the story of Marbles and Bullets: a movie ahead of its time!" The making of this movie reflects on the troubled past and a brighter future of the United States. In this cinematic odyssey, the two main characters, a Confederate soldier and a slave child are true opposites, creating a first in movie history. Read more to discover how this story, written before its time, now carries a different but still essential purpose for a much brighter future.