Vicki Von Stroheim

Birthday: 11-22-48
Came back form Europe to film "Sunset Blvd." Father and Grandmother worked with several authors who wrote about Erich. Film Festival in Italy that only showed Stroheim films. Letter's to wife, son and other son. Half brother is Erich Jr. Her father is Joseph Erich Von Stroheim. He was a very funny man but appeared stern around the studio. Joseph was a combat photographer in WWII, he wasn't allowed to wear dogtags out of fear of capture and blackmail. Von Stroheim festival in Brazil and her other grandfather, Taylor Trumbo, got sent down by the LA Times and he was at a table with people from different papers trying to get a story and he shows a picture of Vicki and her sister. Most of the letters got sent to the Academy of Motion Picture arts and Sciences archives. Wants us to pursue and find out who put his Hollywood Star next to a rental car place. He had a foot fetish. There's a picture of him sucking on Vicki's toes. Denise controlled Erich's diet and they would take their own food with them places. Vicki has a helmet and a sword that is from a costume of Erich's. Denise says that Erich's shoes were always polished because of his military background and attention to detail. Joseph was the same way. Erich Von Stroheim was Jewish and on a shoot overseas they had a private audience with the Pope, all the guards thought that Joseph was a prince because he had a sword from military school on his belt. Changed his name on Ellis Island is true. Worked in New York at a haberdashery making hats. Didn't come to America with the intent to make films.

A new scene idea I had is for as an opening scene would be to have a tight shot on his Hollywood star and as it zooms pulls in appearing very victorious and proud to have a car drive over it and the camera can pull out to show the hustle and bustle of current Hollywood.

Four Page Treatment - Untitled Project

Morning. A man wakes up and rolls over in bed only to view an empty space next to him that clearly has been slept in before. He lets out a long sigh followed by a short whimper as he pulls himself together and builds up the strength to get out of bed. He puts on his slippers and robe and shuffles through a large well decorated home until he reaches the kitchen. He opens the refrigerator and grabs the half gallon of milk taking a drink. His face goes sour and he spits the lumpy milk back into the carton and places it back in the refrigerator. He then begins a coffee pot. While it brews we see him shuffle back through the house when his eye catches something on the wall. He grabs a frame off the wall smashing it to the ground and then falls to his knees sobbing and apologizing to the picture which we can now see is his wedding photo. He then finishes getting ready, wearing a brown tweed suit he grabs his coffee mug and gets into his small economy friendly car and begins his commute to work.

Louis is a working class man whose wife just left him for another man. He thought his wife was his best friend and now he is beginning to realize that his friends have always been an illusion. He gets fired from his job because frankly, he isn’t a good worker anymore and he is too old to be in the job he is in. Down on his luck, he meets a couple of high school stoners at a park and is promptly arrested for possession of marijuana. 

Night. Louis gets in his car and drives to a back alley where he parks. As he walks he sees heroin addicts and homeless people having sex in the streets. He presses forward until he finds a little dive bar hidden behind the alley. As he approaches a man speaks up asking for a drink. Louis fearfully ignores the man and runs inside. After explaining to the bartender that he has never drank anything except what his cheating whore wife used to give him. The bartender mixes him a few specialty drinks. On the way out of the bar Louis hears some profound words from the same homeless man who reached out for a drink earlier. Louis begins to talk with the man and as he returns night after night a rapport is built until a week later Louis invites Al, the homeless man, to move in with him.

Louis and Al begin a strange relationship in which Al is coaching Louis on how to stand up for himself and stop being a pushover. As the first few weeks go by and Louis realizes that he needs a job to pay the bills he finds himself at a fast food restaurant where he happens to work with one of the high school stoners. He begins to hang out with him and the other stoner outside of work at his home with Al. One night when getting completely stoned the boys have an idea to turn the home into a party mansion and charge admission to pay the bills. The property damage and degrading of the home his ex-wife decorated breaks Louis down until one day he snaps and cancels the parties in a bit of crying hysteria. Al and the boys help him restore the house to the best of their abilities but Louis is so bi-polar on the topic they aren’t sure if the parties will continue. They discuss dreams and goals and their lives. We find out that Al has a deep background filled with happy memories and when he was laid off he turned to drugs and lost everything. He speaks of a childhood home in a beautiful suburban neighborhood that was later condemned because of drug use. The high schoolers fade in and out of Louis’ life as they go to school, juvenile detention centers, house arrest, and ultimately just fry their brains on drugs and alcohol. Al continues to do hard drugs and Louis really feels love for his friends and wants them to clean up and become better. Help him pay the bills, and make a safe home for all of them. But it fails. They won’t shape up. They won’t listen. And worst of all one night when Louis gets home from a late shift he finds that they home is filled with people and they are all just doing drugs. He is in a panic to clear the house out and is ready to ultimately put Al back on the streets when the doorbell rings. Fearful of cops everyone is hiding. He answers the door only to find his ex-wife standing there with a black eye and swollen face. After an explanation from her they agree to get back together but she kicks out Al. But as time passes Louis misses Al and regrets choosing his ex over Al. He asks around but no one has seen Al for over a week.

Evening. Louis lies to his boss about being sick and leaves work an hour early. He drives into a rough neighborhood and we see a lot of drug use through the windows. He pulls up to a home that his boarded up and he gets out. Using a piece of metal he finds on the porch he breaks off the cross boards and gains entry to the house. Calling out for Al he hears nothing. As he enters an upstairs bedroom doorway he smells something terrible. He looks to his side only to see Al, dead on the floor with needles in his arms. He cries over the passing and calls the coroner’s office to come get the body. He returns home and after being bitched out by his wife he tells her off and stands up for himself. He leaves this time and packs all of his belongings into his car. His wife is angry and then a crying mess, apologizing and begging but it’s too late Louis is gone.

Louis knew that Al wanted to be cremated and returned to his family. So after receiving the ashes he takes the urn on a trip to Northern California. Louis explains his story holding back tears as he does so to Al’s mother and two sisters, nieces and nephews. A year later he has a job he tolerates and buys the home he found his best friend deceased in and moves it to a neighborhood that is nice but similar to the old location. The final image is Louis making eye contact with a cute female neighbor as they stand on their porches. THE END.

"The Elevator" - Short Film

Aside from writing the film, I also worked as assistant director, gaffer, dolly operator, actor stand in, script supervisor and extra.

Erick Von Stroheim Treatment

Open on a black and white silent film style close up shot of Erick Von Stroheim. He looks distraught and scared. As he stares blankly we hear a voiceover of him reading one of the letters he wrote to his wife and kids while he was in France with his mistress. We see his eyes move and his hand reaches for where his eyes point out of frame. His hand returns but this time to his head revealing a German WWII pistol. His hand shakes as he points the barrel at his head. He is sweating and crying. He begins to struggle and then he stops. He lets out a sigh of relief and his hand drops with the gun in it as the letter finishes being read.

Title screen: VON STROHEIM

We cut to him at an older age sitting on a couch next to an older Gloria Swanson. They sit watching "Queen Kelly" and they both look like it is torture. Erick stands up in agony and we hear a director yell cut and the frame opens up to reveal they are filming. Gloria goes on about how he can't possibly be doing this again and they scream at one another about his termination from the set of "Queen Kelly" twenty years earlier. Erick goes on to say that she doesn't realize that she is disrespecting royalty and goes on about his immigration to Ellis Island and his relationship to Austrian nobility. Portrayed by a scene of him on Ellis Island and when asked his name he triumphantly gives his full title and the man taking names is drastically unimpressed.

Next we cover his roots in Hollywood from working with D.W. Griffith to his own rise to fame. We portray his attitude growing as he began to be more famous. Show him getting the job for "Queen Kelly" and then cut to him becoming an actor because he can't be hired as a director anymore.

Show him writing as an older man. He looks off his balcony and can see the Eiffel Tower. He sits with his mistress smiling and happy. But the letter is longing to be with his wife. His mistress asks about his parents and he tells her the story of his birth and upbringing. He explains his name change. But he is not ashamed, he still seems overly proud. But then his face drifts to weakness and he is now laying down on his bed. He tries to smile as he receives a Legion of Honor Pin but he is too weak. 

Throughout our interviews we should get most of these things said by people who know his life. In that case we will show them to move the story along but for anything we must fill in we can do reenactments. I recommend doing reenactments regardless of interviews for the first scene on the set of Sunset Boulevard and for the last scene of him in France.

My Personal Project

I am currently working on a screenplay for an original idea which I would like to produce. It is a full length feature about a man who goes through a divorce and must find his way in a life that he has never fully understood in the first place. I am currently about 45 pages in on the script and plan on it being around 110-120 pages.