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.