For immediate release

 Electronic Press Kit
BACK TO INDEX

“THE LEGEND OF CRAZY GEORGE”
"An Art House Horror Flick Made Down-Home In Tennessee"
A George Furman Film
COPYRIGHT 2003 THINKINGMONKEYTHINKING

7/. Directors Statement: Legend of Crazy George 

The buckle of the Bible belt connects in Cookeville TN, at exit 286 off I-40.  It is here that God and the Devil wrestle for men’s souls and we have provided them with a venue - The Fright Factory a subterranean haunted attraction.  In the three years that I labored at the Fright Factory I meet every defective, diseased, anti-social misfit in Middle Tennessee and they – my friends - told me tales both true and legend about Crazy George. 

While building the Fright Factory sets for the final year, I summoned the key crewmembers to our secret  “Transition Chamber.” There we brave few discussed the possibility of making a film about the Legend of Crazy George.  After drinking a few beverages scorned by the church and inhaling the chambers legendary mystic air, my crew became convinced they could make the film and survive.  

Mike McCaleb (Asst Dir) and I began to write the script by doing research on the Legend of Crazy George. First, by visiting Crazy George’s bridge and relieving ourselves of the scorned beverage off the bridge railing. Drunker than Cooter Brown, McCaleb said the original legend was that George had lost his head after passing out and having the train hit him.  He now prowls the night looking to take someone head to replace his own.  Crazy George’s ghost was aided by the demonic power to make cars not start if you were dumb enough to turn your engine off on the bridge.  Despite the fact that Crazy George’s powers only seemed to work on the cars of teenagers, McCaleb chose not to park on the bridge.  We weaved our way off the bridge and by the time we got to the car we both agreed the legend needed a background. 

I cannot recall in short the tales we unearthed over the next month, but I will go directly to the point.  McCaleb and I both became afraid to write the script for fear of both the living and those who refuse to die.  The popular legend was totally wrong, nothing more than an excuse for Teeny Boppers to get scared, run off to the woods and make out.  George wasn’t even the original man’s name. The actual events which occurred at the bridge (recounted by Cecil in the pick-up truck scene) are stranger than faction. I pointed out concerns of revenge by family members of Crazy George.  McCaleb interrupted my rant, telling me I “had more jaw than a boar hogs got ass.” “Our real concern”, he said, “ should be with the super natural.”

We separated for a week, McCaleb to his telephone and me to my books.  I decided to lay the foundation of the film upon my favorite ancient text, Dante’s Inferno.  Each encounter with one of Crazy George’s friends would represent a section of Hell and Tommy (our hero played by Adam Brookfield) would be the gentle soul on an involuntary journey to the great pit. 

Then I felt compelled to address the problem of evil in order to give the film some meat.  I read a few books, but my favorite was the Problem of Pain by CS Lewis.   The idea I liked most was that every act – good or evil - propels us toward God- know it or not.  With some thought I decided to make Crazy George a metaphor for both God and the Devil, “ You better get right with George” says Pearl “ better find him before he finds you”.   I let this idea simmer. 

Passing a “Jesus is coming, R U Ready” sign in front of a local bar, it occurred to me that people never notice their surroundings.  I mean, you could be standing next to the Devil, horns, pitchfork and all, and never notice because you don’t care to notice. Cecil (Shane Cunningham) says, “Just because you choose not to see it, doesn’t mean its not there.”  That idea is echoed through out the film as Tommy (Adam Brookfield) misses the warning sighs over and over that both death and Crazy George are near.