"Hitler's Folly"

I recall that my first intense introduction to Adolf Hitler was in high school. I was reading "900 Days" - I believe that's what it was called - about the German siege of Leningrad, written by Harrison E. Salisbury. After that book, I was hooked - then I read the famous book "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany" by William L. Shirer.

When cable came into our lives, I was constantly watching the History Channel, or as some have called it, "the Hitler Channel."

Now mind you, I'm a staunch liberal who loves democracy, but the whole Nazi mindset was very fascinating to me. The regimentation, the brainwashing of an entire nation, the super-weapons, the fashion, and just the whole personification of Evil.

Then, about a year ago, I read something that said Hitler was a big "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" fan. In fact, he watched it many times. The image of this totally evil guy laughing at the dwarfs as they play with the cute forest animals made my brain turn inside out.

His early career as an artist and his love for Disney inspired me to wonder what would have happened if his art career had been more successful and he had turned to animation? Not that far-fetched!

So as soon as I finished "Cheatin'", I began in earnest to write a script for my new (and much lower budgeted) mockumentary film about Hitler's animation career, and I'm calling it "Hitler's Folly".

The film will be primarily a faux documentary using archival WWII footage, Hitler's early artwork and a few animated shorts "made" by the fuhrer. We will also have some live action sections that we're casting now. The biggest problem is finding a Hitler look-alike - either the guys are too shy to claim their twinship, or they're in denial.

Already the film is causing waves - 3 of my studio staffers have quit because they were so offended by the project.

But I believe it will be one of the funniest projects I've ever worked on. It's so outrageous and absurd - I'll announce its progress in this blog.

Keep tuned in,

Bill P.