Do you remember it? Oh my! One of my all time favorites!
Released in 1984 I saw it maybe when I was 15-16, so about 13 years after it was released. You have to understand though, I was in post communist Romania so we were still way behind other developed countries. Everything I saw in the movie was sparkling and wonderful, although it was over a decade old.
I remember even now the way I felt when I saw it and how my wanna be inner writer fell in love with Joan Wilder, her books and her story. Even now, all this time later I enjoy watching it although I must have seen it way too many times.
I enjoy the story, the characters, the world that the writer, actors and producers have created. Even now I chuckle at Joan’s first bus ride in Columbia. Or my heart skips a beat when Joan and Jack meet.
The magic of stories and their ability to transform us.
When I saw the movie as a teenager I hoped and dreamed and wished I would become her, or something similar when I grow up.
I am all grown up now. I am older than Joan was in the movie and sadly I still am not a best selling author. Am I sad about it? Yes I am, I will not lie. At the same time though, I can only be grateful for what I was able to accomplish so far and not give up on my dream.
I was able to build a decent life for myself, and, although I am getting longer in the teeth, there is still time and there will be time until there is no more time.
While writing this post I looked up the actual writer of the screenplay, the writer that created the writer that I fell in love with, and I found out her heart breaking story.
To my shame, all these years I was only concerned with the creation and never with the creator. Isn’t that something? The power of the story.
As it turns out, sadly, Diane Thomas, the creator that wrote Romancing the Stone died just one year later after the film was released (1984), in October 1985.
I find that so sad and I am so sorry for her and for all the work that we now do not have. So maybe this is a cautionary tale, to stop postponing, to stop procrastinating because we are so frail that you just never know.
I do not want to finish this post on a sad note. I want to celebrate Diane Thomas and her work. She left us something wonderful, and together with the other people that worked on the movie and brought her story to life, they have touched and moved the hearts of millions.
If you did not see the movie, I wholeheartedly encourage you to look it up, it is available on some of the streaming platforms. It will transport you into a world that, hopefully, will bring you as much joy as it brought, and still brings, me.
I knew Diane. She wrote the script while working as a waitress at the crab shack in Malibu. Died drunk with her new boy toy at the wheel of the Porsche Michael Douglas gave her as a bonus for writing "Jewel of the Nile," the sequel. At least she likely never felt the impact, since the boy toy (who had a 0.21 blood alcohol) was doing over 100 mph when he went out of control and wrapped it around a telephone pole out on Highway 1 beyond Malibu. She "won the lottery," everybody was so happy. A dreamer who got the brass ring. Sad sad sad. The movie does still work. The "attitude" was all Diane.