The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly (Based on Jean-Dominique Bauby) <—PDF of Script.

Jean-Dominique Bauby was a well-known French journalist, author and editor of the French fashion magazine ELLE.

On 8 December 1995 at the age of 43, Bauby suffered a massive stroke. When he woke up twenty days later, he found he was entirely speechless; he could only blink his left eyelid. Called locked-in syndrome, a condition where the mental faculties remain intact but most of the body is paralyzed. In Bauby’s case his mouth, arms, and legs were paralyzed, and he lost 60 pounds (27 kg) in the first 20 weeks after his stroke. Despite his condition, he wrote the book The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by blinking when the correct letter was reached by a person slowly reciting the alphabet.

In 2007, painter-director Julian Schnabel released a film version of it. This is the screenplay, and it is another beautifully written – adaptation this time. The “script,” just took my breath away.  What I’m getting as time goes on, from reading these rather gutsy, heart-filled, more perceptive than is sane, writers’… is…. this….

Ya better get in life, live it, let everything hit you and work on you. Feel every, any emotion, let the sun burn. Because…..it’s the only way you are going to have anything substantial to say and a way to say it that has substance.

Screenwriters (when they’re good) are the absolute kahuna in the room. And if I never make another film, there I said it.

So for every production person, producer, or actor that thinks they’re not? You’re kidding yourself.

This adaptation is so good, it could be framed.

I just saw the damn film.

Brilliant work Ronald.