The title implies an ambitious project: "Dynamite and Roses."
And taking on broad, important themes is entirely in character for UNLV associate professor of theater Bob Benedetti, who this week closed a deal to write and produce his third movie for HBO. "Dynamite and Roses" is a working title , but is nonetheless true to its subject matter. The script will bring to life "the story of an improbable love that changed the world," to use Benedetti's description.
The story centers on crusading leaders of the late-1800s American labor movement, Lucy and Albert Parsons. At the time of their marriage, Albert was a former Confederate Army scout and Lucy had just been released from slavery.
Theirs was one of the first highly visible interracial marriages in U.S. history, joining two of the most powerful and feared figures in the labor movement. In 1886, they led a march of 80,000 workers down Chicago's Michigan Avenue, demanding an eight-hour workday. During an infamous nighttime rally at Haymarket Square, protesters committed the first recorded domestic bombing in the United States (the "dynamite" of the working title). Several protesters and police officers were killed, and though the Parsons were not present at the bombing, they were arrested and tried for inciting a riot.
During a recent phone interview from his home in Santa Monica, Calif., Benedetti said the story tells the Parsons' tale in great detail, focusing on their love for each other while intertwining the obstacles they faced while fighting for workers' rights.
"I'm going to use the love story to convey a statement: that a Hispanic, American Indian and African-American woman met and fell in love with a Confederate Army scout," Benedetti said. "It was a radical relationship in a very, very hard time."
He's working on the script now, but HBO is far from setting an air date.
Benedetti, who has been with the UNLV faculty for about a year, has written and produced several films and TV movies and has done some acting (including guest spots on "Hill Street Blues," "L.A. Law" and "Cheers"). His previous HBO projects were "The Canterville Ghost" (starring Patrick Stewart and Neve Campbell), "Miss Evers' Boys" (starring Alfie Woodard and Laurence Fishburne) and "A Lesson Before Dying" (with Don Cheadle, a former student of Benedetti's at the School of Theatre at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia). "Miss Evers' Boys" and "A Lesson Before Dying" each won Emmys for Best Television Movie, and "Lesson" also won a Peabody Award.
Benedetti has also written a novel, "The Long Italian Goodbye" (Durban House), which was published in 2005.
NoteMart
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