Life Laughter Love War Death, Vol. 2.: Five More Screenplays From the Physicist Who Discovered Dark Energy. Don't worry, these aren’t about science either.

by William Masters

Here are five more screenplays two of mine and three from my late friend Leo Bertucelli. Leo was brought to Hollywood from New York by Sidney Pollock to ghost the movie THE WAY WE WERE. Leo was a stutterer you see, and so was James Earl Jones. James and Leo had the same speech therapist in New York. At the time, James was wowing them in New York in the play THE GREAT WHITE HOPE. Sidney Pollock came to a cast party and Leo and Sidney met. Coming to Hollywood began a career that Leo had hoped would be so much more but was not meant to be. Leo would find small sucesses, but big success alluded him. Leo died in April 2017, and I want his work to survive him. Leo was a very good writer, but some things are not meant to be. Leo's life in Hollywood is partly detailed in the screenplay WHAT I DID FOR THE MONEY which can be found in my first collection of Screenplays of the same name. I'd like you to know Leo's art. Leo's three WINTER OF ILLUSION, OF TIME AND REMEMBRANCES, and DARKER SHADE OF NIGHT show Leo's skills at their best. WINTER OF ILLUSION is a family drama, in part, drawn from Leo's relationship with his own dad. Who spent a small fortune on sending his only son to Columbia University only to see him become a writer. OF TIME AND REMEMBRANCES is a brilliant Buddy drama. It was originally written for Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. It is a well written 4 person play\screenplay. Two men, and two women, yet it fills the screen with wit and deep and interesting characters. DARKER SHADE OF NIGHT is in many ways Leo's best. It is a taught psycho-drama. Four criminals enter a rich woman's home to rob her, but only she walks out. It has a great twist ending you will love. You will be glued to your seat as you read it.My small contributions, HOMO-SUPERIOUS and THE RED HARLEY are my first two scripts.THE RED HARLEY is my first work. It was written for the Harley Davidson Company. Leo had sold them on his script WINTER OF ILLUSION, but they wanted to change the ending which Leo did not want to do. I suggested that we offer them a substitute. I had an idea for an action-adventure involving a man and wife team. She is a former West Point Grad, her husband is her former Staff Sergeant. They, unwittingly, end up in possession of the Mob's stolen diamonds and are forced to flee for their lives. The Harley Davidson Motorcycle Company went with another script, you may have heard of it, HARLEY DAVIDSON AND THE MARLBORO MAN? Don Johnson and Mickey Rourke, in one big stinker of a film. As you read THE RED HARLEY, ask yourself, is this really worse than "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man"? I hope you say "No". Homo-Superious was my attempt at answering a question I asked myself. "How would the next stage in human evolution eliminate us and take over?" We Homo-Sapiens killed off the Neanderthals, but you can't do that today, so how does the human race evolve? Or do we stop evolving? So here you are HOMO-SUPERIOUS, it is how we end and the future takes over.

520 pages, Paperback

Published August 21, 2018