UNCLE PADDY'S WAKE

A Movie Written & Directed by Seanie Blue 

. . . the review by Hal Hinson in the Washington Post, and, below, the writer Fawaz Turki who plays the central character Uncle Paddy. Movie was the highest grossing per-screen release, according to Variety. That's because it only played one screen! At the Biograph Theatre in Georgetown. THE REVIEW.

The movie was produced by Blue, Eric Gravley and Thanda Tin, and shot in nine harrowing days of 20 hours a day on a six thousand dollar budget. Fawaz pulled a cool effort as the Paddy of the title, but probably the star of the movie was Mark Casale, who shot an then edited under extreme duress to bring the movie to the theatre hours before its first showing.  

(foto by Helmuth Humphrey) 

And never seen before, below, is an excerpt from the original story I wrote in response to a breakup with a Hungarian woman determined to be a writer but only after putting in a dozen years as an aide at a construction trade association. I was of the school that you write now, because you won't have anything to say when you retire; the Hungarian thought I was a fool. So I wrote Uncle Paddy's Wake in a week to show her what I was talking about. Then showed it to Eric Gravley, who right away thought we should make a movie. Turned it into a screenplay in another week, and got a copy to the mystery writer George Pelecanos, who called me at the bookstore where I was working the late shift. "What are you going to do with this?" asked Pelecanos. Make a movie, I said, my own movie. "Good for you," said George, and two months later we were shooting.

But here's the excerpt from the story, which is fuller and darker than the movie version:

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INT. TIM and ANNIE’S BEDROOM. Night

"Was that your mother?" asked Annie.
"Yes, it was."
"It's a little late for her to call, isn't it?"
"She never calls, period," said Tim as he slipped back into bed. "It's always we who call her, Annie.
"What did she have to say?"
"Richard is coming tomorrow morning; I'm going to pick him up."
"Good God! When is the last time you saw your brother?"
"Which, Richard or Joe?"

Annie glared at him; he knew, but wouldn't turn to face her. His chest ached. It was an innocent question: which one?

"Tim! Pay attention, for God's sake."
"What, Annie?"
"Is everyone coming to Washington?"
"Just Richard. Joe's staying in Atlanta, according to Mother.”
"What about the funeral?"
"There won't be one: Mother says the State Department told her Uncle Paddy's body was burned so badly it was indistinguishable from the others on the bus. There's nothing to ship back. Some teeth, I suppose –“
“Some teeth?”
"-- So Mother is going to visit Grandma Ingrid on Wednesday. She says she's going to pick up Ramona and take her out there as well."
"Will the institution let your sister out?"

"It's not an institution," replied Tim sharply, "And she can leave whenever she wants. Mother says if two brothers can visit Grandma Ingrid, our sister might as well, too. I want to take the kids."
"If Junior and Senior are going, then I'm coming."

He let a moment of silence pass before whispering, "Fine."
"What about work?"
"They won't miss me, you know that. I'll go through the motions of calling them to take tomorrow and Wednesday off."

"This will be the biggest reunion of your family since our twins were born. In ten years, how many times have I seen Richard? Two or three? I've seen your younger brother Joe exactly once, and then he was so nervous, as though he were on a tightrope. And your sister: I've seen Ramona only at the institution –”
"It's not an institution . . .”
"Where are you going?"
"To get a glass of milk."
"Another family habit!"
"Don't worry, dear, I won't let too many come back to haunt me.”