Loaded with juicy possibilities.

She wrote this in 1955 after Chaplin had his re-entry permit revoked and began living in exile in Switzerland. Pickford was pleading with Cold War era US public to try harder to understand and forgive Chaplin's politics which were quite different from hers:

NT

NT

The original Red Balloon was wonderful. High standard for a sequel, but it’s worth shooting for.

you are right about the high standard. May be an IP issue also but I can find out.

the spy parents thing has been done several times, eg the entire 'Spy Kids' franchise, 6 movies. I am brainstorming for other secrets, not spies, that the parents could have that would set up similar dynamics. Really like the idea of having a unique and distinct crisis point in the parent child relationship that evokes and heightens the crux of everyone's adolescence. Make it less about spies and more about trust, identity and the beginning of adulthood. I have been kicking around ideas that are set during the late Cold War era, 1961-1964 and that is the period I would want for that one. Lean into the dynamics of the jingoistic 1950s versus the idealism of the mid-60s. Black and white image. Brutalist architecture and ranch style houses with kitsch interiors.

Interesting that River Phoenix did both 'Little Nikita' and 'Running on Empty' in 1988. In one his parents are spies. In the other his parents former members of the Weather Underground and still on the lamb. Very similar plot and family dynamics. 'Running on Empty' was the basis for the plot of "One Battle After Another.'

D would be the easiest for me to cast (only main two roles) and shooting could be very cinematic. I'm picturing the father buried by leaves and then snow in a time lapse, kind of dreamy, adult fairytale. His car is towed. He is found by hikers 20 years later. His phone is that Motorola flip that everyone had in 2005. His daughter visits him the hospital. Later they walk through the graveyard. In the very end she forgives him and we hope they work things out. I can play against the seriousness of their relationship with quick bits about what he expected to happen in 2005 versus what did happen.

I think the charming prospect of assisted-living people re-creating a high-budget movie offers plenty to work with but the ending just seems too out there. A more organic ending would be better. I follow the dictum (Aristotle's?) that an ending should be both unexpected and inevitable.

If you do F, he could tell the story of the frog man of Ebbw Vale.

B is an unusual concept and I didn't detail it very well. I'm thinking of the neoclassical bedroom sequence where he sees older and older versions of himself.

The core of that story would be that the man refuses to die until he has some taste of the future that was promised to him as a child -- the future where space travel is common and we all wear skin tight spandex clothing while the Blue Danube Waltz plays. I would play with his states of consciousness and have the beeps and gear of the facility transform into or trigger him imagining 2001. The monolith could be just him holding up a smartphone, black and shiny because it is turned off, against the room in that position. For IP (copyright) concerns I would have to avoid crossing the line and make sure that it is clear that this is about how 2001 and similar 1960s space propaganda set unrealistic expectations for all of us.

The POV gets more surreal as he approaches death so that by the time he is approaching the billionaire's rocket we suspect that this is just his detachment from reality but leave it open to interpretation about how far he really got.

Mostly I see that story as an exploration of 'What happened to the future we were promised?' Technology was going to end hunger and war but somehow we got to today where technology is so useless and obscure that, for example, no one can fix a brand new car.

F would be tough to cast. I like that it could be shot mostly in one location. The frog man is interesting because Chaplin thought of himself as deformed and exaggerated his proportions by wearing giant shoes, etc. 'The X-Files' did an episode loosely based on the "frog man".

and your time