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SALT LAKE CITY -- An Academy Award-winning filmmaker has now turned his talents to a different kind of writing.
Kieth Merrill's first novel takes on the timeless conflict of evolution vs creation.
"As a filmmaker I've written a lot of scripts and they're not all going to get made into movies, so I thought, as a storyteller, I've got some stories I really want to tell so it's way cheaper to make them into novels than movies. I'll pick some of the best ones and write novels."
As a filmmaker I've written a lot of scripts and they're not all going to get made into movies, so I thought, as a storyteller, I've got some stories I really want to tell so it's way cheaper to make them into novels than movies. I'll pick some of the best ones and write novels.
–- Kieth Merrill, filmmaker, author
Kieth Merrill is pleased with reaction to his first novel. The color of the book jacket and the title are causing people to stop and wonder, what does it mean?
The book's main character is a renowned artist with two projects, one mural about Darwinism, another about Christ. And the premise of the book really is whether or not we evolved or emerged from the ooze, in which case nothing matters or whether we walked out of the Garden of Eden in the light of Cherubim and the Flaming Sword, in which case, everything matters." Kieth Merrill now author and filmmaker said. He added, "The evolution, of course, is a play on words but "The Evolution of Thomas Hall" is from atheism and lack of faith to a faith in God through some very profound experiences and the magic of a little girl. And the way we exploit that theme, that premise, is through an artist who is caught in a collision between those two ideas, having to paint the Descent of Man and evolution on one hand and the Miracles of Christ on the other."
Creating a painter for this book was not outside his realm of knowledge, he is one." The main character in the book is an artist. I am inside his head very easily and comfortably because I aspire to be an artist myself. I'm a third generation artist, I have that DNA... I can draw better than the guy next to me in most cases. If I could paint as well as the character I created, I would be a painter, I would be an artist."
Many would say he paints pictures, beautiful ones, dynamic ones, on screen.
In 1974, Merrill won the Academy Award for the best feature documentary, "The Great American Cowboy
Writing a novel wasn't a great stretch, since he has been crafting screenplays for decades. "The difference between writing screenplays and novels, of course, if really about language. The screenplays need to be very terse and abbreviated, shorthand for the directors. And as a writer/director, I'm probably more liberal with descriptions in my screenplays than most screenwriters ought to be. The joy of writing a novel is you don't have to discipline yourself, you can be prosaic, you can describe things. I'm very visual and it's really joyful to be able to be able to describe things. A screenplay says, exterior, old house, day. The novel - the first light of the morning sun struck the old house. It was built in the 1920s when the Johnson family moved from.... whatever."
Merrill says he doesn't make films for Latter-day Saint audiences only and neither is this book. "I worked hard at not writing this for an LDS audience. I worked hard not to make films for an LDS audience. I think it's a shame for those of us who have certain strong beliefs and experiences to limit ourselves to talking to ourselves." He added, " I think people of faith will find it fascinating. I think people who are pondering those inevitable questions ... does God exist? Where do we come from? Is there a meaning of life? those fundamental questions are explored in really new and interesting ways."
He says over the years he has learned to stand up for his beliefs. "I think the courage to be who you are. To stand up for what you believe, to speak out boldly is a gradual process. I think we become courageous in our lives as we discover who we are, as we get comfortable in our own skin and as our beliefs really solidify."
The book is available at Deseret Book and all book stores, Amazon.com and Kindle. Kieth Merrill hopes the universal theme will appeal to a broad audience. He says he will continue making movies and writing books. "I've already written the framework for 20 or 30 really good stories as films. Some of them full-blown screenplays, some of them treatments but they're all in my mind and so, I hope to find the time and the peace of mind, which is even more important than time and the ability to focus and convert them into novels."
E-mail: cmikita@ksl.com
