Wrath Mercy, from dream to reality
Wrath Mercy tells the story of Adam. After years of drug addiction and shame, Adam is not only lost, he’s at the end of the line. At a pivotal moment, Adam meets a mysterious woman who gives him an opportunity to change his fate.
One night while a BFA student at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), I found myself in the audience at the Hartwig Arena Theatre watching Wrath Mercy written by Benjamin Craven, also a USM student. His play floored me. That night a seed was planted that took two decades to gestate into my own version of the story. Now, all these years later, we are making the film a reality. This January, 2023, I will be launching a 30 day fundraising campaign to fund Wrath Mercy, and in May of 2023, the cameras will finally roll!
The journey
I don’t remember what first made me think of adapting Ben’s play, but in 2010, I reached out to him through Facebook to see if he could send me a copy. It took a few months, but he eventually found it in a box in his basement.
In the following decade, I thought of Wrath Mercy often. After a promising few years, I was yet again struggling to find my way as an actor in NYC (mostly because I was too busy doing drugs) having close call after close call. And I kept thinking - how great it would be to turn Wrath Mercy into a film and make myself the star! I had always imagined myself in the lead, and over many a drunken night promised the role of The Woman to a variety of women, sometimes complete strangers. If you are reading this, and you are one of those women, I greatly apologize.
In 2014 my life changed when I stopped using drugs, and Wrath Mercy was still there calling to me. I could now see with clear eyes that it was vital that I not only write this film but also direct it. I tried to adapt it many times, but something wasn’t working.
Then, in early 2017, I heard an interview with Barry Jenkins who was Oscar campaigning for Moonlight. In this interview, Barry said that when adapting Moonlight he realized that in order to make it work all he had to do was tell his version of someone else’s story.
This was the revelation I needed.
Once I understood that I couldn’t simply adapt Ben’s play, that I had to write my own version of his story, it only took 10 minutes to write my first draft.
I decided to set the film in Mississippi and use my own experience as a tool to tell Adam’s story. I also knew, that despite my connection to him, I was no longer meant to play Adam.
What came next took a bit longer than I expected.
Moving to Los Angeles, COVID & the table read
In the fall of 2019, I moved back to California, and the setting of Wrath Mercy changed from Mississippi to Los Angeles. As Oscar season approached, knowing I would be invited to networking and FYC events, I had intentions of moving forward by meeting like minding filmmakers and actors who might be interested in taking this journey with me.
Then, in March of 2020, COVID happened. I am not sure I even thought about Wrath Mercy in the months ahead. It was a bit of a blur. But as this nightmare of a year ended, and we were heading into 2021, I started to think about it again.
My friend Melanie Addington, who was then Executive Director of Oxford Film Festival and a great early supporter of the project offered to produce a virtual table read of the film with a Q&A after.
That table read was amazing. Sabina Maschi and Dan Schultz were remarkable as The Woman and Adam. Scott Stinson, who originated the lead role in the 1998 production played the Drug Dealer and Ben Craven joined us for the Q&A.
Finding my producing partner
And yet…as it often goes, things stalled.
Then, in late 2021, Glenn Payne, a filmmaker I knew in passing from my time working for Oxford Film Festival visited Los Angeles. We decided to grab brunch, and my first order of business was asking him about what I perceived as a block in truly moving forward with Wrath Mercy.
Glenn had great advice for me. Instead of Wrath Mercy why not make something else and do it together. We opted to make a small, personal film, For Amy, that reminded me how much I loved filmmaking, and re-sparked my desire, my need really, to make Wrath Mercy again.
A few months later, when the time came, I asked Glenn to be my producing partner on Wrath Mercy. I literally could not do this without Glenn, and I hope this is the beginning of many more projects to come.
Moving the film back to Mississippi
Making the decision to re-set Wrath Mercy and film in Mississippi was not an easy one. I have a complicated relationship with the state, and it’s anti-LGBTQ law (HB 1523) is still in effect, seemingly going nowhere.
Growing up in Mississippi as a closeted young gay person was not easy. The shame I felt being told often that I would burn in hell is one of the major traumas that led to my addiction. The question became, could I use that to heal others, and would it be worth it.
The film could go one of two ways. Either Adam has moved to the big city of Los Angeles, turned to drugs, his dreams certainly not coming true or he was stuck in his small town, a queer person who likely experienced the same homophobia I did and had no way out.
In the end, the second scenario seemed the most fitting for the story.
Natanya Ross cast as The Woman
I have known Natanya Ross for a couple of years, but one fateful night in her apartment, we had one of the most raw and vulnerable conversations I had ever had with another person.
Natanya and I have a lot in common, even though her Hollywood success was significantly magnified compared to my acting career. But that similarity and her own recovery journey made me think of casting her as The Woman. Casting someone based with me here in Los Angeles was something I increasingly knew I needed to do, and once I heard Natanya read the part aloud in my living room and saw her immediate passion for the character and the project, the casting decision was made.
Finding Adam
In my first drafts of Wrath Mercy, It is only implied that Adam is gay (And not at all in Ben’s original play). The newest draft hasn’t changed much in that regard, but I have decided to cast Adam with an openly LGBTQ actor. In the next few months we will be searching for that person. Queer stories are few and far between. Queer stories about addiction are even fewer.
How you can help
Below is a link to the prelaunch of our fundraising campaign. Please sign up for updates and share with everyone you know! We are making this movie, and with your help, it can be everything I have hoped for the past 20+ years.
WRATH MERCY - Fundraising campaign prelaunch!
Wrath Mercy is a story of hope and a journey of redemption.
Not only for Adam, but for me.