Coach Gordon Bombay, known as Emilio Estevez to those of you without a Mighty Ducks obsession, is set to direct a movie about the public library. I wonder if it’ll be a silent film?
HR says the movie is a social drama called The Public, loosely based on an op-ed piece from the LA Times, written by a retiring Salt Lake City librarian named Chip. The piece talk about the way libraries have become homeless shelters and havens for the mentally ill because of the cuts in social programs. Basically it’s an old guy pitching a fit about the way people are mistreating his books.
That’s not exactly likely fodder for a movie, but Emilio has already written a script. The movie takes place during a two-day period in winter when the library is overwhelmed by mentally ill homeless people trying to get out of the cold, and follows a civic minded librarian who disobeys administration to try and deal with them.
This is Estevez follow up to Bobby, which he wrote, directed, and got a fair amount of critical buzz for. Like Bobby, this is expected to be a big, multi-character ensemble.
I’m not sure what to think of The Public. There could be an interesting story here or it could be a preachy, pushy, message movie. It depends on where he goes with it, and whether or not he’s able to get the homeless to form a flying “V” in the library’s non-fiction section.
