In 1991, the American Institute of Architects recognized Frank Lloyd Wright as ‘the greatest American architect of all time.’ Despite the fact Wright never graduated from college nor graduated from high school.
However, veteran director Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy) is set to tackle him as Oscar-wining Beresford is attached to direct Taliesin, a biopic about an internationally acclaimed architect who once said that:
A doctor can bury his mistakes, but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines.
A film will focus on the events surrounding the Wright’s former home and studio built on the land his mother’s Welsh ancestors had settled in rural Wisconsin, which he named Taliesin (Welsh for ‘shining brow’). When he was working on Midway Gardens entertainment center in Chicago in 1914, a mentally-ill servant set fire to the living quarters of Taliesin, killing Martha ‘Mamah’ Cheney (Wright’s wife/mistress), her two children, and four others.
It’s definitely an integral part of Wright’s life, which gave birth to the first distinctly American brand of architecture throughout his seven-decade career. But that’s also one that makes the movie interesting.
The script for Taliesin was scribed by Nicholas Meyer who came to fame penning several Sherlock Holmes novels and directed and co-wrote several Star Trek sequels as well.
Beresford has expressed excitement for the project and stated that ‘it’s a very good script.’
As for Beresford, IFC Films have recently acquired North American rights to his dramatic comedy Peace, Love & Misunderstanding, which stars Jane Fonda, Catherine Keener, Chace Crawford, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Sundance’s breakout star, Elizabeth Olsen.
Watch excerpts from the 20th Century Series, Frank Lloyd Wright (1962).
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3VmhLB7IqM[/youtube]
Frank Lloyd Wright CBS Documentary
