Cinematical

If there's one thing Hollywood loves more than a good, triumph-over-adversity sports story, it's a little mental illness. Really, it's almost exactly the same thing (albeit without the balls). And it's even better when there's a real-life story on which to base the movie -- we need look no further than the success of, say, Shine and A Beautiful Mind to see that we love us some mental illness just as much as the studios. So, odds are that DreamWorks is looking at a mega-hit with the recently announced Imagining Beethoven, a film that will tell the story of "a homeless musician with schizophrenia who dreams of playing at Walt Disney Concert Hall." I don't know about you, but I feel my heartstrings being tugged just reading the summary.

The movie, to be penned by Erin Brockovich scribe Susannah Grant, is based on the true story (see?) of Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, a musician and former Julliard student who ended up on the streets of LA. His story was told through a series of articles in the LA Times, over the course of which he moved "into an apartment, [was] offered private cello lessons and reconnect[ed] with his family on the East Coast." Man-- the fact that the real-life story is so fantastic makes this whole thing even more depressing. I mean, the Hollywood version of Ayer's life COULD be sensitive and effective but, honestly, what are the odds it's not going to just turn into a schmaltz-fest starring Chad Michael Murray?