The Killer Storm is the title of a two-hour TV documentary researched and written for the History Channel by Austin writer Jesse Sublett. The show premieres locally Saturday, May 1 on cable channel 27 at 8pm (weekend repeats are scheduled for Saturday, 12am & 5pm; and Sunday, 3am). The Killer Storm tells the story of the ocean disaster that occurred during the last week of October 1991. Coincidentally, it is also the subject and title of a forthcoming feature film based on Sebastian Junger‘s best selling book, The Perfect Storm. Wolfgang Peterson (Das Boot) directs that movie, which also stars Mel Gibson and was written by Austin screenwriter Bill Wittliff. While the Wittliff project is expected to be more of a fictionalized docudrama, Sublett’s project, which was directed, narrated, and produced by Monte Markham, is more a straightforward documentary with interviews with the survivors and re-enactments. Sublett came to this project as a natural outgrowth of the many historical documentaries he has written for television over the years. It uses a blend of writing styles which Sublett describes as follows: “I’ve always admired the old style documentaries like Victory at Sea, which, although they seem like hokey, jingoistic propaganda today (because they are), there is so much craftsmanship in the writing. I really appreciate the craft in a lot of industrial type writing, too, and always have. I’ve also always admired the great nature writers. Do you know how hard it is to describe a storm and not sound corny? Do you realize how hard it is to write a two-hour show about a storm and try not to use the word “storm” a thousand times? I’ve done about 20 naval war documentaries, so I’m very very hip to stories set in that setting. It’s like a western on water, because the ocean is just a surreal canvas, no landmarks to get in the way, but a surreal canvas that’ll kill you if you don’t watch it.” When asked why there seems to be this sudden convergence of Killer Storm movies, Sublett replied: “Why now? It’s the new western. Without a doubt. Adventure films are very in. The time is now for people to look at challenging themselves by flinging themselves against nature and the worst that nature has to offer. I also think these kind of stories dovetail with our new attitude toward the environment. About 20 years ago, when environmentalism was much more controversial, we saw nature more as a victim. Now we’ve started taking care of it a little better, but we’ve realized several things: One is that nature has a remarkable tenacity and ability to recover and adapt from the torture we give it. But also with global warming and the seeming rise of terrible natural disasters over the last decade, I think we’re realizing that sometimes nature might in fact have it in for us.That’s the current zeitgeist for some reason. Look at all the Mt. Everest movies and books. It’s immensely popular: Go somewhere and not get killed — nature’s thrill rides. Like I said, it’s the new western.” … The Austin Film Society has announced the deadline for application submissions for 1999 Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund grants. Awards up to $5,000 are provided to Texas artists whose work shows “promise, skill, and creativity.” Application forms and guidelines are enclosed in the new issue of the members’ newsletter “Persistence of Vision.” The info can also be downloaded from the Web at http://www.austinfilm.org. Be sure to check out the guidelines because some of the rules have changed this year.
This article appears in April 30 • 1999 and April 30 • 1999 (Cover).
