Study for a Portrait of a Studio Memo

Frida is no dewy naif, however. While struggling to overcome a crippling accident and marital turmoil, she not only finds time to paint magnetic, sexy self-portraits, but has a fiery and swinging love life of her own - with big names like Leon Trotsky (Tim Roth, say) and Isamu Noguchi (Jackie Chan in a stretch?). Finally, we arrive at the killer climax: A year before her tragic death, Frida - now seriously ill - gets her first exhibition in her native Mexico. She's carried in on a stretcher, like a holy woman. The crowd goes nuts. She's a heroine to the people, a folk icon, and though she can barely move her lips to smile, we see she knows her legend will live on. There won't be a dry eye in the house.

N.B.: Smells like Oscar.

There's more where this came from, e.g., BACK TO THE FUTURISTS, a comedy staring those fun-loving Italian pranksters - Fillipo, Gino, Carlo and Umberto - who revolutionized 20th-century art. Lots of room for gags in this one, particularly when they're working on the Futurist Cookbook, which includes an exploding pasta recipe. Or how about THIS BEUYS' LIFE, the heart-lifting tale of international art superstar Joseph Beuys (Stellan Skarsgard? No, Schwarzenegger!), who starts his career as a Luftwaffe radio operator, crashes in the Crimea and gets rescued by tribespeople who initiate him in primitive rituals. Dances come to mind? Good. But forget about wolves, this guy shacks up with a coyote in a Soho gallery . . .

Well, you get the idea(s). Let me know what you think!

Best,

R.R.