Three Albert Einstein movies are in the works....How about a fourth?

J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R.*

I just came across a .pdf file that seems to be a first draft of a screenplay based upon Albert Einstein's life. It gave me cause for much joy because it describes a scene that attempts to portray Albert's first day at school, Catholic School, in Munich in 1885.

Here is the script of the scene that is of interest—A Jew at Catholic School (http://www.cxstream.com/einstein/einsteinmoviescenes.html):

1.

INT. EINSTEIN HOME – DAY
Hermann, Pauline, Hermann’s brother JACOB, 28, and his WIFE 25, sit at the kitchen table. Their two children run in and out while Albert, 5, sits quietly, studying his compass.

PAULINE
With the Jewish School closed --

HERMANN
Ah, we’re not practicing Jews
anyway. Besides, we can afford to
send him to the best school now.

JACOB’S WIFE
I’ve heard that the best school is
the Catholic school downtown.

JACOB
Are you serious? You want to send
him --
(points to Albert)
-- to a Catholic school?

HERMANN
If it’s a good school, why
not?

PAULINE
But is it a good idea? I mean --

Albert raises his hand, and all eyes turn towards him.

PAULINE
Yes, Albert. What is it dear?

ALBERT
(slowly)

If it is the BEST school, that is
where I would like to go.

Pauline beams with motherly pride at Albert. It is settled.

2.

EXT. SCHOOL CLASSROOM – DAY

CAPTION: MUNICH, GERMANY – OCTOBER 1, 1885
THE PETERSSCHULE ON BLUMENSTRASSE
(CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL)

Albert and his parents are on a long pathway the (sic that) leads to the front doors of he school. Pauline straightens Albert’s collar, and he confidently nods. Walking towards the school, he falls in with the other children, his gaze rising. At the steps, he stops with his mouth open, staring at a large JESUS above the doorway. Children rush past him, bumping him. A TEACHER approaches.

TEACHER
What’s the matter son? You act
like you’ve never seen Jesus Christ
before.

His head shaking no, the TEACHER gently takes his hand and they enter the open doors, as he turns back to his parents.

_______________________________________________

We members of the Society of Our Lady  know this type situation to be a "Living Encounter" with/in Jesus Christ—a movement of the Spirit that leads to conversion, communion and/or solidarity. (See Pope John Paul II's, Ecclesia in America for a detailed explanation.)

_______________________________________________

+       +       +

A SECOND movie is also in the works (http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Einstein-Movie-Planned-6651.html 
     

Einstein Movie Planned

by Ed Perkis: 2007-10-15 19:37:14

Although I’ve always considered Walter Matthau’s portrayal in I.Q. to be definitive, a new Albert Einstein film is planned. Variety says Lionsgate will produce a movie of the life of the physicist and mathematician based on the biography “Einstein: His Life and Universe,” by Walter Isaacson. The movie, which has no title, writer, director, or star attached, will focus on his life from ages 20 to 40 and culminate with his winning the Nobel Prize in 1921.

Reportedly, Albert was a bit of a ladies man in his youth and this will allow them to cast some hot chicks and not just show Einstein sitting around thinking deep thoughts. Producer Alan Polsky said the time period is “when he was at his most prolific, a rebellious character who challenged every theory and was ostracized by the scientific community, but who redefined how we look at the world and how energy plays into everything we do.” 

Lionsgate purchased not only the rights to Isaacson’s book but also the rights to his life story. So don’t tell your children stories of Einstein’s wacky adventures without paying a residual to the film company.

+       +       +

Here is movie number THREE (http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/03/31/lionsgate-secures-einsteins-pandora-movie-the-last-equation/):

The Last Equation

March 31, 2008

Source: Hollywood Reporterby Alex Billington

In addition to Giovanni Ribisi's upcoming Albert Einstein focused film, another Einstein project has popped up - this time about his work, not the man himself. Lionsgate has acquired the rights to the novel The Last Equation, the debut book from screenwriter Stuart Gibbs. The story focuses on the mystery of Einstein's last equation known as Pandora and the power it potentially contained. I'm not exactly sure why, but anything involving Einstein and Hollywood always has me intrigued.

The Last Equation is set in the present day as the government is forced to enlist the help of a fugitive criminal and mathematical genius to find Pandora before it falls into the wrong hands. Pandora was Einstein's last equation that had the potential to solve the world's energy problems, but so drastically simplified the process of harnessing atomic energy that it essentially made it possible for anyone to create atomic weaponry. Because of the risks, Einstein either hid or destroyed the equation before his death.

Lionsgate's president of film production Mike Paseornek explains his enthusiasm. "Stuart Gibbs has written a novel that has everything you need for a first-rate action-thriller, starting with an ingenious premise about a mathematical formula that could either save the world or destroy it." No word on whether Stuart Gibbs will be adapting his own novel into a script yet or whether another writer will be hired.

As I mentioned before, there is something about Albert Einstein and mathematics that intrigues me. I think it's the possibility for sophisticated plots that involve "figuring things out" for yourself instead of just seeing things presented in their entirety. Either way, the story in The Last Equation sounds very promising. I'm just worried that Lionsgate will turn it into a big pile of mush like Condemned or that Jet Li movie War. I'm definitely hoping for the best and I think a good start would be getting Gibbs to also write screenplay - so take note Lionsgate execs!

__________________________________________

I find it so telling that this SCI-FI/Pandora's box equation seems to be the flip-side of the Holy Eucharist which we desire to be worthily and humbly received on the tongues of every human being. An equation that promises to save man? Jesus' very name means God Saves. 

  
OUR LORD AND SAVIOR
JESUS CHRIST IS THE REAL

(NOT REEL) LAST EQUATION

__________________________________________
 
Now I am not naive enough to believe that there will be much new in the content of these three efforts besides state-of-the-art special effects and other Hollywood enticements.

In the very outside chance that a FOURTH movie is being planned by someone "outside Hollywood's box" then maybe he/she might want to consider these 33 angles/potential scenes:

I. Einstein: His name...One Stone

Ia. Albert - meaning noble and bright

Albert – St. Albert the Great (1205-1280) the greatest of pre-Reformation Catholic scientists; schooled and grounded both in theology and science; a native German also from the vicinity of Ulm; mentor of St. Thomas Aquinas (an Italian) and theological genius, well ahead of his time.

St. Albert is the patron saint of all scientists. St. Albert the Great was convinced that all creation spoke of God and that the tiniest piece of scientific knowledge told us something about Him. Besides the Bible, God has given us the book of creation revealing something of His wisdom and power. In creation, Albert saw the hand of God. (Source: EWTN)

Both St. Albert and St. Thomas are Doctors of the Church; their lives bear witness to the fact that there was no disagreement (only apparent contradictions) between Faith and Reason and between Faith and Science.See ALBERT, THE GREAT at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01264a.htm

Ib. Einstein - meaning one stone

Sacred Scripture shows us the importance that God places on both stone and rock: altars of stone, "sharp stone" for circumcision, Moses striking the stone twice, "two tablets of stone," David's "smooth stone" slaying Goliath, "the stone the builder rejected, now a cornerstone," "they decided to stone Him," tombstones, capstones, millstones, stumbling stones, "I will take away the stony heart," "you are Rock, and on this Rock." They are all important, for they provide us a medium for the conveyance of the analogical truth about God's relationship with man and good creation. God is fond of working with what is solid, after all He is the Rock who saves us.

II. Einstein: inspiration...riding a beam of light back to its source, his relationship as a child seeking the secrets of God, the "Old One"

III. Einstein: a Sign of Contradiction...a slow learner? Maybe, but his memory was sharp

IV. Einstein: the son of Herman, a German "Father of Lights"

V. Einstein: the special gift of a magnetic compass...orientation to truth and mystery at age 5

VI. Einstein: the Great Event—Lighting up the Munich Oktoberfest in 1885

VII. Einstein: three years of Catholic school education (age 6-9) as 69 children learned the catechism and began to understand the sacramental life of the church to include First Holy Communion

VIII. Einstein: the priest->nail->"Jews did this to Christ" incident at the Petersschule and potential isolation and subconscious scarring

IX. Einstein: love of his little sister Maja (meaning, Sea of bitterness), music and a religious awakening

X. Einstein: layering of knowledge...Jewish (secular), Catholic (religious), Talmud (religious), Science

XI. Einstein: rebellion against a secular family

XII. Einstein: rebellion against religion in favor of science (Max Talmud :) Talmey)

XIII. Einstein: Immanuel Kant, as mentor (even his name is significant, "singer of God with us"...not)

XIV. Einstein: Euclid Geometry and a first instance of future genius

XV. Einstein: falls for Greek-Orthodox physicist, Mileva Maric, who apparently converts to Catholicism in 1905

XVI. Einstein: Lieserl (meaning, God is my oath), the shotgun marriage, and mystery of baby's fate

XVII. Einstein: 1905 Albert Einstein's annus mirabilis...a "Light-filled" revelation

XVIII. Einstein: E=mc2, the "holy grail" of energy

XIX. Einstein: Olinto DePretto, the Italian scientist from Vincenza...was he the real author of E=mc2?

XX. Einstein: Special Theory of Relativity and the seeds of Moral Relativism

XXI. Einstein: relationship to Sigmund Freud

XXII. Einstein: The Eclipse of 1919, opportunity seeking Eddington

XXIII. Einstein: Quotable Quotes on mystery and bridge between faith and science

XXIV. Einstein: divorce to Mileva and his adultery, Baruch Spinoza's philosophy lived out

XXV. Einstein: The Nobel Prize for Physics...for the both/and of Light (photoelectric effect), not Special or General Relativity

XXVI. Einstein: 1933 and the Great Escape from Hitler's Third Reich (as compared to St. Edith Stein)

XXVII. Einstein: Letter to President Roosevelt urging the Allies to pursue the development of the atomic bomb

XXVIII. Einstein: Trinity Project (not part of it) and its epic proportions and ramifications

XXIX. Einstein: Humanist, Pacifist, Zionist vs. Christian – Humanism, Peace, New Zion

XXX. Einstein: President of Israel?...Not

XXXI. Einstein: Fr. Charles McTague and the mystery of Transubstantiation vs. quantum "spooky" mechanics

XXXII. Einstein: Quest and failure to discover the Grand Unified Theory

XXXIII. Einstein: The Rainbow Bridge, the True Bridge Over Troubled Water constructed for the future of mankind

If there are any takers out there, you can count on me to lend a hand in the research.
!

Sincerely yours in Jesus and Mary,

Mike Rizzio

Imitate Mary
Become like Jesus
Live for the Triune God

Seek the Light of Our Lord Jesus Christ
See you on the High Ground!

* - J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R. stands for: Jesus, Mary and Joseph;
O Beata Trinitas; St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael