Fifteen years ago I wrote a script about Ms. Pastrana for my aunt Talia Shire. Both Tally and I are very in tune with the circus and the sideshow. The project was to be a woman's version of The Elephant Man. Tally wanted to play the role. After doing research on Ms. Juliana Pastrana and her manager, the handsome Theodore Lent, I felt it was more of a bi-polar love story than just a tale of a "hideous" woman; all set during the time of the great P.T. Barnum. Juliana was desperate to have a normal looking child and Theodore was desperate for fame and fortune. One hideous on the outside but beautiful in the inside; the other beautiful on the outside, but hideous on the inside. They both used each other to try to make a whole. And though it does end in tragedy, they both managed to experience real love. I'm writing about this now, because I noticed that there are others currently trying to make a movie about Ms. Pastrana with different writers attached. Apparently, Ashley Judd is also attached to play Ms. Pastrana. Curtis Burch's name came up. Curtis Burch was a producer that used to keep a picture of Ms. Juliana Pastrana in his wallet. He read my script many years ago and apparently loved it. Is it a coincidence that this new Juliana Pastrana story is also a love story? Or is there some Hollywood shenanigans going on? I don't know...



What I do know is that I look a lot more like Juliana Pastrana than Ashley Judd. Maybe I should play the role.