by Matt Langdon

Six years ago producer Dan Ireland read a memoir-novel titled "One Who Walks Alone" about pulp fiction writer Robert Howard, written by Novalyne Price, an elderly school teacher who had a brief, stormy affair with Howard in the '30s. Ireland became so enthralled with the story he decided to dedicate himself to making it into a movie. "The love between the two characters was so incredible," says Ireland of the book. "I thought it was the most beautiful tale of unrequited love."

The book had already been optioned by one of Price's former students, Benjamin Mouton, and was then adapted into a screenplay by Michael Scott Myers. "It was a journey I embarked on as a producer not as a director," explains Ireland, "but Michael and Benjamin wanted me to direct. I thought about it at first, not wanting to hinder the film. But then I called back and said, 'Remember that option of finding another director? Forget it. Nobody is going to direct this but me.'" For the next four years Ireland put his heart and soul into the project, making frequent visits to Price's home in Lafayette, Louisiana, to glean bits of information about her relationship with Howard. From notes and tapes, Ireland and Myers restructured and refocused the script so that it was principally about Novalyne and Robert.

As a co-founder of the Seattle International Film Festival, senior vice president of production for Cineville, and executive producer of over 15 films, including John Houseman's, "The Dead," Ireland had enough experience behind him to get the project off the ground. He started by signing the two leads -- Vincent D'Onofrio and Renee Zellweger -- as well as director of photography Claudio Rocha ("The Picture Bride" and "Like Water For Chocolate"). But despite all these connections, a love story about a pulp fiction writer wasn't a great selling point, and the film ended up being shot on a relatively low budget ($1.3 million). "We all worked so ferociously on the film, shooting it in 24 days on 37 locations in Texas. It was very ambitious for the money and time, but I promised my actors I would never settle for anything."

It's true that at first it wouldn't seem a love story would be the proper format to present a story about Robert Howard, the writer who created such pulp classics as "Conan," "King Kull," and "Red Sonja" in the pages of Weird Tales magazine. But according to Ireland, Novalyne Price set out to write her book as a retaliation against all the bogus biographies about Howard, and Ireland agrees that a portrait of Howard as a confident, tough loner is completely wrong. "I think some of the pulp enthusiasts will have a problem because the Robert Howard in the movie is not the Howard they imagined." Howard was a reclusive social misfit and -- as he is portrayed by Vincent D'Onofrio -- it seems that love is exactly what Howard needed to handle his insecurities.

D'Onofrio brings an animal grace to his role, playing Howard as a man entrenched in the psyche of the savage, half naked warriors he writes about. He acts and writes from a masculine id as if the only way he can drive the demons out of his head is by writing about them. "There wasn't anyone else in the world who could have played Howard other than D'Onofrio," says Ireland. "He's an actor I'm in awe of. I look up on the screen and I'm amazed at where we got to go with this character."

Renee Zellweger as Novalyne is by far the more level headed of the two characters, being both pensive and sophisticated, and aggressive and outspoken depending on her reactions to Howard. Zellweger was brought on after the pregnant Olivia D'Abo bowed out due to the grueling Texas summer shoot. But Ireland was more than happy with Zellweger. "Renee is a gift from God," he says. "My casting director brought me Renee and from the moment she walked in the room to the moment she left I was mesmerized, hypnotized, and completely fascinated. The thing about Renee is that if you believe in her it's boundless where you can go with a character with this woman"

In the movie, Robert and Novalyne meet every once in a while over a two year period to take a back road county drive through the wide expanse of Cross Plains, Texas. When they begin dating, the time they spend together is like story hour with Novalyne intently listening and laughing as Robert brashly tells an exuberant yarn about Conan or some wild creature he has created in his mind. At first Novalyne puts up with his chauvinistic attitude mainly because she sees right through his facade to an imaginative and thoughtful young man. But their relationship begins to dwindle because Robert -- who is too often outspoken and paranoid -- can rarely distinguish between the real world and his fantastic one. The same Texas countryside that Novalyne finds innocent and naive Howard sees as a threat where the houses are filled not with common people but only with drunks, hypocrites, and wife beaters who would just as soon cut your throat as lend you a hand.

Ireland feels indebted to Price -- he has dedicated the movie to her -- but he felt he needed to add a few "directorial indulgences." One was changing the title of Price's book from "One Who Walked Alone." Ireland felt "The Whole Wide World" was more appropriate since the screenplay and film centered on two characters and their whole world. "I didn't see my film being only about Bob. It's really about the two of them and a lot more."

Shot in Cinemascope, the film captures the wide open spaces around Austin, Texas. "I tried [with Claudio Rocha] to make the landscape the third star of the film," explains Ireland, and he succeeds. However, the title of the film also refers to the central scene which shows the two characters hiking up a mountain where they get a panoramic view of the valleys below. The camera shows us "the whole wide world" and it's as if for the first time Howard too sees beyond his fantasy world into Novalyne's world. But by the time they are back in the car, driving the same old road, he reverts back to his same old attitude. Commenting on this particular scene, Ireland notes that it is "the beginning of the beginning and the beginning of the end."

The relationship between Robert Howard and Novalyne Price didn't last long but the movie doesn't suggest that it should have. Instead the film is a strange fairy tale with two characters creating a world from which they can then make more stories. Says Ireland, "When I think about this film, I think about all the people that have left me over the years. Every one of them has left me with a story. As long as I keep their stories alive, not only are they still alive but we're all alive."

Matt Langdon is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer.