Young Aleister Crowley and the Magicians’ Revolt

Preface, by Lon Milo DuQuette

PREFACE

The curious tale of a screenplay that was transformed into a book so that it could be adapted back into a screenplay, then finally became this book.

The Screenplay

While I was thrilled by the thought of an Aleister Crowley movie, and I certainly had no doubts that Crowley’s long and colorful life could generate plots for a dozen wild and exciting movies, I told Jim that I was not a screenwriter, but I’d be happy to refer him to several excellent Crowley scholars who were far more qualified than I to pen a first-rate film biography.

Jim assured me that he didn’t want a film biography.

Instead, he said, he was looking for something along the lines of a historic magical horror fantasy.

Crowley of course would be the protagonist, and many of the supporting characters would be based upon celebrated contemporaries, but he wanted the story itself to be pure fiction.

I declined again, and repeated that I didn’t know the first thing about scriptwriting or even how a screenplay should be formatted.

He assured me he would set me up with a professional script-writing program and help me every step of the way and advise me in the esoteric secrets of the craft of movie making.

As a lifelong movie buff, I was tempted by the thought of being part of a real motion-picture project.

But I knew my limitations, and I really am a very lazy person and certainly was not in a financial position to dedicate a year of my life for such a long-shot speculative work. I declined for a third time.

“I’ll pay you,” he said.

“When do you need it?” I snapped like a starving wolf.

The next thing I knew, I was learning the Final Draft1 screenwriting program and trying to decide what period of Aleister Crowley’s long and adventurous life I would like to see dramatized.

I chose to focus on Crowley the young man, the poet, the mountaineer, the bi-sexual libertine and his early attraction to mysticism, ceremonial magic, and the occult.

In particular, the dramatic events surrounding his involvement with feuding with members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which historically resulted in the dramatic destruction of the most influential magical society of the day.

I soon discovered that writing a screenplay was fun, and the Final Draft program was easy to negotiate and almost effortlessly intuitive. I loved losing myself in the story and befriending the characters who seemed to take on a life of their own.

With Jim’s help and direction, we had our screenplay in less than nine months. We secured our mutual friend, Patricia Baker of The Big Picture Agency, Inc.,2 who quickly found a production company to option the work.

We couldn’t believe how fast things were moving.

I travelled to London and showed the script to author/playwright and Crowley aficionado, Snoo Wilson, who happened to be friends with actor Alan Rickman.

Rickman had always wanted to play Crowley in a film, especially if his friend Snoo had anything to do with the production. Rickman eventually signed a conditional letter of interest to play Crowley, and we were all giddy with excitement and anticipation.

Then—we waited—and waited—and waited until one thing after another fell through or was pushed aside and the project was dead in the water.

I got on with my life. I wrote a couple books, resurrected my song writing/recording career, and put my screenwriting dreams to bed.

Three years passed. I got another call from Jim.

The Book

Through the years, Jim’s career in the film industry had kept moving forward.

Then he got a nibble from a Canadian film company who showed what seemed to be serious interest in producing our story.

But there was a catch. The film company was a member of the UK Film Council, which at the time was provided with matching production funds only for works created and produced exclusively by UK citizens and business entities.

In order to qualify, the principles of the production (including the screen writers) needed to be UK citizens.

They could, however, get around all that if a work-for-hire UK scriptwriter adapted the story from an existing book property.

The author(s) of the book could be of any nationality.

Things could be arranged contractually with the producers so that the book’s author(s) received the equivalent of the screen writer’s remuneration.

(Are you following this?)

So, Jim lightheartedly assured me, “All you have to do is write a novel based upon our screenplay and quietly publish it just to get our Library of Congress Registration and ISBN numbers, and allow the Canadian work-for-hire writer to adapt the book!”

Like fools, we went to work and converted our script into a novel which we published without fanfare in 2011.

Aleister Crowley: Revolt of the Magicians

Copyright ? 2011

by Lon Milo DuQuette and James M. Bratkowsky

ISBN-10:1-45659-97908

ISBN-13: 978-1-45659-979-9

Library of Congress catalog card number:

2011904070

We sent the book along to the Canadians—then we waited—and waited—and waited until one thing after another fell through or was pushed aside and this project, too, was dead in the water.

Jim and I got on with our lives. I wrote a couple more books and busied myself lecturing in China (back and forth eight times).

The Second Screenplay

Nine more years passed. I got a call from our agent Patricia.

There was again interest in our story, this time for a possible film/television series.

They wanted to see the script for a pilot, synopsis, lookbook, etc.

Jim bought me an updated Final Draft screenwriting program, and we began converting the material once again into episodic screenplays.

After all these disappointments (and these many years), it once again looks like there is interest in the project. (At the moment, Jim and I are hard at work on two projects: Season One of a six episode series; and a single feature film version based on the book you are holding in your hands.

This Book

Only time will tell if this series or the feature film (now titled, Young Aleister Crowley) will ever manifest in our lifetimes. (I’ll believe it when I see it.)

But, in the meantime, our dear friends at Weiser Books actually like the story enough to properly publish this revised and expanded edition.

After eighteen years, Jim and I are delighted to see our mad labor of love properly brought to life by the most eminent publisher of esoteric literature in the world.

—Lon Milo DuQuette

1 Cast bigpictureagency.com.?