Dobbs Story

Lem Dobbs will tell you thatKafkais "the first Lem Dobbs movie, so to speak. " "So to speak, " since screenwriter Dobbs believes film is a director's medium and the director in this case is Steven Soderbergh. Add to the mix producer Barry Levinson and lead Jeremy Irons and the result is a prestigious package. However, Dobbs's real prestige comes from his scriptEdward Ford.Written eleven years ago when Dobbs was nineteen, it's considered one of the great unproduced screenplays. But, for Dobbs, son of painter R. B. Kitaj, writing has always been a means to one end: getting behind the camera. It's a goal that may soon be realized. Plans are moving ahead for Dobbs to directEdward Ford,for Propaganda Films, with David Lynch producing. Though not one to hang out in the Hollywood scene and not shy about expressing his dissatisfaction with the less than artistic sensibility that flourishes in the town, Dobbs also appreciates what the place has to offer. He admits that seeing one's name on a film poster is a thrill. And, more significantly, Dobbs met his wife through a producer who interrupted a story meeting to say, "I've got just the girl for you. " It could have been a scene from a Hollywood classic.

CAROL WOLPER