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So I'm writing a screenplay based on the mid and late life of Jefferson Davis - one of my favorite (if not my favorite) people involved in the Civil War. With a reluctancy, yet valor, that had him lead the Confederacy that it seemed like he believed would never last from the start, a man with integrity and passion, but a sorrowful and misunderstood legacy. Honestly, until I began diving in and researching, it seemed like Davis was the villain of a nation trying to destroy the United States. That's how we're taught in school, after all. The Confederate States were a bunch of redneck racists and the Union States were the passionate, freedom loving libertines lead by Lincoln (who, admittedly, was a great man).
The Civil War is far more nuanced than that, it seems, as was President Davis.
So let's discuss him.
What would you like to see in a film (drama, not documentary) about Davis? Characters? I'm already planning a heavy focus on him and his wife, Varina (and his first wife who died not three months into their marriage), but anyone else?
Quotes?
I'm 99% not directing this, but any kind of visual style you could think of?
If not, let's discuss this often overlooked or vilified man.
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I don't know about his personal character, I simply don't know enough about the man. But I do think an important theme/scenes would be how he tries to handle/implement/justify an increasingly centralized government over the course of the war as well as how he tries to deal with the respective governors of each state during the war.
I find the CSA's balancing act between state and federal rights fascinating. They went into the war due to state rights, yet the war itself necessitated more centralized control. Another idea would be to research how the South's opinion of the man during and after the war. IIRC, Davis was heralded as a hero in the beginning, but by the end, he was seen as just another politician and that General Lee was the south's true hero.
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