Lee, Schamus Get Groovy with ‘Taking Woodstock’

Everything’s gonna be alright for director Ang Lee and writer (also Focus Features big cheese) James Schamus when production starts on “Taking Woodstock” this year. Reunited after working on ten films together, including “Brokeback Mountain”, “Taking Woodstock” adapts the Elliot Tiber memoir “Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, Concert, and a Life”. The nation started to boil over in the summer of ’69, with heady politics, Vietnam and dope-smokin’ liberal hippies all caught up in a fracas. Sleepy Bethel, NY seemed completely, desperately removed from this turmoil, that is, until nearby Wallkill revoked Woodstock’s even permit. Trying to break free of the “Teichberg Curse”, Tiber (born Teighberg) struggling motel owner and artist gets wind of concert promoter Michael Lang’s need for a venue, Mas Yasgur’s farm gets the go-ahead – and the rest is well, history. Myself, being about 35 years apart from enjoying the festival, “Taking Woodstock” acts as a metaphor for the constant duality present in those days. Upon agreeing to help his parents’ failing motel on the weekends, Tiber lives a double life by picking up from Bethel and venturing back to Greenwich Village during the week. Tiber’s closeted, unhappy existence made him a prime conversion for the hippie “Free Love” movement and his ability to issue event permits for the city actually made Woodstock happen. Woodstock, a crucial, mythic festival, would never have materialized without Tiber, and it’s hard to imagine such an inspiring time could happen again. One thing about “Taking Woodstock”–you know it’s going to have a kick-ass soundtrack, even if the film isn’t about Woodstock (the concert) itself. The 40th anniversary of those few days will be celebrated in August with the film hopefully making its way into theatres in 2009.