“Ovid and the Art of Love”
By Patrick Donovan – Author/Screenwriter
US Navy Disabled Veteran – 1980 – 1991
Seattle, WA (The Hollywood Times) 05/23/2020
“From poetry and prose; From Rome to Detroit, this brilliant and amazing film hearkens you back to Hamilton with the juxtaposition of Rome and Detroit, Past meets Present in the poetic love poems of the passionate man known as: OVID!“
– Patrick Donovan
About the Film:
Set centuries apart but in the same place, Ovid and the Art of Love tells the story of the renowned Roman poet Ovid, whose comic verses and permissive lifestyle provoked the brutal Emperor Augustus’s ire. As Ovid and the emperor’s granddaughter – thrown together by fate – race to escape execution, Ovid’s story asks: In a world of unrest, is love the most radical act of all? Bringing together togas, high-tops, oration, poetry slams and hip-hop, this film tells a timely story about power, pleasure and politics. Strong women characters clamor for respect and a better place in society. All is set amongst the faded beauty of modern Detroit’s neoclassical architecture.
Corbin Bleu (“High School Musical”) masterfully transforms into the poet Ovid, whose work has been cherished for over 2,000 years, while John Savage (“The Deer Hunter”) gives an electrifying performance as Augustus, Ovid’s conflicted nemesis. Tara Summers (“Mercy Street,” “Boston Legal”) plays Julia, Augustus’s tough, rebellious daughter, and Tamara Feldman (“Gossip Girl,” “Hatchet”) is the emperor’s activist granddaughter. Also starring Joseph McKenna (“Shutter Island,” “12 Monkeys”) and Lailani Ledesma (Comedy Central’s “Detroiters”).
Corbin Bleu – Ovid
Ovid and the Art of Love was filmed entirely on location and in America’s now-challenged, former automobile-capital of Detroit – without the use of any sets – working with mainly local cast and crew (including cinematographer Geoff George), giving the film a unique visual look. The soundtrack features works of Detroit artists from the Motown era (including a track from Ronnie McNeir of The Four Tops) to contemporary Detroit electronica, acoustic, hip-hop and more. These artists – like Ovid many centuries before them – work every day to better their communities and bring them light and life. The production also collaborated with many local community groups and nonprofit organizations to support the distressed city in the making of the film.
Tamara Feldman – Julia the younger
Credits:
- Writer/Director – Esmé von Hoffman
- Executive Producers – Jared Safier and Greg Johnson
- Producers – Benjamin Weisman, Michael Angelo Zervos, R. Jameson Smith, Lauren Rayner, Jason Ludman
- Cinematographer – Geoff George
- Sound Designer – Ed Callahan
- Editors – Mollie Goldstein, Anthony Mascorro, Esmé von Hoffman
- Production Designer – Mary Lee Hannington
About the Director:
With a love of cities and a background in theater, journalism and visual arts, Esmé von Hoffman brings a fresh aesthetic to film to create a unique and topical world. An American-German dual citizen, born and raised in the U.S., Esmé has directed several shorts and has worked as a film editor (including on “Listen Up Philip” with Jason Schwartzman and Elisabeth Moss, and “Appropriate Behavior” with Scott Adsit and Halley Feiffer) and as a producer. She received a Sudler Fund for the Arts grant for her 16 mm film “Oblivion” and was commissioned to produce and direct a series of short documentaries, including one profiling three editors at The New York Times. Esmé was president of the Yale Film Society, where she oversaw visits of industry leaders including David Lynch, Alexander Payne and Doug Wick. She recently served as Director of the Filmmaking Program at The Edit Center in New York City.
Esme von Hoffman – Writer/Director
“I have been captivated by the ancient Roman poet Ovid, for whom my film breathes life into his exciting and relevant story for the first time,” said director Esmé von Hoffman. “His narrative follows a young person who finds his artistic voice and the real meaning of love. Yet it is also an empowering tale of an average citizen who stands up to an intimidating, authoritarian and hypocritical leader when no one else dares to. I hope that viewing Ovid’s tale through this lively lens helps us reflect on what is happening in the world today and consider what we can do to affect positive change.”
The Synopsis:
New York, New York: A nation struggles under its vainglorious leader, whose obsession with family values masks his ineptitude and insecurity. Fed up, citizens push back using everything from parody to outright rebellion. It could be the United States in 2020 AD … but in Ovid and the Art of Love, it’s also Rome in 31 BCE. Winner for Best Director Esmé von Hoffman at Festival of Cinema NYC 2019, Ovid and the Art of Love will be released via Level 33 Entertainment on May 19 on all major streaming and VOD platforms including Amazon, iTunes, Comcast, XFinity, Dish, Sling, Microsoft, Google Play, Youtube and many more.
The Review:
Drawing and not paying attention in class was something I was guilty of. But, with this film, I think it’s something different. A young African American boy, draws pictures whilst he’s ignoring the teacher from the front. He leaves school and walks through a run-down part of a town on his way home. But he goes to an abandoned, gutted out, building, takes a seat against the wall and begins to read “Ovid a Primary Reader.” (for reference: Ovid is pronounced: Ah-vid.)
As he reads a chapter “Ovid’s life”, he smiles and sees a small band of musicians, dressed in era of Rome, playing then a lady comes to say, “There was a rape here a few days ago. You best be careful.” Then he sees Caesar Augustus executing two men. The boy leaves abruptly. Then two people appear at a home of a woman telling her that her father’s wishes are that she marries Tiberius. What you see, is the acting out of the book within modern times. It is like you’re watching a “living play” but in today’s world. Not with the fancy backdrop of old Rome but in today’s streets, homes, and the abandoned gutted warehouse where this young boy is reading his book.
Let me relate it for you in my terms and how I perceive it:
How did “I”, a small-town boy from Rome, end up the big city, the Capital itself, become the most popular journalist of my day and end up in trouble with the brutal emperor? My story starts in the small town of Concrete, where I live a simple rural way of life. My parents’ generation, my father a Korean War Veteran, my mom, a simple Italian mother taking care of my brother and me knew only war but thanks to Pax Augustus, my generation knows only peace and tranquility.
Tara Summers – Julia the elder
If you think it’s bad now that your parents don’t understand you, this was 31 B.C.E. for god’s sakes. I have been recruited by the government to pass a few laws, do a few executions, and I meet Maximilian whose been here in the city that never sleeps for 5 years now. It’s a strange world here away from my common home but surrounded by sex, drugs, drinking and that’s why they call it the city that never sleeps, right?
John Savage as Caesar Augustus
This is a brilliant film and I love the interaction of Roman values and way of life into modern times. This is reminiscent of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. This, for me, is a way to show great works for today’s youth to better understand the arts and literature of Ovid who was best known for the Metamorphoses (“The Books of Transformation”), a 15 book continuous mythological narrative written in the meter of epic, and for works in elegiac couplets such as Ars Amatoria (“The Art of Love”) and Fasti.
Corbin Bleu as Ovid
The full name of Ovid was Publius Ovidius Naso (20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD). He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists. Although Ovid enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, the emperor Augustus banished him to a remote province on the Black Sea, where he remained until his death. Ovid himself attributes his exile to carmen et error, “a poem and a mistake”, but his discretion in discussing the causes has resulted in much speculation among scholars.
— Source -Wikipedia
Like Ovid, I’m a poet, author and screenwriter. What I see in Ovid was that he resisted government pressure and refused to comply with what he needed to do to become a government official. And as a personal recruit of the Emperor, they’d never do anything to him, or would they? They need a distraction. They, the lower class, need to be reminded of their “Roman” values. They need a scapegoat. A public shaming of what will happen if you do not live up to the actions that make “this country great.” We have our values, right? Values that are ours or values that belong to “THEM?”
THEM = Totalitarians in a Hierarchy of Extreme Malice! Think I’m kidding?
Caesar Augustus, his wife and his aid, toasting to exiling his daughter, Julia.
This film continues to amaze me with the way Ovid desires to become a practical poet and apparently, ruined his life. But Ovid sees a lady that intrigues him, Karena, who he sees at the courthouse. He’s struck by her beauty and he falls head over heels for her, literally! We see Ovid also going to a Bard theatre to perform. In medieval Gaelic and British culture, a Bard was a professional storyteller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron to commemorate one or more of the patron’s ancestors and to praise the patron’s own activities.
— Source -Wikipedia
Then Ovid is brought to the stage to speak. The crowd awaits as he reads his poem, Amoris: The Object of Love. There’s silence… then…he begins. He’s laughed at, ridiculed and leaves the stage, ashamed and embarrassed. His pursuit of Karena continues and their courtship, wanes. Ovid learns from his fellow students and suggest to him that he speak in couplets. He has an epiphany! Back to theatre to Bard again where he’s given a name for himself: Ovid the “Virgin” Love Poet!
Ovid preparing to Bard for the first time
This film addresses things like: Homelessness, the 96%, the oppressed, and more and as Ovid becomes increasingly popular, the Emperor wonders, “Who’s Ovid? Who’s Ovid?” With being noticed and with getting more attention, comes the problems of the people in the “government” not liking what they hear about you and with that, comes dire consequences.
Ovid and Julia in the Commonplace
This film sings like the award-winning play: “Hamilton.” Set in modern day using the words of our past. A brilliant juxtaposition of history meets current day. Ovid’s book, The Art of Love finds him in trouble for including a section on how to have a love affair amidst the pillaging and burning of villages whilst the Roman soldiers die of plague and famine at a time when Caesar Augustus implements “Family Values and Virtues,” a direct contradiction to what Ovid writes about.
It’s a clash of poetry, of love affairs, family values and virtues that do not fit with today’s current events. “Veterans” are threatening to riot in Rome because of no benefits, unemployment, lack of grain, and no healthcare especially in this time of Peace and Tranquility. Yeah, right. Sound familiar? Can we say: “Elysium?”
Tara Summers as Julia the elder
As this movie moves forward, you’ll see and hear hints of a revolution taking shape, hints of what life is like in a another “future/current” era from the Rome of 31 B.C.E. Talk of restoring the republic and making the Senate full of people that care about the people they supposedly rule over. Funny how history can repeat itself, hmm?
I love this movie… Absolutely love it! This hit it out of the ballpark for me! The talents of the director and writer, Esme von Hoffman, for her brilliant work. But the music! Ah, the music is a smattering of classical, Motown, folk, opera, rap, hip hop, and of course, Italian mandolins with people dancing. Ah, Rome!
The question is: Is this story about Ovid and his plight or the young African American boy reading about Ovid: A Primary Reader and dreaming of what ‘he’ will become?
I leave you with a poem I wrote for you to enjoy that I wrote back in 2004:
Trust, no…
Forgiveth not, what comes thy way,
‘Tis but a speck, in the dawn of a day,
Thou must not begin to finally feel,
As if thy heart, is in a reel,
Thou pain, is wrought, deep inside I fear,
For to giveth its wrath, is not what I hear,
‘Twas the pain, that brings me here to show,
For I am a man, wrought with pain and sorrow,
I’ve come through thine life, with toil and pain,
As one would not stand, out in the rain,
I’ve sought the peace, of the one who knows,
That life without hope, ‘tis not life, but shows,
A life so filled with nothing but fear,
That where my feet tread, was not with care,
But there in my mind, was a spark of hope,
To see with thine eyes, a path from the slope,
A walk I must, through the swords and rock,
Through, death and stench and things with pock,
To bring myself out, and forward I thrust,
To break through the gates to one that I trust,
For there is my hope, my peace I seek,
That strengthen’s my heart, from whence it was weak,
Since the Journey’s has not come to an end,
But rather a start, now I walk with a friend.
Copyright 2004 – 2020 – Patrick Donovan
Perhaps, 3000 years from now, my poetry will be found, and a film will be made. You just never know.
The Interview with Esme von Hoffman (Audio and written transcript) is below.
Patrick Donovan: Thank you for joining me today, Esme. How are you and your family dealing with all this stuff? And are you safe and healthy?
Esme von Hoffman: We’re doing pretty well. all things considered we’re safe and healthy, so, so that’s all we can ask for.
Patrick Donovan: Absolutely. That’s important here. And, I think we’re doing well. And my family’s all here live in a rural community, so I’m really happy that we get to work from home. So tell me about your early beginnings, your childhood, where you grew up and most importantly, what got you interested in film?
Esme von Hoffman: Yes. So, I grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I come from a family, with a lot of artists and writers. In fact, someone once said to me that everybody else in my family had published a book so they assumed that I would publish a book at some time too. I have not as of yet, but certainly culture was a big part of my family.
And, I also, I guess, families interested in sort of politics and organizing and sort of local level sort of improvement of, of one’s life through, you know, getting people together and, so these are, I guess, all influences. I also, you know my family itself, hails from the industrial Midwest going much farther back, so I have a lot of family out there. and in terms of what got me into film, besides having parents that were culturally interested, I, was lucky enough to grow up near a revival house theater, specifically the Brattle Theater. And, I really fell in love with watching old films and independent films and foreign films and it was really fantastic to not only see new movies coming out, but, other movies as well that were a little harder to lay one’s hands on and that was a great influence and, in high school and my friends and I really enjoyed going to that theater and it was a sort of great Cineast community so that was a big influence that, that got first got me into film.
Patrick Donovan: That’s fantastic. I, I beat you to the punch. I’ve got my first debut novel up on Amazon Kindle called Futurecast so, it’s pretty cool. It’s about weather control in the mid to late 21st century and how the U S government screws it up. So anyway… we won’t go there [laughter]
Esme von Hoffman: I’ll have to keep an eye out for it.
Patrick Donovan: I’ll send you a copy. Nan Gatewood-Satter actually did a early review and commentary for me and I was real grateful for that for her back in 2008 and I got it up there on, in 2012. So anyway, let’s get back into what got you started in your career in 2007 with the cake. What was that film like? And being an assistant to Elizabeth. Ashley.
Esme von Hoffman: Great question. How much time do you have?
Patrick Donovan: 30 minutes.
Esme von Hoffman: Okay. This was my very, very first job. I think I had two weeks to unpack my stuff from college and repack. And I came with a small suitcase to, New York city and never left. but I, yeah, I mean, Liz Ashley, she’s one of the great all-time artists. She’s also a very, original thinker, has a lot of interesting perspectives on the world and we’re still friends today and it was, it was definitely an adventure having that, that be, I guess I’d been on a set before as an intern, but to have that be my first, first paid job on a set.
Patrick Donovan: What was the cake eaters about?
Esme von Hoffman: It was a movie about relationships and families.
Patrick Donovan: That’s great, great relationships and families are good. And that that’s what life is all about is our families, right?
Esme von Hoffman: Yes. yes. So yeah, it was, they had a great cast. It had was Elizabeth Ashley and Bruce Dern were in that movie. Jesse L Martin, Talia Balsam, so, and then unknown Kristen Stewart was in it, so there were a lot of, and more, so it was a lot of really dynamic actors, which was fun to watch.
Patrick Donovan: You were then part of “Listen Up Phillip” as the editor. do you have any information about that? And as your career grew into that, and then “I Married with a Mobster” in 2012, what was those experiences like?
Esme von Hoffman: Yes. So, I should be said that was not the lead editor, but it was, a fantastic experience.
I got to know the director, Alex, Ross Perry, and some of his crew like Sean Price Williams and there, you know, sort of, sort of, auteur artists in the cinema guys and, yeah, was definitely wonderful working around them I certainly enjoy doing my own stuff too, but I love editing because it’s very much storytelling and, it’s also really nice to be able to sort of use all your creative power to serve somebody else’s vision. So, editing certainly, was a very rewarding thing to do.
And in terms of I Married a Mobster. So that was, I did a little bit of acting, when I was starting out and was actually not my first, acting I started earlier in theater and then I think my first movie came out, I believe in 2009… it’s called Once More with Feeling. It starred Chazz Palminteri, Linda Fiorentino, and Drea de Mateo. It was a great different perspective to, to get on set and, and be around actors and that was a really great experience as well.
Patrick Donovan: Fantastic. Thank you. Alright, so the fun part, what drew you to Ovid and his poetry or more specifically the time of Gaius Octavius or for people who don’t know his real birth name: it’s Caesar Augustus.
Esme von Hoffman: Yeah. So, I, thought that Ovid was a very sort of funny and relatable character. I enjoyed his humor and I also enjoy his story. His story is sort of a coming of age story. Even though he wrote 2000 years ago, he feels so, so contemporary and modern, he wrote a lot about relationships and finding relationships, which is something we can all relate to and then on another level he was sort of every man, for lack of a better word, who, stood up to an authoritarian leader, the, brutal emperor Augustus so that’s certainly an interesting political story and one that remains relevant to this day.
Patrick Donovan: Funny, you should say that cause that’s what I was thinking about when I saw the film and how Ovid it had to deal with the emperor and how we’re having to deal with her very own emperor right now, but it, it does have a lot of relevance in today’s world you know, and I really liked that the way you adapted it and played very well in a modern set and how you had it in a gutted out warehouse and had these elements of today and yesterday and it just felt really cool.
Esme von Hoffman: Oh, thank you so much. I think the story itself has a lot of themes that make it very relatable to modern times, and it feels very contemporary, but we’re also trying to reflect that in the setting and, and sort of create this cool world that helps us bridge the ancient and the modern and, and make it feel really connected to the story.
Patrick Donovan: I like the, the court scene too in there and the barding scene where he’s up there telling his poems and, the one heckler in the front seat that was good and then he put him in his place the way it worked out. It, was really interesting how the heckler then became the student where Ovid was the teacher and people started paying attention as he spoke.
You know, there’s an old saying that, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear and when the teacher is ready, the student will appear and Ovid first had to be a student to become a teacher and that’s what I got out of that scene.
Esme von Hoffman: Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, it is very much a story of Ovid’s growth and, those scenes in particular were really fun because we had real spoken word poets, on stage, along with Corbin Bleu, who, so did a fantastic job playing Ovid so Michael Ellison plays the MC and he’s, you know fantastic. He’s a real, spoken word artist himself and he did a lot of improvisation and had a lot of fun. he made sort of games to get the audience riled up and so it was just, it was a great time. And, Trae Isaac’s, he’s another artist spoken word poet that also features in the movie. So it was fun to blend, you know, real contemporary poets, with the, the ancient, well, very contemporary feeling, ancient poetry, to give it this sort of final, authentic, Detroit poetry slam vibe.
Patrick Donovan: I really liked it a lot and so I see that you have another Ovid film and I didn’t catch it, but Ovid in the Gutter, what’s that about? Is it a sequel to Art of Love?
Esme von Hoffman: So that’s a short film that I made before this feature. I made it actually kind of as an experiment and, I sort of had this quirky idea for updating Ovid’s story and so got together with filmmaker friends and actor, friends and we filmed it for very low budget, with, you know, same idea of togas and sneakers and, we started to show it around. We had a big screening in New York city and, for very diverse audiences, people came up to me afterwards and they said “That’s amazing it’s about, you know, Rome, but it’s really about our world and it’s so natural,” and I thought that’s great. You know, they’re wearing togas and sneakers and people are saying it’s natural. So, that, and then the fact that, you know, as I showed it around, industry people really responded to it to let me, launch, the feature film and encourage me to write the feature film and, help us get it made.
Patrick Donovan: I really enjoyed the part where you had the veterans and you spoke of lack of benefits and they are going to be in an uprising and that really hit me because I’m a disabled veteran from the US Navy. So, I picked up on that right away. I don’t know if that was your intention, but it was really good.
Esme von Hoffman: Oh, wonderful. I’m glad to hear that. Yeah. We were trying to, you know, tackle various contemporary issues that were issues in Rome as well. So, I’m really glad to hear that that resonated.
Patrick Donovan: History does repeat itself, doesn’t it?
Esme von Hoffman: Yeah, absolutely. And I think that’s a big lesson of this movie. You can learn a lot about our current society by, by looking in the past and perhaps if we, if we keep examining the past, we can make our future better.
Patrick Donovan: We’re not doing a very good job with that, are we? We’re ignoring the past.
Esme von Hoffman: Yes. Hopefully, you know, movies like this will help people rethink ignoring the past and, can help us you know, see what’s happened in the past and not keep repeating mistakes.
Patrick Donovan: I feel that we’re failing horribly, we’re crashing and burning in that respect, but, one day we’ll learn. I’m hoping that it’s not too late, so anyway,
Esme von Hoffman: All we can do is I guess try to push forward, but there we definitely have a lot of unfortunate challenges in our society.
Patrick Donovan: Very much so.
Esme von Hoffman: Right now.
Patrick Donovan: So, I’m going to do what I do with actors and I think this is really cool. I loved James Lipton and Inside the Actor’s Studio on Bravo. He passed away as of March 2nd of this year at 93. And are you ready for this?
Esme von Hoffman: Yes.
Patrick Donovan: Okay. What is your favorite word?
Esme von Hoffman: I’m sort of into the word of irreverent.
Patrick Donovan: Ah! Why that?
Esme von Hoffman: Oh, gosh. I, well, let me preface this. I don’t know that I have a favorite word, but I liked the idea that, you know, people don’t always take things at face value. And I think if there’s an importance for, you know, scratching under the surface, and, and questioning because I think that’s healthy, for, for society and democracy, et cetera and so I feel like, you know, having a little irreverence can help with that.
Patrick Donovan: Great. What is your least favorite word?
Esme von Hoffman: Again, don’t know that I specifically have a least favorite word. but the word timidity pops to mind.
Patrick Donovan: What turns you on?
Esme von Hoffman: I think that generosity of spirit and creativity turns me on.
Patrick Donovan: Wonderful. What turns you off?
Esme von Hoffman: Pettiness,
Patrick Donovan: What sound or noise do you love?
Esme von Hoffman: I love music.
Patrick Donovan: What type?
Esme von Hoffman: What type? Oh gosh. I like all sorts of music. I. Well, I mean, not to turn back to the film.
Patrick Donovan: Turn back to the film, please!
Esme von Hoffman: I was very proud of the soundtrack that we brought to together. Detroit is a city that has just an amazing array of, music through the ages and I think we really got an incredible sampling. we have Motown era songs from other, labels and we have, George Shirley’s, this incredible Grammy award winning, and legendary opera singer, who’s out of Detroit and he, so he sings more classical stuff. And then we have, you know, everything through hip hop and electronica, and even some more acoustic stuff from, modern musicians, like, DJ Body Mechanic and Christiansen, Intellect Allison and Rocket (!!!) Man.
So, just to name a few, but really people should, check out our soundtrack and then we got, a few pieces from other musicians around the world. BerlinOneDiamondBeatz from Berlin. We have, Desire Path, out of Brooklyn. So, yeah, I, I love, I love the variety, in creative expression, which is very, very exciting to me so, you know, the depths of different kinds of music is exciting to me.
Patrick Donovan: I hundred percent agree, especially like that little band in the very beginning with Ovid on the bongos.
Esme von Hoffman: Yes, absolutely. you know, great, great musicians from Detroit that pulled together.
Patrick Donovan: What sound or noise do you hate?
Esme von Hoffman: I’m not a fan of tearing cloth.
Patrick Donovan: Really.
Esme von Hoffman: I think it’s sort of like a, you know, you know, nails on a chalkboard. Yeah.
Patrick Donovan: I was so just going to say that! Yes, yes, I hate that. I hate that sound. Oh my gosh. What profession? other than your own, would you like to attempt?
Esme von Hoffman: I love research, so I think anything that had research, and I like traveling. So, anything with traveling too.
Patrick Donovan: Okay. What profession would you not like to attempt?
Esme von Hoffman: I feel like I would be too scared to be a deep sea diver, although I have plenty of respect for those who are.
Patrick Donovan: Yeah, I used to be in Guam and off the edge three miles is the Marianas trench 35,000 feet down so yeah, so it scared me. Finally, if heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly Gates?
Esme von Hoffman: I think that I’d like to hear that I’d done right by people and helped people.
Patrick Donovan: And like James used to do with the balance of our time I’d like to turn over the mic to you and let you talk about anything you’d like, here’s your audience?
Esme von Hoffman: Yes. So, I guess to go back to the film, Ovid and The Art of Love, this is a unique film and we worked with these incredible artists and musicians and, of all varieties and to come up with this creative piece by design and, I, I hope that, uniqueness provides a fun change of pace for people’s viewing options.
Patrick Donovan: So, you liked my poem? I forgot to ask.
Esme von Hoffman: Oh, yeah. I thought it was fantastic. I thought that it was, it was, I found it very moving that you put it in and Brian, our publicist on the film, said the same thing. So, yeah, I mean, I really love that because I hope that one of the takeaways of the movie is that, you know, Ovid was a poet, whose work lives on, but you know, it could be Jamal who is the boy in it or it could be you, you know, so I love that you, you know, you’re a poet and you picked up on, on that message. I think that’s an excellent poem. So, I think that’s. that’s cool because I think, you know, maybe that is something that this movie is saying, maybe yeah there’ll be a movie about you in 2000 years. So, Absolutely
Patrick Donovan: Well, it did for me and moved me, it helped me and I’m appreciative of it. Thank you very much for your time. Have a great day. Good weekend. And we’ll talk again soon.
Esme von Hoffman: Wonderful. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you for taking the time and I hope you and your family continue to stay safe and healthy.
Patrick Donovan: Take care.
Production Company: www.level33entertainment.com
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4875674/
Official Website: https://www.ovidandtheartoflove.com/
