Excerpt from Home - A Memoir of My Early Years by Julie Andrews
Moss, Alan, and I were walking away from the stage one day, after a rehearsal. I was a little ahead of the men, and Alan suddenly said, "I wonder what hidden depths lie within our Julie."
I looked back at him. He was smiling at me, teasing, in a way. I think he was implying that though he knew me, he didn't really know me. I supposed I still appeared a little glacial at times.
I managed a jokey reply, but inside, I was yearning to say something pertinent and truthful. I wanted to let him know, "I'm in here, Alan. Believe me, I hear you. I'm in here."
Moss, Alan, and I were walking away from the stage one day, after a rehearsal. I was a little ahead of the men, and Alan suddenly said, "I wonder what hidden depths lie within our Julie."
I looked back at him. He was smiling at me, teasing, in a way. I think he was implying that though he knew me, he didn't really know me. I supposed I still appeared a little glacial at times.
I managed a jokey reply, but inside, I was yearning to say something pertinent and truthful. I wanted to let him know, "I'm in here, Alan. Believe me, I hear you. I'm in here."
Julie Beth Rhodes, we’ll call her “Julie” for short, was born and raised in a very small town in Virginia. Julie has loved movies from a young age but living out in the country limited her access when she was young. So whenever her mother would go into town to get groceries, Julie would hope that maybe, just maybe, Mom would bring a movie back from the rental store. It didn’t happen too often, but such a surprise would make Julie even happier than Library Day at school.
You see, Julie is a lover of stories. She doesn’t care if they are novels, television programs, or films. Or even if they are stories told around a campfire, dinner table, or bowl of popcorn at a sleepover. Nothing brings more joy into Julie’s life than a good story. And though she may like all forms of storytelling, movies officially became her favorite method in high school.
After seeing the grand and epic film, “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” in January of 2002, Julie began to educate herself in film making. While watching behind the scenes documentaries on the “The Lord of the Rings” DVDs, Julie became familiar with the roles behind the camera. She learned what the special effects and sound guys did, the costume designer and the props master as well. After many mesmerizing hours watching these documentaries, Julie decided that she wanted to make movies for a living.
While the opportunity to make movies has eluded Julie for some time now, she has taken the time to Volunteer at the Sundance Film Festival, the Sundance Summer Labs, and the Toronto International Film Festival. Surrounding herself with film every couple of months has made it even more obvious to Julie that the film industry is where she belongs.
In between these events, she has become more disciplined in her writing. Julie kept blogs while traveling to film festivals and made her realize that writing just might be her way of expressing herself. She started with nonfiction writing, and is now also dabbling in fictional screenwriting. With so many ideas in her head, Julie is now more dedicated to putting these ideas to paper, or at least in her computer. Her brain is too full to keep everything stashed away. She feels that it is now time to share after keeping her stories to herself for so long. Hopefully you will see one of her stories on the big screen in the not-so-distant future.
