Documentary opens doors for 'King Gimp'
PUSSSYKATT
NEW YORK - Don't wake up Dan Keplinger, because he's not dreaming.
In the past two months, Keplinger, a 27-year-old artist with cerebral palsy,
has become an instant celebrity.
It started moments after King Gimp (HBO, tonight, 7 ET/PT ) - a film that
chronicles his struggles with a debilitating disease that makes him unable to
control the muscles of his arms, legs or mouth - won an Academy Award for best
documentary short subject. As television cameras zoomed in, Keplinger flung
himself out of his wheelchair and crashed to the floor, shaking with joy, thus
leaving a national viewing audience to wonder if he was all right.
"The people who know me knew what was up," Keplinger says. "But most people
thought I was having a seizure, but I was only jumping for joy."
At the recent opening of his first solo art exhibition at a swank Manhattan
gallery, Keplinger, who paints with his head via a helmetlike device that's
attached to a paintbrush, again jumped from his wheelchair to the floor and
shimmied after selling one of his paintings for $6,500.
"All this stuff is like a dream come true," says Keplinger's mom, Lynda Ritter,
who also serves as his translator for visitors. "Doesn't every parent want
success for their child, disabled or not?"
No doubt. And in King Gimp, it is clear that Keplinger, a Towson, Md., native,
has made everyone proud. At one of his favorite local watering holes, there's a
sign outside that says: "Hometown boy honored at the Oscars - Dan Keplinger U R
the Man."
"It is weird how people are always coming up to me when I go out," Keplinger
says. "Because I still think I am only going out with friends for drinks."
King Gimp, which is Keplinger's childhood nickname, follows him from the age of
12 to 25, tracking him from a state school for disabled children to a suburban
Baltimore high school, then on to college.
The camera captures Keplinger as he wrestles with his body to feed and clothe
himself. He faces obstacles from teachers who try to dissuade him from being an
artist because of his disability. There are also challenges of being in a
wheelchair as he struggles and kicks a mechanical glass door before he finally
pries it open.
Filmmakers Bill Whiteford and Susan Hadary spent 13 years making the 39-minute
documentary and edited nearly 100 hours of video, while Keplinger wrote 80
pages of script.
Producers also wanted Keplinger to tell his own story, but they couldn't
understand him, and Keplinger was against the idea of using a computer-assisted
voice. So Whiteford came up with the idea to let Keplinger write his story as
they were reviewing the film they had shot.
"It was very deep," Whiteford says. "There were parts of Dan we never saw. It
was difficult for him to speak. He put his soul into it."
The same can be said for his paintings. To get ready for the exhibition, which
runs through June 30 at the Phyllis Kind Gallery, Keplinger had to finish five
paintings in two months.
In all, there are 21 self-portraits, still lifes or portraits of close friends,
with prices ranging from $5,000 to $6,500.
"It has been non-stop with interviews and appearances, and I had to find time
to paint, so I haven't slept much," Keplinger says.
Nevertheless, he doesn't seem bothered, because he plans to pursue a career in
painting. He also is going back to Towson University in the fall for a second
bachelor's degree. And he hopes to write a book, which would include the essays
that were left out of the documentary and include some of his illustrations.
"I think of myself as an example of the human spirit," Keplinger says. "If you
want something bad enough, you can do it, but it's up to the person to try and
find the spirit in themselves."
SEND EMAIL TO PUSSS...@aol.com
AGC FAQ and FUN STUFF
http://members.aol.com/pusssykatt/agcfaq.html