Dame Rinda

Those who follow me on Twitter know I’m a huge fan of French director, Luc Besson.  Have been since I watched The Big Blue. Of course, when I saw that movie, I was entertaining the idea of becoming an oceanographer.  (Treading water in a deep, muddy lake with unseen creatures nibbling on my toes cured me of this desire. That and my weird shark fear.) But the movie captured me in a way that frankly, drove everyone around me nuts. I made friends and family watch the movie with me. More than once. I bought the Eric Serra soundtrack…

What? Obsessive? Me?

But my love didn’t end there. I fell for The Professional (Leon) something fierce; will watch The Fifth Element every time it’s on, Ronin had that unbelievable car chase scene and OMG, The Transporter just sent me into a wicked, deeper, more awe-filled love.  (Um, Jason Statham had a little something to do with that one, too.) There are others.

But there was one film that just plain did it for me. In fact, it changed the way I would write my heroines forever. 

La Femme Nikita (Nikita).

Here was an awesome tale of redemption, a story of someone without a redeeming quality, someone who is taken against her will, trained to be a killer…someone who discovers she has a heart.  I own the French and the dubbed version-prefer the French. I liked the television series quite a bit, too, but how I felt watching that first film with Anne Parillaud stuck. 

In fact, I went on to write my own version of this heroine. My book, Wired, was about a government trained computer hacker from Northern Ireland who found her mixed Catholic/Protestant world didn’t matter when she was online.  In the very first chapter, she punched the hero in the face.  Believe me, she had every right. I entered the manuscript in a writing contest and it failed miserably. The judge said no one wanted to read about such a mouthy, quick fisted heroine.  (Ironically, I entered the exact ms into a contest the next year and it took first place.)

If I had access to all the books I wrote before the movie (okay, okay, there were only three and they were purposely lost thank you very much) and compared them to the ones after, the change in style would probably be a shocker. My heroines before were all heart, but no gumption. The ones right after had too much gumption, not enough heart.  Finding the right mix took me some time. So? I’m a slow learner.  But that need to find the right mix of strength and heart fires me to write more than anything else, to find different ways to showcase it, to explore my own tales of redemption. 

So, ever see a movie or read a book that flat out changed things for you?

(And okay, Dame Rachel called me from the airport this morning and said I should mention it’s my birthday or someone else will.  <g>  Think I’ll celebrate with a Luc Besson film. There’s one I found on Netflix, one I somehow missed and oh, is it right up my alley. Futuristic, dystopian… I’m already quivering with excitement!  Banlieue 13.)