Screenplay on AIDS Tugs at Heartstrings, Inspires Film on Shoestring Budget

BOSTON —  Polly Bergen cried for 20 minutes after reading the script, and then offered to pay for a part in it.

John Dye saw it as a chance to provide “a lot of something for nothing” about a tragedy he believes has affected almost everyone in Hollywood.

The 30-minute film “Mother, Mother” had its world premiere in Boston’s John Hancock Hall this month. It was true labor of love for Bergen, Dye and the rest of the cast and crew, who worked for free.

The dramatic story focuses on a young man with AIDS and his estranged mother, who is trying to cope with his inevitable death.

More than 350 people donated time and technical support to create a film that would have cost an estimated $1.5 million. Equipment was either provided free or at a fraction of the cost.

All of the proceeds will be going to community AIDS help organizations nationwide.

“They wanted to make a difference,” says Micki Dickoff, a Boston film producer who conceived, co-produced and directed the drama. “Everybody that came aboard was there because they wanted to do something about AIDS. People are very frustrated with this illness.

“What we learned in Hollywood in particular was there was nobody . . . who didn’t have some particular relationship with someone with AIDS.”

Dickoff, 41, has taught television and film at Boston’s Emerson College for a decade and has been producing documentaries and public service announcements for 15 years.

She wrote the story for “Mother, Mother” last January and took her idea to Hollywood, where she landed producer Judy Miller, co-producer and writer Ian Praiser, Michael Alden of Cannon Films and the biggest prize--a $55,000 donation from John Hancock Financial Services.

The cast--Bergen, Dye, Bess Armstrong and Piper Laurie--all worked for free. Composer Henry Mancini provided the music and the theme song was written by Cris Williamson and performed by Kenny Rankin.

The film tells the story of Jeff (Dye), whose homosexual lover has just died of AIDS and who has discovered he also has the deadly virus, and his mother (Bergen) who rejects her son after he reveals his homosexuality.

Jeff, an AIDS hospice worker, dislikes his mother and tries to cope with his illness without her. But his co-workers Kate (Armstrong) and Martha (Laurie), the mother of his deceased lover--try to persuade the two to reunite.

“She’s a highly unlikable person,” Bergen, 58, known for her performances in “Winds of War” and “Making Mr. Right,” says of her character. “I think that the moment she finds out he has AIDS, she already feels that she’s lost him. . . She shuts herself off from that pain by simply refusing to have anything to do with him.”

Dickoff first tackled the subject of AIDS in her documentary “Too Little, Too Late,” about how family and friends react to the deadly virus. The film aired on local television in several U.S. cities June 29.

“That film was about families who were there for their children through the illness of AIDS,” Dickoff said. “What I wanted to do was take ‘Too Little, Too Late’ one step further to show these families who reject their kids with AIDS.”

The underlying theme of “Mother, Mother” is unconditional love and forgiveness, Dickoff said.

“I’ve watched a lot of people die without the support of their families. I couldn’t fathom this,” she said. “I felt there was no issue big enough to keep a mother and child from each other when the child was dying.”

Dickoff met hundreds of AIDS victims while filming “Too Little, Too Late,” and many were featured in both the documentary and “Mother, Mother.”

“It’s like no other disease that’s known to us in recent history. I’ve lost 15 (friends with AIDS). In the past four weeks, I’ve been to a funeral every week,” Dickoff said. “It’s pretty devastating.”

Bergen counts 30 close friends who have died from AIDS--an illness she says “crosses all lines.”

“I was very moved by the script,” Bergen said. “I thought that it touched on a subject that deeply needs to be talked about and dealt with. Having three children of my own and knowing what it would be like to actually have that kind of a separation from one of your children, imagining what it would be like . . . just destroyed me.”

The film was shot in eight days in the Los Angeles area, with cast and crew working up to 18 hours each day to meet deadlines for returning donated equipment.

Proceeds from the world premiere in Boston benefited the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts and fund-raisers are also planned in Los Angeles, Washington and New York.

After those showings, the film will be given to nonprofit AIDS organizations for their own fund-raisers. Dickoff hopes to eventually sell the drama to television, with proceeds donated to AIDS organizations.

She may get another plus in February. The film has been submitted for Academy Award consideration in the category of short subjects-live action.