Press

Orinda Film Festival

David Marenger Abridged Interview

Oakland Tribune
A good time to feast on Celebrities
by Barry Caine

Coinciding with the stream of slick celluloid have been visits from an array of hot-shot actors and filmmakers.

William Hurt settled into the Lafayette Park Hotel on Thursday before heading to the Orinda Film Festival for a benefit screening of his new movie "The Blue Butterfly" and an onstage interview at the Orinda afterward.

In "The Blue Butterfly," which is scheduled for a limited Bay Area release near Thanksgiving, Hurt plays a famous entomologist who reluctantly agrees to take a 10-year-old boy dying of brain cancer to a tropical rain forest to find a butterfly.

But not just any butterfly. The boy wants to capture the most beautiful butterfly in the world, the elusive Blue Morpho, which is supposed to have magical powers.

The full house at the Orinda Theater loved the film. So did I. It is beautifully shot, upbeat, suspenseful and touching.

It's also based on a true story. David Marenger, the boy who inspired it, turned 24 on Thursday. Miraculously, his cancer went away. Doctors couldn't explain it.

After Marenger took part in the interview along with Hurt and producer Francine Allaire, a slice of the audience gathered around and sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

Francine Allaire, David Marenger,
and Willam Hurt