By Steven K. Landry
Special to The Advocate
PARKS - Local history has it that this village between St. Martinville and Breaux Bridge is where the first Acadians landed 250 years ago, at a bend in the Bayou Teche. Near that bend is Dirk Powell's cypress-lined studio, 200 yards from his home where he lives with his musician-wife, Christine Balfa, daughter of Cajun music legend Dewey Balfa.
"It gave me the chills, being in that room with Dirk, where this whole story started," filmmaker Joseph Castille said.
Castille, whose independent rewrite of the Evangeline saga, Evangeline: A True Love Story, is set to start filming in a couple of months, said Monday that he chose Grammy-nominated musician Powell to write original music and provide on-set advice.
The Grammy award ceremony is next month in Los Angeles, where Powell's banjo, fiddle and production work on the movie Cold Mountain and on Loretta Lynn's album Van Lear Rose will be considered.
The new Evangeline will be filmed in Lafayette during April's Festival International and at various areas in Acadiana, including St. Martinville, which bases its tourism push on the Evangeline legend.
The movie is slated for release in September, the 250th anniversary of the British-led expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia, Canada.
The film is not simply a retelling of the Longfellow story, said Castille, who attended Acadiana-area schools in the late 1970s and is a California-based filmmaker and producer.
The new version is a contemporary love story set in southern Louisiana, and rooted in the myth, mystery and romance of the Evangeline character so prevalent to Acadiana.
Purists may wonder why Castille's version will have a happy ending, contrary to several legends - Longfellow's Evangeline being the most famous - that have the female protagonist either going mad or dying while waiting for her beloved long-lost love, Gabriel.
Powell, however, said so-called "purists" can't touch this story.
"There is no room to be a purist, because there's nothing set in stone. That's what's so great about myth - it can always be reworked," Powell said.
Powell will write original music, "with a more film-score type of approach," he said.
"We'll use several bands involved in different ways, but most of our work is done in post-production. We'll be mixing sounds of Cajun traditionals with classical instruments. We've got some talented local folks, so it won't be a problem to find musicians," Powell said.
In November, Castille hired young director Mike Miley, a Lafayette native, to take on the project. Esquire magazine named Miley as one of the "20 Student Filmmakers to Watch."
Powell said Castille's script and the location where Powell will be recording make a perfect combination to produce the music for the Acadian tale.
"Joe came by the studio, just north of St. Martinville - and where the Acadians landed is right there," Powell said. "There's a lot of that Acadian spirit here. I really responded to it (his script). And it's kinda cool to be able to see this (Evangeline and Gabriel) meeting come to fruition."
Most of the music for Evangeline will be inserted after the film is completed, in the editing room with Castille.
Powell will write new material, but also will include traditional songs with new twists, as he did for Cold Mountain, the 2003 Civil War movie starring Nicole Kidman, Jude Law and Renee Zellweger. For that movie, Powell served as "on-set music adviser," according to the credits.
