BROKEN JOURNEY
Theatrical Motion Picture (or Limited Series)
• Synopsis
• Director’s Statement
• Images & Mood
• Comparable Titles
“Don’t ever let somebody tell you… you can’t do something. Not even me. All right? You got a dream… you gotta protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do it. If you want something, go get it. Period.”
- Chris Gardner, to his son Christopher, The Pursuit of Happyness
SYNOPSIS
One day in 1994, Jennifer Murray, age 54, a British housewife and mother of three, was living in London when her husband, Simon, an international business man, announced that he had impulsively purchased a half share in a helicopter. Considering the fact that neither one of them knew how to fly, Jennifer thought her husband of nearly thirty years had at last completely lost his mind. Then, Simon added, “Anyway, I haven’t got time to learn how to fly, so you’d better.”
Always up for a new challenge and with her three children away at university, Jennifer took a break from painting pictures and planting roses and reported to Sloane Helicopters to begin training for her pilot’s license. Even today, the male-dominated world of aviation can be unwelcoming to any woman wishing to participate, but a quarter century ago it was positively intimidating. Looking around, Jennifer quickly realized that she was the only woman in her flight school. Even more daunting, all of her instructors were at least twenty years younger than her and most of her fellow students didn’t even look old enough to drive a car, much less pilot a helicopter. Worst of all, upon seeing Jennifer, the instructor said, “So, you want the ‘wives’ course,’ do you?”
This remark, not to mention the snickering of her classmates, struck Jennifer as not only condescending, but incredibly sexist as well. A few years later, while the world watched, Jennifer flew into the history books when, at age 60, she became the first woman to fly around the world solo in a helicopter.
Within days of completing her record-breaking solo flight, Jennifer was back working in her rose garden when Colin Bodill, a micro light pilot and friend who joined Jennifer during her flight around the world and set a world record of his own, asked her, “Now what about ‘The Big One?’”
At that time, The Big One (i.e., to fly around the world the “other” way via the South and North Poles) remained the last, great, unconquered feat of aviation – and for good reason. Three-quarters of the journey would be over hostel terrain, mountain ranges, equatorial rainforests, ocean crossings, and the polar regions. Jennifer knew that, if engine failure occurred, the chances of survival would be slim to none because, if the crash didn’t kill you, the elements probably would. Reluctant to put her family and friends through more anxious times after they’d endured so many already, Jennifer passed. But a few short weeks later, she found herself once again looking to the skies and dreaming of far-off places.
When Jennifer realized that the centennial of the Wright Brothers’ first powered flight would fall on December 17, 2003, she thought that there would be no better way to commemorate the date than to reach the South Pole on that very day. Her competitive spirit boiling over and unable to refuse the call of adventure any longer, she promised her family that this would be her very last expedition. The Big One was on.
After securing sponsorship, permits, and a Bell 407 helicopter, Jennifer and Colin set out to cross continents, an ocean, and 2,000 miles of Antarctic wilderness to reach the South Pole.
They made it, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first powered flight to the day. Then, as Jennifer and Colin embarked on their long journey to the North Pole, they were caught in a sudden whiteout, became disoriented, and crashed. That’s when their struggle to survive against the odds began…
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
The life of Jennifer Murray is one of those rare and wonderful stories where the more you learn, the better it gets – and I can’t wait to share it with you.
In January of 2018, producer William Henderson contacted me on behalf of Simon Murray Films in the UK, wanting to know if I’d be interested in writing a film about the French Foreign Legion. Apparently, William had read an action/thriller set in the underworld of the Hong Kong triads that I’d written for actor/producer Byron Mann (“Altered Carbon,” “The Big Short,” “The Man with the Iron Fists”) and thought I might be a good fit for an adaptation of Simon Murray’s wartime diary, “Legionnaire,” about the five years Murray spent in the Legion during the Algerian War.
The property had been made into a film once before – 2002’s ill-fated “Deserter” starring a pre-fame Tom Hardy – and Simon wasn’t entirely pleased with the result. Sixteen years later, the producers wanted to get it right and I was flattered that they approached me. I’d recently had to push the shooting date of a film I was to direct back almost a full year and was desperate to occupy my mind with something – scratch that, anything – else. And so, I plunged headlong into “Legionnaire.”
Essentially, the true story concerns Simon Murray, the heir to a fallen dynasty, who falls in love with Jennifer Mather, the daughter of an industrialist. When Jennifer turns down Simon’s marriage proposal, he suspects that his station in life may be the real culprit and joins the French Foreign Legion in the hope that doing so will give him the respectability he needs in order to be considered a worthy suitor of Jennifer. At its heart, it was really an extraordinary love story in the tradition of such greats as Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and, of course, Wren. But, more than that, it’s a time capsule of the Legion during what I consider the greatest turning point in its history. Certainly, the battles of Camarón and Dien Bien Phu are remarkable chapters in the Legion’s history, but the attempted coup d'état in 1961 is the climax – and Simon was literally “on the ground” when it happened. Great, great stuff.
Soon, William arranged for Simon and I to meet in Miami in March. Simon would be flying in from London and I from Los Angeles. I spent the intervening months reading every book about the Legion that I could get my hands on and, then, hoping to uncover details about Simon from a wife’s perspective, I decided to read the second of three books Jennifer herself had written, Broken Journey. (Simon and Jennifer married in 1965 after his contract with the Legion ended and, at the age of 60, she became the first woman to fly around the world solo in a helicopter.) Broken Journey, about Jennifer’s attempt to fly around the world via the poles in a helicopter at the age of 63, arrived late and, I must confess, I didn’t have time to finish it before meeting Simon in Miami.
Then, to my very pleasant surprise, Jennifer joined Simon on the Miami trip and, let’s just say, I was very impressed. It’s not often that one gets to sit down for breakfast with a husband and wife who hold multiple world records between them (Simon became the oldest man to reach the South Pole unsupported in 2004) and whose faces grace postage stamps. Though it wasn’t for lack of effort on my part, I immediately regretted not having finished Jennifer’s book yet. In hindsight, though, it may have been a blessing in disguise because I have an unfortunate tendency to “geek out” in the presence of people I greatly admire.
Ultimately, the time I spent with Simon and Jennifer on that trip was one of the highs of a roller-coaster year and we made plans to meet again in Paris for Bastille Day in July, at which time Simon would introduce me to some legionnaires who planned to attend the reunion he hosts annually in the French capital. Although I still had a stack of Legion-related books to get through before Paris, I vowed to also finish Broken Journey once and for all. In fact, although my schedule was particularly hectic during the intervening months, I budgeted my time in such a way that I should have been able to read ten pages per day.
Well, as it turned out, once I started reading, I couldn’t stop. I finished the book in two days, stopping only to eat, sleep, make notes, and take much-needed breathers in order to process some of the stunning events that unfolded in the book. In particular, I found Jennifer’s account of her near-fatal crash in Antarctica and the struggle to survive against the odds that followed absolutely harrowing. In fact, many, many times I had to put the book down, walk around my living room for a while, take deep breaths, and dab the tears from my eyes before I could continue reading. It’s one gut-wrenching ending and, by the time I finished it, I was exhausted.
I couldn’t help but wonder how it was possible that I hadn’t heard of this story before. So, I went online and began researching. It seems that, for whatever reason, the crash was widely reported internationally, but hadn’t received as much coverage here in the States. As a producer, I’m always looking for extraordinary stories that have somehow managed to slip through the cracks and this one certainly qualified. Not only that, it screamed to be a movie. Through Simon’s assistant, I wrote Jennifer an e-mail telling her how much I enjoyed her book and that I hoped we might be able to find a few minutes to discuss it in Paris. She was very appreciative, but I’m not sure if she realized what I had in mind.
Cut to: July 14th (my last day in Paris), Simon and Jennifer invited me to dinner and suggested I stop by their place for a drink beforehand. At last, I was able to tell Jennifer how much her story resonated with me face to face and, as I was doing so, my eyes began to fill with tears again. I was so sorry that what had happened to her had ever happened at all, but at the same time I was grateful that she was able to turn what I imagine must be the worst experience of her life into such a remarkable book. I told her that I thought her story could lend itself to an inspiring film and that, if I had a daughter, that was the kind of film I would want her to see. I asked her if she would be open to the idea of letting me secure the film rights, so that I could try to get a film made. She was open.
Then, Jennifer revealed that her co-pilot at the time of the crash, Colin Bodill, happened to be in Paris that same evening and asked me if I’d like her to invite him to dinner so that the three of us could talk. “That would be amazing,” I said. Thirty minutes later, as we all arrived for dinner at Le Café Marly, Jennifer introduced me to Colin, saying, “Colin, this is Dax, he wants to make a film of our story.”
“My back hurts just thinking about it,” Colin joked. (In the crash, Colin suffered a broken back, spinal cord damage, a split liver, broken ribs, and internal bleeding. The fact that he’s arriving anywhere for dinner – on two feet, no less – is nothing short of incredible.)
It was an evening I’ll never forget.
After returning to Los Angeles, I secured the film rights to all three of Jennifer’s books: Now Solo (2003); Broken Journey (2006); and Polar First (2008). I’m currently in the process of “breaking down” the three books into their fundamental components, in order to determine the best format for the adaptation. Initially, I envisioned this story as a mainstream feature film that would begin in 1994 when Simon announced to Jennifer, then age 54, that he had impulsively bought a half share in a helicopter. Jennifer thought Simon was nuts, especially considering the fact that neither one of them knew how to fly. Then, Simon added, “I haven’t got time to learn how to fly, so you’d better.”
Sometime later, Jennifer went to Sloane Helicopters north of London to begin training for her pilot’s license. It was a rather intimidating place. All of the instructors were at least 20 years younger than her and most of her fellow students didn’t look old enough to have a driver’s license. Then, making matters worse, Jennifer’s prospective instructor said, “So you want the wives’ course, do you?” This struck Jennifer as incredibly patronizing and sexist. A few years later, she would become the first woman to fly around the world solo in a helicopter.
Once this backstory and Jennifer’s indomitable spirit was established, I planned to focus the rest of the feature on her attempt to achieve the last, great, unconquered feat of aviation (i.e., flying around the world via the poles) at age 63 in 2003, the very journey that ended prematurely when she and Colin crashed in Antarctica. Finally, after Jennifer and Colin survived their incredible ordeal, I would end the film with a coda, revealing that, in 2007, the pair’s second attempt at the poles met with success and landed them in the record books once again. It would be one hell of a film, particularly if shot on the IMAX format.
However, as I delved deeper and deeper into Jennifer’s story and re-read Now Solo, about Jennifer’s record-breaking solo flight around the world at age 60 in 2000, it occurred to me that I also have all the ingredients I need to make a limited series for a place like Netflix. In fact, if Season 1 focused on the events from Now Solo and Season 2 on those from Broken Journey and Polar First, the escalation of the stakes as the series progresses would be terrific. Furthermore, because the audience would get to know Jennifer and Colin’s characters well in Season 1, it would be even more emotionally invested in the tearjerker that would be Season 2. Finally, by limiting it to two seasons, the series would end on a high note rather than slowly wearing out its welcome as so many shows unfortunately do. So, we have two ways we can go with this project and both are excellent.
When The Hollywood Reporter recently did a piece on my acquisition of the film rights to these books, they asked Jennifer for a quote. Her quote has become my mission statement for this project. (In fact, it is taped to the wall over my computer as I type these very words.) To me, it perfectly encapsulates my reasons for wanting to become a storyteller in the first place –
“I hope the film will serve as an inspiration to all that neither age nor gender is an anchor when the human spirit chooses to soar.” - Jennifer Murray
Like most people, I’ve always had a soft spot for true stories about ordinary people who dared to do extraordinary things that others believed couldn’t be done – and, for me, that’s what Jennifer’s story is really about. It’s particularly interesting to note that, before Jennifer flew around the world the first time, she went to see Frank Robinson in California, the manufacturer of her Robinson R44 helicopter, G-MURY, hoping for his approval and support. But, when Frank heard that Jennifer wanted to fly around the world in one of his helicopters, he thought she was mad and refused to give her any approval or support whatsoever. Even worse, he only gave her a one in five chance of making it and said she’d never get as far as Pakistan. Jennifer would later send him a postcard from Pakistan. (You can imagine the look on his face when he received it, can’t you?) As for G-MURY, it’s on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
When Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman was released last year and became a critical and commercial smash, it was a bittersweet moment for me. On the one hand, it was thrilling to see a female-driven story of that magnitude get made in Hollywood, meet with such wild success, and inspire a legion of young girls. On the other hand, however, I was disappointed that it was a comic book movie. Young girls can neither meet Wonder Woman in person nor possess her superpowers, but they can all grow up to be a real-life “wonder woman” like Jennifer Murray. We need to tell those stories, too, and I can’t think of a better time to do so.
Onward and upward.
Dax Phelan
Los Angeles, California
