Dead On

Rick Koster, The Day Originally published October 26, 2007

It's not exactly how Ben Affleck and Matt Damon got started. Or, for that matter, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Instead, G. Randyl Johnson was selling mortgages. Gordon Videll, an attorney, attended the closings of some of those transactions as part of his job. They became friends who would occasionally meet for a beer at Hanafin's Public House — conveniently located downstairs from Videll's downtown New London office — to discuss all matter of odd topics.

One day, Johnson, who lives in Groton, broached a subject he'd read about: diamonds being created as memorials from the carbon in the ashes of cremated loved ones. And he said to Videll, “You know what would make a great horror movie? What if the diamonds talked to you through the spirits of their dead people?”

Videll, a New London resident, wasn't particularly interested in horror movies, but the core idea of the actual ashes-to-gems process intrigued him as the basis of a film plot.

Oct 26, 2007 11:40 AM - To read the full article, click here.

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