Seeking redemption after the previous post, I decided I’d better give my mom’s side of the family some attention.
The intertwined Utlaut-Kersten families from which she came have been keeping track of family members for 55 years. The family history they’ve compiled chronicles the lives of ancestors who lived 150 years ago. It took me a couple of months but I painstakingly loaded all of them into my family tree software.
The entry for my 3rd cousin, John August, said he’d changed his name for “professional reasons”. Intrigued, there was no way I was not investigating this further.
As it turns out, John is a movie screenwriter. A well-known one, in fact. Oh, boy. When I learned he had written the big screen reboot of Charlie’s Angels starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu, I nearly did a backflip. (It came off more of a backflop.) I’m a sucker for kitschy movies and this is one of my all-time favorites! Reading through his other credits was like perusing my own DVD library… Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (screenplay/story), Titan A. E. (screenplay), Big Fish (screenplay), Corpse Bride (screenplay), Depp’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (screenplay), and Frankenweenie (screenplay). He also wrote and directed The Nines starring Ryan Reynolds. Such talent!
John also teaches screenwriting and has his own website. There’s a place where students can submit questions, so of course I did. I explained how we were related and asked how he felt about sharing DNA with one of his biggest fans. Come to think of it, in my excited star-struck state I might have left out the part about how we were related. That would explain why he never responded. I can’t blame him. Simply claiming we shared a bit DNA might have come off a bit creepy and stalkeresque. Although I wouldn’t mind a cut of the royalties. After all, we’re family.
Kenfolk: Utlauts
Relation: 3rd cousin
Common ancestors: John and I share 2nd great grandparents, Heinrich Rudolph and Sophia (Brundiek) Utlaut
Reference:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0041864/