A director from Los Angeles has visited Oswestry with hopes of turning the love story of World War Two soldiers into a $10 million feature film.
Mark Hignett from Oswestry Town Museum welcomed Andrew Vallentine to the town for a second time to learn more about soldiers Gordon Bowsher and Gilbert Bradley, who sent over 300 love letters from 1939 to 1941.
After discovering a BBC article on the letters, director Andrew got in touch with Mark, with an interest in pursing the letters to create something bigger.
"I was talking to Mark for three months, asking him if I could read the letters," said Andrew.
"I thought the letters were compelling, and I told Mark how interested I was. He was very excited about getting a project started, especially as it would really help me in my career."
Andrew grew up in Michigan, before moving to LA at 22-years-old to go to film school. It was here that he was introduced to big lights and intricate cameras, and his directing career began.
So far Andrew has produced commercials for Mercedez Benz and a music video for Grammy Award nominee Charlie Puth. He is currently working on another movie with creative producer Amy Baer who worked on films such as My Best Friend's Wedding and The Mask of Zorro.
"I like to work on films that have a message behind them,"Andrew continued.
"In the past I have worked on LGBT films that have received 30-40 million views.
"Being a gay man myself, the story of Gordon and Gilbert has really reached out to me and the fact of how dangerous it was for them to be together is still so relevant in so many places now."
Andrew also found another connection to the World War Two soldiers, after he found that his grandfather served as a glider pilot during the war.
"My grandfather passed away when I was 19, but before he died he opened up to me about the war, so I was toying with the idea of doing a film on him, but when I found the letters I thought they brought both stories together so well I couldn't miss the opportunity," he added.
"I also found out that Gordon lived about 40 minutes away from where I do in LA, raising horses. It's a strange coincidence.
"My next step is to get all the letters together and work out the best way to portray them in film. It's an endearing story all about love, and I have very high hopes for it."
Andrew's next step is to reach out to producers, and predicts it could be a $7-10 million film.
Along with his husband Danny and his mum, Andrew met with Oswestry mayor Vince Hunt, and met one of Gilbert's oldest friends.
"Oswestry is lovely town, it's very quaint and I love the history of it," Andrew added.
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