Local ‘cannibal culinary snobs’

The last cannibal who dined in Pittsburgh ended up becoming famous: people know him as Hannibal… The last cannibal who dined in Pittsburgh ended up becoming famous: people know him as Hannibal Lecter.

But Pittsburgh is not done with cannibalism quite yet. Daniel Parme’s short story-turned-novel “Hungry,” which tells the tale of an underground society of cannibals in Pittsburgh, is due to be turned into a movie and filmed here.

Parme, who tends the bar at Joe Mama’s, has taken the project into his own hands, despite never having written or directed a film before. One of his goals for the project is to show that a good movie can be created without Hollywood’s influence, using only volunteers, loaned equipment and passion.

Parme hopes the movie will have a budget of $10,000, which will mostly be used for insurance and permits among other expenses. The budget will rely on donations from people interested in furthering this movie and thus the Pittsburgh film scene.

Parme has set up an account to raise money on the website www.kickstarter.com, which helps to fund artistic endeavors through donations. His goal is to raise $2,500 by Oct. 29 and, according to the website, he’s already raised $700. If the project manages to raise another $1,800, the filming can begin. But, Kickstarter is not his only source for capital.

With the support of ArtDimensions Pittsburgh and Art Industry Law, a fundraiser will take place on Thursday at Cattivo on 44th and Plummer in Lawrenceville and will feature music, prizes and fun for a suggested donation of $10.

Parme has already arranged to shoot the film in various locations and neighborhoods around the Steel City, using local actors and actresses.

“The story belongs to Pittsburgh spiritually. The setting could be anywhere, I suppose, but the sense of humor and routine of activity is very Pittsburgh,” Daniel Friedson, Parme’s lawyer and member of the “Hungry” production team, said in an e-mail.

Friedson, who met Parme in Joe Mama’s, went on to say that they will certainly take advantage of the gorgeous vistas of Pittsburgh.

Parme, a Pittsburgh native, explained in an e-mail that the inspiration for “Hungry” came in 2005 after a rock-climbing excursion with some of his friends. “One day while my friends were climbing, I thought about what it would be like if there were some horrible disaster, and for some reason I had to eat them to survive,” he said.

From this macabre fleeting thought was born a short story upon which “Hungry” was based. Parme decided to turn the short story into a novel after watching Jay Leno interview Aron Ralston, the now-famous man that got his arm caught under a boulder and was forced to self-amputate it with a dull knife to survive.

In Parme’s novel, a man and his friends are caught in an accident during a mountain climbing expedition, and the main character, Travis, is forced to eat his friends to survive. After being rescued, his survival story becomes famous, and he’s soon wooed by Pittsburgh’s cannibal elite.

Parme published the novel chapter by chapter on Ophelia Street, an online literary-arts journal based in Pittsburgh. It was by a chance encounter that a Hollywood film producer came across the story.

Parme said that the producer, Susan Dynner, walked into Joe Mama’s, fresh off the plane from Los Angeles. They were already closing up the bar, however, so after apologizing Parme told her to head over to Fuel & Fuddle, where he would meet up with her, drinks on him.

As it turned out, Dynner was a co-producer of the modern noir film “Brick,” starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a movie Parme absolutely loved. She was in town for the screening at the 2007 Pittsburgh Film festival. So when the opportunity presented itself, Parme told her about his manuscript for “Hungry.” She agreed to read it on the flight home to L.A., and upon landing immediately called to say she loved it.

Parme churned out the script, but due to artistic differences, the two have since parted ways.

“She suggested some changes which he didn’t agree with. He decided to go his own way instead of compromise his artistic vision,” Sean O’Donnell, a writer for Ophelia Street, said in an e-mail.

One day, Parme picked up a book on how to make independent movies on a budget, which led to his building miniature sets in his kitchen, picking out a cast of actors and editing and rewriting the script, Friedson said.

For those who get queasy at the very mention of human cannibalism, never fear. Parme explains that “Hungry” is not the gore-fest it very well could be. The story instead takes the route of black comedy, a subtle look at moral ambiguity that just happens to feature humans eating each other.

O’Donnell said that, yes, it features cut-up body parts and blood, but that it will be no worse than what can be found on network television.

Although there have been movies and novels that examine the age-old question “What would you do to survive?” few accompany that with, as Friedson puts it, “underground cannibal culinary snobs.”

“Hungry” may deal with an unusual topic, but Parme is confident in its universality.

“It is the story of a man who finds himself in an extraordinary situation and is forced to decide who he really is and what he must do. It’s something everyone can relate to,” he said.