Comic Book Resources has a good post on the NY Comic Con event on American Splendor’s creator Harvey Pekar. Harvey has been an inspiration for so many people, myself included.
Dean Haspiel shared a litte bit more on how our movie came together, and how he introduced me to Harvey.
“I was working as an assistant to [producer] Ted Hope,” Haspiel said. “One of my jobs was to pay bills and file things. I came across an ‘American Splendor’ film script. Rob Schneider was slated to play Pekar, but that didn’t happen. I also came across a Chester Brown screenplay. I discovered a bunch of comics and that [Hope] was a fan. I had done two or three one-page stories with Harvey and I felt like I could ask Ted Hope if he was interested in an ‘American Splendor’ movie. He said ‘Sure!’ I called up Harvey, and he didn’t know who this guy was and what his movies were. He said, ‘Sure, have him call me.’ A year and a half later was this amazing, Sundance Award-winning movie.”
Give the whole post a read.