(VIDEO GREETING AND SAMPLE ABOVE)

Dear Keanu,

I’ve admired your work since “River’s Edge” made me want to be a filmmaker. I was just passing through London and saw your heartfelt discussion of The Book of Elsewhere. Thank you for a great evening.

Hearing you delve so joyously into the subject of mortality inspired me to send you this book, and invite you to be a part of a radical documentary about death and love, with Alejandro Jodorowsky, which expands on my student-Oscar winning short film "Helicopter."

When I was twenty, my mother was killed in a helicopter crash with the world’s biggest rock music impresario, Bill Graham. After I made a short film about it, had great success, and then spiraled into a depression, Jodorowsky came to me and said that in order to heal, I needed to fulfill an insane spiritual assignment. Which was: to dress as my mother, fly a helicopter through the towers that she hit, and free a bird where she was trying to go - and make a film about it.

The feature version of "Helicopter" is nearly complete, and I hope to take it to the Venice Film Festival next year. The only remaining scene is at the climax, where I go back to the year 1980, to “direct” my parents, and attempt to change the future path of their lives. For this scene, I'd be honored for you to play my father Herbert Gold, the Beat-era novelist who died last year at age 99, and with whom I just published this book. (The chapter called The Spider Plant is about the accident.)

I know you care about the potential of art to heal our world, our families, ourselves. This project will be transformational, I believe, and quite unlike any other movie. And regardless of any reply, I hope this book speaks to you wherever you are today.

All the best --

Ari

PS The student-Oscar-winning short film can be viewed here.