My Own Private Idaho - Development

Development

The origins of My Own Private Idaho came from John Rechy's 1963 novel, City of Night, which featured characters who were street hustlers who did not admit to being gay. Van Sant's original screenplay was written in the 1970s, when he was living in Hollywood. After reading Rechy's book, Van Sant realized that it was considerably better than what he was writing, so he shelved the script for years. In 1988, while editing Mala Noche, Van Sant met a street kid named Michael Parker who became a source of inspiration for the character of Mike in what would later become My Own Private Idaho. Parker also had a friend named Scott, a street kid like himself. In the script, Van Sant adapted the Scott character to that of a rich kid. The character of Scott was also fashioned after people Van Sant had met in Portland who were street hustlers.

Early drafts of the screenplay were set on Hollywood Boulevard, not Portland, with working titles such as Blue Funk and Minions of the Moon. Reading Rechy's novel had convinced Van Sant to change the setting to Portland. The script originally consisted of two separate scenarios: the first was called Modern Days and it recounted Mike's story; a second one updated the Henry IV plays with Scott's story. Van Sant realized that he could blend the two stories together in the manner of the "cut up" technique used by writer William S. Burroughs. In essence, this method involves various story fragments and ideas mixed and matched together to form a unique story. The idea to combine the two scenarios formed in Van Sant's mind after watching Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight. The director remembers, "I thought that the Henry IV plays were really a street story. I also knew this fat guy named Bob, who had always reminded me of Falstaff and who was crazy about hustler boys". Van Sant realized that Prince Hal in the plays resembled the character of Scott and the sidekick was Mike. His script ended up becoming a literal restructuring of the Henry IV plays. Van Sant got the idea for Mike's narcolepsy from a man who was a guide of sorts when the director was gathering material for the film. According to the director, he always looked like he was about to fall asleep. The film's title is derived from the song "Private Idaho" by the B-52's that Van Sant heard while visiting the state in the early 1980s.

Van Sant showed the script to an executive at 20th Century Fox who liked Shakespeare. Eventually, he toned down the Shakespeare and made the language more modern. Van Sant was also working on a short story called My Own Private Idaho which he intended to film. It was 25 pages long and was about two Latino characters on the streets of Portland who go in search of their parents and travel to a town in Spain. One of them falls in love with a girl and leaves the other behind. Van Sant had another script called The Boys of Storytown, which had the Mike and Scott characters and Mike had narcolepsy. The characters of Hans and Bob were also present. Van Sant wanted to make the film but felt that the script was not finished. While editing Drugstore Cowboy, Van Sant combined the scripts for Modern Days and Storytown with the Idaho short story.