Saintly Scribes

In David Holley’s piece on the making of “Joan of Arc” (“The Patience of a Saint,” April 4), I learned how much the star’s suit of armor cost ($60,000); her personal opinions of the plucky heroine (“No sorceress could ever do such a thing”); what a Czech extra thought of the filming (“I’m very cold and sometimes very hungry”); how Peter Strauss considered putting hot potatoes and cheese in his tights. I learned all about the director and how he didn’t want to make an overly pious film, and that after viewing the results one would be left wondering such things as “Is there a God?”

My question is, is there a writer? I’m sure director Christian Duguay is a fine person, but I have it on excellent authority that the script was originally by a writer--a writer who did the research, the structuring of the story, the dialogue, in short, who wrote “Joan of Arc.”

It’s articles such as this that drive audiences to believe that the actors make it up as they go along and writers to drink. I don’t personally know the writers of this project, but a helpful literary agent supplied their names: Ronald Parker and Michael Miller. Holley could have spared me much grueling research by finding just a little room in all the puff for the info.

DAVID PATRICK PABIAN

Los Angeles