Franz Gustav Havener

Born on December 28th of 1893 in Bielefeld. He’s the son of a literature professor and his wife. Franz was a rather noisy child, who wanted everything he asked for quickly. Still, his parents loved him and gave him what he wanted most of the time. He had always been a creative child, and liked to draw and create stories the most. He didn’t have many friends at school, however.

When he was a teenager, he discovered a new passion. He went to see one of the newest attractions in the city, which was moving pictures, short films that were finally available for the middle class. It amazed him how the images seemed to move, how they were able to capture reality like that. So when he had the opportunity, he would go see them.

At eighteen years old, he started studying literature and following in his father’s footsteps, though what he wanted to do the most was make movies. He would write multiple stories in his free time. He also studied art, and learned how to paint.

In 1914, when the First World War began, Franz enlisted to serve his country as his father did. It was more of an obligation to him, who wanted to continue his studies even with such a terrible war. On the front, he finally saw the horrors of war, something that would change him greatly. He turned out to be a great soldier, however and managed to survive almost unharmed for a long time. His father wasn’t so lucky, as a deadly wound in battle was the end of him, and Franz saw as he fell on the ground, watching the signs of life fade from his body. He tried to help him, but it was too late. He was wounded too as a result of the distraction. In the hospital, he started writing stories and screenplays to pass the time. They had a darker tone than what he wrote before the war. He was noticed by a producer and director in the same hospital who saw potential in his writings, and began teaching him about filmmaking, not only then, but also after the war.

After the war ended, Franz returned to Bielefield with the news of his father's demise. His mother was heartbroken, not only by that, but her son had returned changed.

The film industry had grown, and Franz moved to Berlin, leaving his mother behind, and decided to join one of the very few independent studios, starting to create costume dramas. Finally he was putting his stories into film with the resources of the studio.

It was in 1920, that he saw something completely new. The expressionist movement in films had started and he was amazed by it, so much that he took part in it. His following films were dark, like those screenplays he had written during his stay at the hospital. It seemed he had found his passion in horror filmmaking. Though he still did other genres, and enjoyed them. By 1922 he had gotten a bit famous around Europe.

In 1924 he abandoned Germany in search of a better job opportunity after his studio declared bankruptcy. He arrived in Hollywood, where he was quickly taken in by a studio that knew about his filmography. While it wasn’t the greatest studio, it had a lot of resources and treated Franz well.

It occurred one day that Franz couldn’t exactly get what he wanted from the studio. He had his screenplay, his sets, all the lights he could ask for, but for some reason the studio was forcing him to make a particular actor the star of the film. It wouldn’t have been so bad if Franz didn’t despise how this man acted. He wanted to be able to choose who acted in his film and who didn’t, and he surely didn’t want this actor to star in his film, he was terrible! Not being able to convince the producer to change his mind, Franz started considering alternatives, until an idea appeared on his mind. It didn’t seem safe, it wasn’t good, but he wanted his movie to be perfect, he had to do what he had to do. So he devised a plan. First, he befriended the actor, making it seem like he finally accepted him and liked him. Second, he learned about him, discovered what he did and where he went. Third, he followed him to one of the places he frequented, apparently he met in secret with a married woman there, a place where almost nobody went, perfect for his plan. Noticing he arrived earlier than the woman, he grabbed a gun he had taken with him and shot him before he could react. But the woman he was going to meet with didn’t take too much time to arrive, being in a dangerous position, he grabbed the woman's neck and shot her in the head. He, then, arranged everything to make it seem like a murder-suicide and ran away towards his house, trying to make sure no one he knew noticed him. When he arrived at his house he couldn’t help but feel a bit scared of what would happen, he had just killed two people, and even if it wasn’t the first time he did, it felt different. But as time passed, he felt calmer, and then it felt like the right thing to do, he even felt glad he did that. In the end, the police marked the crime as a murder-suicide, no one suspected him, he acted devastated, he said someone was trying to ruin his movie. Finally, though, he got an actor he wanted to star in his movie, and things seemed solved.