Ray Bradbury’s ‘Dandelion Wine’ movie switches gears to crowdfunding with Kickstarter

RGI Productions filmmaker Rodion Nahapetov and producer Natasha Shliapnikoff, long-time friends and colleagues of Ray Bradbury, have launched their Kickstarter campaign for the “Dandelion Wine” movie.

“The Kickstarter campaign is so important to us because by receiving the support of Ray’s fans and friends, we will be able to make the movie the way Ray would have wanted it made independently, true to his vision and with love!” said Shliapnikoff.

Bradbury was one of the most celebrated writers of all time. His iconic writings included “Fahrenheit 451,” “Martian Chronicles,” “Dandelion Wine,” “The Illustrated Man,” and “Something Wicked This Way Comes,” among others.

Bradbury worked very closely with Nahapetov. As a result of their collaboration, the screenplay for the “Dandelion Wine” movie was born. Bradbury blessed the script and entrusted the film adaption of his most personal novel, “Dandelion Wine,” to Nahapetov as writer/director and to Shliapnikoff as the producer. Both Shliapnikoff and Nahapetov gave their solemn promise to Ray that his “Dandelion Wine” movie would be made.

Bradbury’s “Dandelion Wine” is  semiautobiographical serial novel centered around 12-year-old Douglas Spaulding in Green Town, Ill., a fictional town patterned after Bradbury’s own childhood home of Waukegan, Ill. It was adapted for film by Innokenti Smoktunovsky as “Vino Iz Oduvanchikov” in 1997, but Shliapnikoff’s and Nahapetov’s will be the first English adaptation.

The “Dandelion Wine” movie will be Bradbury’s last legacy and also a legacy to all his fans and friends who will be involved through their contributions and participation in the making of this unique project.

“Ray is no longer with us, but I know that he would have loved the idea of his fans helping us create a cinematic legacy of his beloved ‘Dandelion Wine,’” said Nahapetov. “This was Ray’s unfinished business.”

To participate in the project, visit the Kickstarter page. For more information, contact Shliapnikoff at (323) 559-1446 or visit rodionnahapetov.com.