THE NEEDS OF KIM STANLEY Documentary Launches Kickstarter Campaign

Kim Stanley is an iconic actress who is legendary on Broadway and in Hollywood but almost Unknown to the public.

Called the Female Brando, she made just four movies but was nominated twice for an Academy Award. She originated the dynamic characterization of Cherie in the original Broadway production of Bus Stop, a performance that Marilyn Monroe studied multiple times before appropriating it for the film version.

To bring the story of Kim Stanley to the world, three theatre professionals and former students of hers have interviewed over 60 people around the world, including Lord Richard Attenborough, Sydney Pollack, Arthur Penn, Jessica Lange, Ellen Burstyn, Horton Foote, Eli Wallach and Lauren Hutton. THE NEEDS OF Kim Stanley focuses on Kim's artistry and her approach to acting, epitomized by the exercise she created called "The Needs." You can see a short trailer about the film and hear Kim's students talk about "The Needs."

"The Needs" distills human behavior down to the primary colors of intense feeling. The Needs - to celebrate, to charm, to plead, to accuse, to seduce, to destroy, to entice - are a map for the landscape of expressing and receiving powerful, truthful emotions.

"The Needs" exercise, in a nutshell, is this: two actors tap into strong emotions inspired by one or more of the needs before entering the common space where two large boxes sit near each other. The actors must stay connected to the boxes (no walking around), they may not use language (sounds are okay, but no words - so, no dialogue), and they must interact, each bringing a strong need and apprehending the need of the other.

This devilishly simple, endlessly challenging exercise highlights the fundamental paradox that is Kim.

"She was extremely sensitive and uncannily perceptive: her gifts were also her demons," says producer Melanie Jones, a member of The Actors Studio. "Through her fearless performances and her passionate teaching, Kim showed us a door into the magnificence of the naked human soul, and we're making this movie because Kim Stanley shared this view with us, and we are compelled to share it with you."

THE NEEDS OF KIM STANLEY has launched a Kickstarter campaign that will fund a full cut of the film. Contributors will be rewarded with film credit, downloads of the film itself and of music composed for the film by Peter Wetzler, T-shirts, posters, Kim memorabilia and a stake in the legacy of this peerless artist.

Movies and plays come and go, but the greatest artists have something to communicate generation after generation. Kim Stanley is a timeless artist who blazed trails, both as a performer and as a teacher, into the human soul. Readers can sample some of her film work through the postings on THE NEEDS OF Kim Stanley Facebook page and join her expanding fan club.