Grant Cogswell is an eccentric screenwriter

Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

, independent film

Independent film

An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

 producer journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

, poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 and political activist, known mostly to residents of Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

.

Cogswell coauthored the Seattle Monorail Initiative, a proposal to build a citywide monorail

Monorail

A monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles traveling on such a beam or track...

 transit system, which was voted into law in November 1997. The agency created by the law survived four challenges at the ballot; a fifth and final challenge (2005) was successful in defeating the project after questions were raised about the financing of the $1.7 billion plan.

In 2001, Cogswell campaigned for Seattle City Council against incumbent Richard McIver

Richard McIver

Richard McIver was a member of the Seattle City Council. He was selected from 114 applicants to fill a vacancy on the Council in January 1997, was elected to the position that fall, and was reelected in 2001 and 2005...

. Though at the outset the chances of success were rated low by the media, Cogswell was recognized as a legitimate challenger, his hopes dashed by the occurrence of the primary election

Primary election

A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....

 just seven days after the attacks of 9/11.

In 2005, Cogswell's campaign manager in the race, Phil Campbell, published an account of the campaign, Zioncheck for President: A True Story of Idealism and Madness in American Politics, published by Nation Books. Film rights to the book were purchased by producer/director Stephen Gyllenhaal

Stephen Gyllenhaal

-Personal life:Gyllenhaal was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Virginia Lowrie and Hugh Anders Gyllenhaal. The Gyllenhaal family is a descendant of the cavalry officer Nils Gunnesson Haal, who was ennobled in 1652 when Queen Christina of Sweden conferred upon him the crest and family name,...

, and production began on his adaptation under the title Grassroots

Grassroots (film)

Grassroots is an American film directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, based on the book Zioncheck for President by Phil Campbell. The film stars Jason Biggs as Phil Campbell, Joel David Moore as Grant Cogswell, Lauren Ambrose as Emily and Cedric the Entertainer as Richard McIver.- Cast :* Jason Biggs as...

in June 2010. The film stars Joel David Moore as Cogswell, and Jason Biggs

Jason Biggs

Jason Matthew Biggs is an American actor who is best known for his role as Jim Levenstein in the American Pie series of teen comedy films.-Personal life:...

 as Campbell. The book's original title came from a book-length poem Cogswell was writing at the time of the election, which was an elegy for Seattle congressman Marion Zioncheck

Marion Zioncheck

Marion Anthony Zioncheck , an American politician, served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1933 until his death in 1936. He represented as a Democrat....

 who went insane after his political humiliation and committed suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

 in 1936.

Cogswell entered the movie business himself in 2005 after writing a feature-length screenplay

Screenplay

A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...

, Cthulhu

Cthulhu (2007 film)

Cthulhu is a 2007 American horror movie, directed by Dan Gildark and co-written by Grant Cogswell and Daniel Gildark. The film is loosely based on the short story "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" by H. P. Lovecraft....

, based on the works of H. P. Lovecraft

H. P. Lovecraft

Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....

. Starring Tori Spelling

Tori Spelling

Victoria Davey "Tori" Spelling is an American actress. Spelling became known in the early 1990s for her role as Donna Martin on Beverly Hills, 90210. Spelling then had roles in a string of made-for-television films, such as A Friend to Die For and Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?...

, the film appeared in limited theatrical release in the U.S. in 2008 and is available on DVD.

Cogswell renounced his previously profound attachment to the city of Seattle (he has the city logo tattooed on his left biceps) and relocated to Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

 in 2006.

External links

• Annie Wagner, Oh, the Horror: The Making of 'Cthulhu' The Stranger
  The Stranger (newspaper)
  The Stranger is an alternative weekly newspaper in Seattle, Washington, USA. It runs a blog known as Slog.-History:The Stranger was founded by Tim Keck, who had previously co-founded the satirical newspaper The Onion, and cartoonist James Sturm. Its first issue came out on September 23, 1991...
  
  , September 15 – September 21, 2005.
• Zioncheck for President on Amazon.com
• Trevor Griffey, A Hero's Haunting: Long-dead Congressman helps writer-activist soldier on, Real Change, May 3, 2001, Interview with Cogswell about Zioncheck
• Josh Feit, Folk Rock, The Stranger, October 18 – October 24, 2001. During Cogswell's city council campaign.
• Walt Crowley
  Walt Crowley
  Walter Charles Crowley was a Washington political celebrity. He first became a public figure in Seattle through his involvement with the social and political movements of the 1960s, especially the underground press...
  
  , Monorail, Seattle -- A Snapshot History, HistoryLink, originally published July 4, 2000, last updated July 11, 2005.