oscar levant was a concert pianist who was so beloved at one point he was the highest paid pianist in the world

he was also so funny and smart that he he wrote books and was a regular guest on all the talk shows and game shows of the time.

BUT

he had incredibly low self esteem.

George Gershwin, who was writing music at that time, said Oscar, I love you, please be my friend.

so they became friends and any time Gershwin wrote something new and handed it to Oscar

Oscar would play it in a more beautiful way than George ever imagined.

but still Oscar thought George was full of shit whenever he praised him.

im not very good, he thought to himself.

in fact im close to terrible.

so he got involved with drugs. bad drugs. the baddest drug of them all: heroin.

but it was codenamed Demerol.

and it ate at his beautiful brain.

all of his celebrity friends marveled at him, his sense of humor, his quick wit, his vocabulary and his neurosis

but they always assumed his instability was either a complicated put on

or something that he could keep in check.

he couldn’t.

he was assigned to one mental institute after another. until he finally died in one.

penniless.

and alone.

i think Jonah Hill would be perfect.

but maybe John Legend would be more perfect because it would be cool to have the piano playing be real and believable.