So Much So Fast

So Much So Fast

Promotional movie poster
Directed by Steven Ascher
Jeanne Jordan
Written by Steven Ascher
Jeanne Jordan
Release dates
 2006
Running time
 87 min.
Country U.S.A.
Language English

So Much So Fast is a documentary written and directed by Academy Award nominees Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan. This film premiered in competition at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, and won the Audience Award at the Boston Independent Film Festival.

Plot summary

So Much So Fast documents 5 years in the life of Stephen Heywood who, at 29, discovers he had the paralyzing neurodegenerative disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease).

Determined to live as well as possible, Stephen gets married, has a son and rebuilds two houses. His and his wife Wendy’s observations of the world and his disease explore the fragility of life.

The film also tracks his family's response to the drug companies that ignore his disease because there is not enough profit in curing it, and his brother's creation of the ALS Therapy Development Foundation research facility to find a cure for Stephen's disease in time.

Trivia

When asked what he would do differently in the five years since his ALS diagnosis, Stephen Heywood replied, “Have more sex on film.”

The filmmakers were inducted into the world of ALS when a featured family member in their film Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern came down with the disease.

External links