Steve Dixon BBC News Online reporter

Hollywood screenwriter Chris Monger is a busy man with an astonishing workload on his plate.

With half a dozen film, television and documentary projects on the go, the writer from south Wales would not have it any other way.

But the project exciting him the most at present is Map of Love, the story of Dylan and Caitlin Thomas, a venture he initially resisted getting involved in but which has turned out to be hugely satisfying.

Chris Monger: 'Dispelling myths'

"I thought if I did this project and messed it up, I would never be able to show my face in Wales again!

"But I think it it is the best screenplay I have ever written.

"It is very inventive and plays tricks and also dispells some myths about Dylan Thomas."

The project has brought him together with Mick Jagger's Jagged Films company, who produced the wartime codebreaker drama Enigma.

The film has a strong Welsh connection - Monger is from Taffs Well, near Cardiff, producer Victoria Pearman hails from Swansea and lead actor Dougray Scott is a graduate of the Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff.

Scott - who starred in Enigma - has fully immersed himself in the project, perfecting the poet's accent and paying frequent visits to Laugharne to soak up the creative atmosphere of Thomas' home village.

Chris Monger, writer on the move:

Map of Love - in production spring 2003 Roy London acting coach documentary Screen adaptation of American Son about John F Kennedy Jnr The Amateur Pornographer, film Making Ends Meet, apartment block drama

The complexities of the poet's character present a huge but rewarding challenge for Scott, who cheekily set out to make the part his own, said Monger.

"When I met him the first time, he cleverly worked every kind of Welsh accent he could into the conversation to show he knew the difference and it was great to know he had this mimic quality.

"Dylan Thomas had a weird accent, an educated Welsh accent of its time, and there is nothing like it now.

"Also, Dougray also has a very good feel for poetry."

Dougray Scott: Intense preparation

Bizarrely, the 50th anniversary of Dylan Thomas' death - 9 November - is Monger's own birthday, and the screenwriter's goal is to have Map of Love on release by then.

Thomas died in 1953 after collapsing in a New York hotel and some of the scenes will be shot in a Greenwich Village bar.

At one stage, a screenplay about the poet was the furthest thing from Monger's mind.

"I grew up with Dylan Thomas references and I was a bit embarrassed about the whole thing and I shied away from him a bit.

A lot of musicians like the lyrical quality of Thomas' poetry and in a curious way, he was almost a pop star of his day Chris Monger

"Then when I came to the States I saw how much people liked him.

"Victoria kept on at me to do a script and I finally gave in."

Working with Mick Jagger has also been a pleasurable experience, said Monger.

"Mick has immense energy and he is a guy who loves the material and he knows when to help and when to leave people alone.

Dylan and Caitlin together

"A lot of musicians like the lyrical quality of Thomas' poetry and in a curious way, he was almost a pop star of his day; at performances in New York, rows of women would swoon watching him."

Monger has researched the poet's background and he his own theories about the real Dylan Thomas.

"He was not known as a drunkard in Laugharne; a couple of halfs would be his limit.

"His was a very public life and the drunkard was a person he played and which killed him in a way.

"Drink was possibly a coping mechanism for being in the public eye."