Against all odds, this film student is living his dream

At age 6, Danny Daneau wanted what most kids want - normality.

He wanted to play Little League with other kids his age.

But he couldn't.

He wanted to run around outside playing sports in his childhood neighborhood of Bonita Springs, Fla. But he couldn't.

If Daneau ever had plans of becoming a professional athlete, he wouldn't be able to do it.

Not because he didn't believe he could, but because his rheumatoid arthritis wouldn't allow it.

Daneau's arthritis, along with a disease called fasciitis, permanently limited the use of his fingers and hands, and for years, doctors warned his parents, Dan and Linda Daneau, that eventually he may never be able to walk again.

Because of his condition and the uncertainty of his future, he spent a lot of his childhood at Disney World.

"[Our parents] took us to Disney World like every other weekend," Daneau's sister, Christine Daneau, said. "They did everything they thought a kid would want to do while he could still do it."

But Daneau's diagnosis was good. His fasciitis was treatable with the help of medicine, a lot of physical therapy and great doctors, and his arthritis only affected the use of his hands.

So now, the recent UCF grad and current master's student of the UCF Graduate Film Program successfully holds a movie camera instead of a baseball bat.

And he wouldn't have it any other way.

From an early age, Daneau knew he only wanted to be two things in life - a magician or a film director.

That kind of creativity started early when Daneau and his sister, Christine, built forts in their living room and in their backyard as kids - always wanting to create new adventures.

"He used to focus himself on more creative things," Christine Daneau said. "If there was something he couldn't do because of his arthritis, he just accepted it and did something else."

Instead of sports, Daneau played video games.

"He would get so happy when he made it to the end of the game," Christine Daneau said. "Not necessarily because he beat it, but because he wanted to know the story at the end of it. It was all about the stories with him."

At Bonita Springs Middle School, Daneau spent a lot of his time as an anchorman on the school's news program. It was there that he fell in love with the camera.

"The TV show that we put on was supposed to be a news show," Daneau said, "but really it became like this kids' show. It became an excuse to do wacky things. I had such a great time doing it."

In seventh grade, Daneau's teacher told him to go home and watch Glory, a movie based on the Civil War's first all-black regiment.

That same night, he watched the movie with his sister and mother, and he made up his mind.

"After the movie was over I just sat there, frozen on the couch," Daneau said. "I knew then and there that I wanted to be a filmmaker."

Daneau spent the rest of his childhood creating short films at home that featured his friends, and even his cats, as the stars.

His first real film, Mission Never Again, was what some would consider a spy/action thriller, or as Daneau said, "a spin-off of the movie Mission Impossible."

After that, Daneau continued to make movies throughout his time at Estero High School.

"I got to be known as the school filmmaker," Daneau said.

Despite being the drum major of the band, the homecoming king his senior year and a member of several school organizations, Daneau still found time to shoot his own short films and was always called upon to create videos for student government and other school organizations.

Daneau got his first experience with the film industry when he created a sequel to Mission Never Again called Desperate Times. The movie earned him a selection into the Marco Island Film Festival - his first festival as only a teenager.

Even now, Daneau has plenty more to brag about.

Upon graduating with his BFA in film from UCF in 2005, he successfully created two short films: Goodnight Charlie, about a young boy letting go of his childhood fantasies and My November Guest, about the meeting between a young boy and an old man and the connection they share.

Together, these two movies earned him entrance into more than 30 film festivals across the country.

Daneau described his experience in the UCF Film School as "invaluable."

From there, he was selected to the first UCF graduate film program, one where only five students earn a spot each year.

"He's always been working on something," Christine Daneau said, "or coming up with ideas."

"[Danny is] tireless," said Randy Finch, associate professor in the UCF Film School. "You need many skills to make it as a professional filmmaker, but you'll never stay in the game if you don't like to work."

Daneau has taken on a whole new form of work in his most recent project.

Under his production company, Nightlight Pictures, and with the help of the UCF Film School, Daneau is working on his biggest project to date, his graduate school thesis - a full-length, feature film called A Monster in the Attic.

"His movies, including A Monster in the Attic, tend to be beautiful and mysterious explorations of life and death through the eyes of a child," Finch said.

Set in Kanab, Utah, Daneau says the movie is about a young brother and sister who are trapped in an ominous house in the middle of nowhere, who eventually uncover the mystery behind the creature haunting their lives.

"I'm always going back to the things that influence us as children," Daneau said. "I became obsessed with that idea. What are the common monsters that we have, and do they ever go away?"

Daneau says he loves making movies that people can relate to.

"When you watch his movies, you can feel yourself in that situation," Christine Daneau said. "His movies are geared toward that imagination. What everyone else has thought, or is capable of thinking, he puts into film."