I'm not a hit, I'm a free man!

Yesterday, while we were working on the vocals for Arizona Citizen, Josh, Gabe and I started talking a little bit about the Assassin Movie, staring our friend Marco. This is an idea that sort of arose months ago when we first found out about the Screen Wars challenge. Marco has such an amazing presence and character that he practically begs to be put in a movie. And, for a little while, it looked like we might develop the Marco film as an action piece for the currently running Screen Wars Action Challenge. But as we kicked around the idea more and more and tried to develop some basic thoughts on the character, we decided that Marco’s story seemed to fit more in step with a drama then an action.
So, here we are. Three Western films, each heralded by one of us, have been completed. The Thriller film is in the can. And the action film is currently lined up as a potential competitor in the final round of the Screen Wars action challenge. What’s left but Marco’s film?
As we were talking about the ideas for the film yesterday, Gabe mentioned that he had in fact been working on a screenplay. Josh also added that he had begun a collection of loose ideas about the character, story and structure. Gabe kept fairly quiet on his take of the story, but Josh revealed a great deal about setting, theme and plot development. He could probably sit down and write a solid screenplay in one fell swoop. Gabe even has a page or so done of his screenplay already.
Since the other two guys were shaping up ideas on this story, I thought I might as well give it a try. At the very least, I can throw in something that will give us one more angle to choose from. To be honest though, I don’t think our differing stories will be all that different. In the general sense, they’ll probably be exactly alike. It’s the specifics and cast of characters that may differ dramatically from Josh’s adaptation to Gabe’s and even my own (I know Gabe has a character in his story completely unlike a character in Josh’s or mine, and I have a character that I don’t think either one has considered).
Anyway, I began my pre-writing work today. Since Marco lives just around the corner, I thought I would take advantage of his close proximity and begin writing the story with his input to help shape the character. Although I haven’t gone over to his house to discuss the story yet (I’ll probably do that sometime this week when I have finished a rough draft) I have been e-mailing him about his character. And yes, already he has provided valuable input as to how he’d like to see his character portrayed.
Initially, I thought Marco’s Assassin Extraordinaire might be a very practical and realistic in his attitude towards life. He knows the score and the lowdown on everything he sees or comes into contact with. He analyzes all angles and knows everybody’s strength…because, as an assassin, that’s what he’s been taught to do. I also added a touch of sadness to his character in the form of regret over his current life. Although I’ve kept this attitude, Marco added another side to the coin. He suggested making his character very sarcastic and ironic. And so…with Marco's suggestions added to my initial "character attitude", our Assassin becomes brilliant, cold, calculating, but not without a hint of irony at the expense of less brilliant killers. And yet, this irony remains a shield, a detached, more comfortable way to view the somber world in which he lives.

Tonight, I’m going to write up Marco’s biography and hopefully the biographies of the other two main characters. What am I going to cover in this bio?

1. A day in the character’s life, from waking up to falling asleep.


2. The character’s past, reiterated in his or her words from the ground up


3. Key events in their life.


4. A directorial breakdown (as suggested by the book, Friendly Enemies).


5. And finally…an interview with the character.

After that, I’ll probably e-mail important parts from the bio to Marco and see what he thinks. Maybe he’ll have some more suggestions for me to work with.

Is all this really necessary for a 3-page screenplay? Absolutely not. But I’ve gotten so used to it that I feel weird if I don’t at least do it. I’ll probably discard most of this stuff, but already it’s helping me to shape the way the story will play in my mind (and hopefully, on the page).

Anyway, here are some random notes from my journal on this film:

...he has become more human, warm and even loving. This illustrates his transition out of the mob lifestyle and into the viewpoint of a normal, caring human being. One particular visual we use to capture this is his removal of his sunglasses. He’s revealing himself and letting his guard down.

He’s bringing things back into perspective; to him we aren’t dealing with percentages, we’re dealing with people.

He sees the world as too large, too organized, too conglomerated and far too impersonal. In a war between rival crime organizations, people like sons or daughters are simply collateral in the scheme of things. And this viewpoint sickens the Assassin.

The Assassin’s dramatic need is to (Plot point blanked out. Sorry...) so he can absolve or forgive himself from his life of death and violence and reclaim his lost innocence.

The Assassin’s attitude is realistic…and sardonic. He’s a realist because he’s been trained to be. He has to observe every situation acutely and understand it for what it really is. He’s had to be able to observe other hit men and assess dangerous threats as well as weed out weaklings from trained killers.

The Assassin is also very wry and sarcastic with regard to others. His inner-commentary on life has allowed him to see things for what they really are and take each situation with an ironic, deadpan humor. He’s guarded, cold and detached, but not without a sense of sardonic commentary on the stupidity or flawed thinking of others. In a sense, this is his armor from the gruesomeness of his profession. Instead of falling prey to sorrow, he decides to poke fun.

Now we'll see if I can finish the screenplay before the end of the week.

Late,

-Brock