Friday, April 22, 2011

Emails #34: Battles Not Forgotten

RICK: Just riffing. Sam Raimi's version of Spider-man 4 cancelled over SCRIPT issues. Going with a young, high school Parker/Spider-man movie instead. Maybe we should do the same. Reboot Cap in high school and give him problems and stuff and update it so it takes place in modern times and stuff like Twilight or Harry Potter has kids in it. What do you think?

What do you think of CAP: DECLARATION OF RECESS?


BEN: Ha! I kinda love it. We should write a short blog about the concept as total satire. I hear what you're saying. Raimi quit because they wanted him to go into production with a crap script-- one they all knew wasn't ready. Why? Sony needs to put out a Spidey movie or they lose their biggest cash cow license. Without Spider-Dollars they move from #1 studio to #3 (last I knew anyhow.) For Sam, he capitulated when the studio kept asking for Venom in Spidey 3. He wanted it to be all Sandman and start developing the new Gobby (working up to Spidey 5.) You know, perhaps actually have time to get inside the characters. They demanded and he decided to try and pull it off. He made a stinker with too many villains. Batman before he re-began. The Dark Knight needed 4 acts and 3 hours to have two villains. So, Sam said 'No way. I'm not capitulating again.' Poor guy. I'll bet the only reason he wanted to make 4 is to make up for 3. End on a positive note. Oh well, his career is far from being harmed by this I'd wager.

Crafting believable characters is difficult in writing. A lot of the job of screenwriting comics material is made easier by the fact that themes are grand in scope. Conversations brief. Characters are symbolic and mythical in nature. Visual elements are exaggerated. Explosions. Dramatic lighting. Trippy flash backs. Supernatural phenomenon. Part of the method of riffing is to find the heart of the characters and thus the essence of the story. So again the only question remains? What is the essence of Cap's character? Of Red Skull's character?

I want Cap's first shield to be made out of the steel from a battleship sunk in WWI. Is that possible? I got the idea from the battleship that was made from World Trade Center steel.


Bucky does need to be included. For reasons already expressed, I don't think this is the movie to showcase that partnership but he does need more than a mention and can play a strong role. I just don't want him or the issue of him hogging the screen with Cap's personal struggles. This is not a Lethal Weapon remake set in WWII - although that could be bad ass. Seen and not heard. And in the end, not seen.

EXT. BUCKY'S GRAVESIDE - NIGHT
Heavy rain pours down on Cap.

CAPTAIN AMERICA
You were a good friend Bucky. I pray you are at peace. I wish that you were
here now because there is so much I could tell you. In the end, you sacrificed
yourself for the world... and for me. I swore to you that day I would track
Red Skull down. Forgive me my doubts. I am still... trying to grow up.
Everything we fought for, I will continue to fight for...

THUNDER RUMBLES.

CAPTAIN AMERICA (cont'd)
All the battles are not forgotten...

A small flash of lightning.

CAPTAIN AMERICA (cont'd)
Rest now soldier. May God take your burdens as his own.
Liberty, justice, and freedom shall not be extinguished...

A large flash of lightning!

CAPTAIN AMERICA (cont'd)
So says, Captain America.

THUNDER BOOMS.

This is the part where Cap fetishistically dons his "new" uniform and returns to base looking for his new shield, the round shield. Red Skull watch out!

What do you mean by fetishistically? :-)

Just a term. Fetish. To show something in the kind of detail that indicates unusual interest in, excitement for or obsession with. The use of extreme close-ups quick cutting to each other... to show the final reveal, the money shot, the product shot. It is a device used as a short hand to show the transformation of the character.

Ahh, the gear-up sequence. I have to say I love those. Heh, fetish was that latex costume they put that actor in for the 1990 Cap movie. Poor guy needed a whip. Or some detail in the suit. Loved the comber bun abs.


They died hard, those savage men - like wounded wolves at bay. They were filthy, and they were lousy, and they stunk. And I loved them.
-Douglas MacArthur



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