Last year Anomalous Material created the Hollywood Fantasy Draft. Man it was so much fun to play Studio Exec for a week or two. Sitting there, waiting, watching, hoping you’d get your top picks (or not) and biting your nails the whole time. Then when you got your choices of director and actors you start out to write the story for them to star in. In the past month or so all participants have been using their awesome picks in very intriguing roles and premises. I haven’t gotten around to them all but I think everyone has fared better in this second run through. Below is the story I came up with and, like everyone else, think it’s better than my first go-round.
It was fun writing but I’ll ask you all: Is this crafty and original or boring and banal? Is it Oscar-worthy or something you’d watch if it was on TV? Have a look and please let me know…good or bad. Like they always say, “No one sets out to make a bad movie“. I’d love to hear what you think…
Title: BROKEN TIES – American remake of the Luc Besson French Film “Liés par le sang (Bound By Blood)” P.S. that’s not a real Luc Besson film:P
Basic Idea: Set in a fictitious but major metropolitan city, a powerful father (Connery) tires to put pressure on his son and ultimately his grandsons. Holding previously sealed evidence of past wrongdoings over their heads, he has them commit multiple high value art heists to maintain and grow his underground art theft/smuggling operations. With his web of influence so vast, there’s nothing he doesn’t have control over and his crimes go both unknown and unpunished. Only those closest to him have the ability to stand up to him.
Pitch: Family crime drama that’s part Backdraft, The Italian Job, and Confidence.
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Sean Connery – Anton Dreyfuss (Former City Planner, Philanthropist, Art Lover, Diplomat)
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Kurt Russell– Clint Blackwell (Police Chief retiring to campaign for Mayor. Had a rough past in the years after the death of his first wife – his son Jason’s birth mother)
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Chris Messina – Jason Blackwell (Son of Clint – Major in the Police Force)
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Freddy Rodríguez– Ronnie Carrion (Clint’s second son and step-brother to Jason – has a very sketchy and crime ridden past. A lazy but brilliant master thief)
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Famke Janssen– Cynthia Alexandra (Respected and famed Curator at Museums all over the world. Fiancé to Anton Dreyfuss…also Clint’s girlfriend from way back)
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Carrie-Anne Moss– Tina Blackwell (Clint’s second wife and birth-mother to Ronnie – Partner at respected law firm in city)
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Directed by: F. Gary Gray
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Written, adapted and Co-directed by: Luc Besson
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Cinematography: Tak Fujimoto
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ACT I:
The film opens at a police booster celebrating the achievements of Clint Blackwell. He takes the stage and as a surprise to all, confirms the rumors of his pending mayoral run following his retirement. Afterwards, backstage Clint gets word of a huge sting that just went down at a high rise condo. One of those arrested is Clint’s son Ronnie. Immediately he calls his wife Tina at her law firm but this is too big of a deal to get him off especially considering his long standing criminal history.
Next day Clint meets with his other son Jason on the way to Ronnie’s interrogation. Jason ran the undercover bust and the two argue when Jason tells Clint he knew Ronnie was part of the robbery and arrested him anyway. They arguing about their long standing half brother issues, broken family etc and Clint leaves very heated. Later Clint has lunch with his dad Anton at his estate. Retired from his job as a city planner he’s now a well respected diplomat. He tells Clint he has a few ways to take care of Ronnie and also help with Clint’s campaign – although this is not without a price.
He reminds Clint about all the past troubles he’s gotten him out of plus all the years of financial and legal help that followed especially in the years after the death of Clint’s first wife (Jason’s birth mother). This time help now will cost him dearly. Clint refuses at first but realizes he can’t back away from this offer as he’ll lose everything without help from Anton. Anton spells out the entire plan and Clint walks away knowing his hands are tied.
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ACT II:
Anton has already been suspected of shady dealing but nothing has been even been proven. His plans are to have multiple pieces of art (which he has been unable to acquire, even with his influence) become show pieces in his project to vastly expand the city’s arts district. Construction is completed on his new museum and is set to open in the coming weeks. Anton arranges for Ronnie to be broken out of jail during a prison transport. Ronnie then is to get a crew together and begin planning the heists with Anton’s fiancé Cynthia (illustrious art dealer turned curator who works at museums all over the world).
To finance these heists Ronnie plans to have Clint and retired police officers take down local drug dealers. Ronnie could have been a cop or something better but after getting into drugs and feeling like a black sheep dropped out of Stanford’s engineering and computer sciences programs. Ronnie, Clint and the team meet with the Cynthia to set up the art heists and they learn she is also being blackmailed for selling unofficially reproduced art work early in her dealer days (including some pieces sold to Anton – that’s how they first met). She has the security schedules, routes camera access and can avoid suspicion with her high profile status. They are able to keep this all hidden from Jason who is on a man hunt to find his escaped brother and find out who is robbing and killing all his informants.
Clint and the teams execute 5 art robberies in NY, London, France, Italy and Rio while Ronnie’s teams hit 8 or so drug dealers over the course of 8 weeks. Every job has gotten sloppier and riskier and Anton gets angry as Jason gets closer to catching them and figuring out the whole plan.
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ACT III:
Ronnie, fed up with the plan, voices his concerns before their biggest job. Clint tells him to finish this but they argue about Anton holding up his end of the deal and never really being out from under his heel. The finish the Rio job and have the art air lifted on a cargo container to Anton’s private air hanger. Cynthia arranges for those pieces and some from the Rembrandt rotating collection to be sent from her grand opening ceremony at Anton’s brand new museum. Anton, angry with how things are progressing, goes to make sure this drop at the hanger goes OK before the ceremony after some awkward monetary issues had come up in the last few weeks. Anton goes with his hired guards (all retired police escorts) to the pickup. He opens the container with three trucks and after opening one, he is pleased with what he sees. He then has his three best men take these trucks to the loading bay of the museum. Once they make it over there he unveils the contents and gets Cynthia to begin taking them out in front of everyone at the expo. She looks confused and starts proclaiming they are not real. Anton’s eyes go wide and in a struggle to examine the pieces a statue is knocked over. Everyone gasps; not at the statue but the money inside it as the piece shatters. They open the other trucks find palettes of money and in the last truck multiple replicas of the same artwork.
Anton is arrested for robbery, forgery, counterfeiting and later implicated in the big sting that got Ronnie busted (turns out he tipped Jason off to it in the first place). Clint begins his strong mayoral run on the steam of taking down his corrupt father. Ronnie is cleared of his charges and joins the police force after graduating Stanford (he already had the necessary credits to do so prior to dropping out). Cynthia takes over the newly opened art museum and Jason has been promoted to Inspector.
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Well that’s my story; little bit of family crime drama to start off your week:P I think it’d work best as a Saturday afternoon matinée or more likely a perfect couch surfing flick. Let me know how you think it reads. Thanks!!
