Director Correspondence
November 19, 2005
Dear Dave,
This is serving as my mind dump diary of a film that has been in my head and partially on paper for about 5 years.....as I'm in Detroit, and don't have access to my storage drive....I'm going to try to find the original script of I had started and the images of the environments; I even had some animations prototyped already including a spy mechanical insect. But here are some thoughts for your consideration. Perhaps this could be part of the film you are making or you would be interested in this for another film.
I basically have been merging the following stories - it follows the basic pattern of Metropolis and is in essence a subtle recreation and re-interpretation of this film's structure. It also provides references to Brave New World and Brave New World. And then from a plot twist perspective, inspiration from filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock. Visually, the underground is similar to Blade Runner, but the City Above is something that as far as I know has never been done.... a lumniscent, colorful organic city that contrasts to the dark somber city below...we are talking better than Oz. Walls and walkways appear organic...morphing and adjusting to the needs of the inhabitants that come near, programmed to respond to their brain impulses and desires.....as you walk into a room, the lighting adjusts to the occupant's tastes (at least, those mutually agreed upon if multiple occupants!), and custom-fitting furnishings mold themselves instantaneously to fit the needs of the people entering the room. Imagine walking into an empty room...as you begin to sit on what looks like will be a nice little crash to the floor, a custom forming chair morphs out of the floor to meet your descending bottom. The idea is to show fluidity and customization. When privacy is desired, walls come up...when open space and meetings are needed, walls melt into the organic floor. Like certain membranes in cells, where certain things can get in or out, but not other things...so people may appear to be walking through walls which adjust their rigidity to allow entrance..but with security coded to their genetic structure...it can let certain people in and block others out. The people and the city are one, as the human genetic code of each individual is programmed and known by the city CPU and bio-interfaced so that individual's genetic code can be modified at whim. Sick? Medical heuristic algorithms analyze the individual's genes to determine the root causes and makes appropriate modifcation to the individual's genetic code to eliminate it...if new viruses appear, updates are downloaded into the individual's programming routine. Of course, this all seems benevolent (shades of "the Patriot Act"!), but what if...what if...it got into the wrong hands? The city above is called Soma, which is a reference to the drug in Brave New World. Soma was the drug that people were addicted to in Brave New World...it made them happy and unquestioning. The reason it is called Soma in this film is to pay homage to this book which discussed genetic implications many years before this has become an issue...For the viewer's sake, the name of the city is a reference to the addiction that people have tied to the genetic benefits that this city provides them if they "plug in" to it and become one with it.
In Metropolis, the leader of Metropolis was supposedly benevolent...the Underground, with its workers, fed the machine that powered the City Above. The son of the leader, used to the glory of the City Above, still felt tempted to really explore the Underground, despite his father's warnings. There he finds the workers..slaves to the new technology that was driving the world above (this was a film talking about the industrial revolution). He goes below and finds Maria, a saint like beautiful woman who tries to unite and inspire the workers. But the Leader from the City above has a mad scientist who creates an android who then humanizes itself to appear like Maria. The false Maria goes down and stirs up rebellion and foment, which ends up in the destruction of the City..she is represented as the anti-Christ...Babylon, mystery of harlots.....but at the last minute the real Maria and the son join forces and unite and bring reconciliation to the two worlds.
So in this film, we have a woman who is Messianic in her style. Her daddy's corporation owns the City Above (in this world, corporations own political entities..hmmmm....sound familiar?) and just so happen to own the rights to the human genome coding and many applications of its use...she and daddy have bought food to the Africans by the creation of disease resistant plants and creation of new bio-mechanical agents in the enviornment to rid pollution and disease. This girl has class and style...Nikka Malenova is her name.....and she has the body and face of a top runway fashion model combined with incredible intelligence and charisma..hence her daddy goes into the sidelines as she takes over as the spokesperson..it is her face that adorns the huge jumbo video tron screens (remember Bladerunner videotron screen?) as she declares "Gene technology is dream technology" and hails herself and her products as ushering new hope for the un-genetically altered citizens below the city of Soma, in the underground....there-in resides the genetic mistakes, the normal people, and the cast aways. Everyone above, in Soma, however, because they sign up with NIkka's plan enjoy the benefits of longevity, facial / body alterations via accellerated genetic reengineering (whereby gene codes are dramaticaly altered in a controlled environment whereby people can change their hair color, eye color, physical composition...get that morphing software out!)....this is a commentary on America's complete addiction and unhealthy fascination to materialism and physical beauty...a new eugenics has emerged in the name of being like the hollywood stars!
Instead of going to a hair salon, we see in the film people going to a gene boutique to get transformed, even if they only wish a brief transformation. (Yes, i guess there is even a little Logan's Run in this baby). So Nikka is the shining super star...the future "Messiah"....or is she? (plot twist)
Someone is trying to kill Nikka....she assigns a for-hire by the name of Dominic Hunter (you can change the name..whatever makes sense; originally i had Fortune Hunter; i even thought of approvaching Marvel Comics to see if I could use this story to ressurect an old character of theirs who was a mercenary spy named Dominic Fortune)...only problem is he is truly independent...he hasn't signed on to the system. But she feels he is the one person who can blend in with the masses below and investigate the series of assassinations and murders that have taken place in Soma..which are coming closer and closer to her and her closest associates. What happens then is a series of bizarre murders..for example, in the Underground they find a body with it's arms outstretched toward a tub of water...turning over the body to find gill like markings on the person's neck...he died of suffocation from lack of air....each murder seems like it might have a tie to vengeance. As Hunter makes his way through these strange operations, there are some weird flashbacks and memories he is having...that he isn't who he thinks he is...that he might have a darker past than he realizes....shades of Total Recall.......so he does he decide to be..the good guy or the bad guy.........and Nikka herself isn't who she says she is....she is a genetic terrorist and this salvation she offers by people plugging into her plan gives her the power to destroy everyone who has the gene virus timed for release.....but then again, maybe there are two Nikkas - a good NIkka and a bad Nikka....(like Maria)..p.ot twists abound.......instead of a regular bomb..we have a genetic bomb that is time released...unless someone can reprogram everybody's sequence to reject it...essentially this is a commentary on the implications both good and bad of the new genetic age..while metropolis was a commentary on the industrial age.
ok, that was the film i originally designed..now with your ideas of having a strong female lead....here is one idea we could explore.....
While in the underground Hunter befriends a young girl...maybe she is like the girl in the Fifth Element.superheroine ..quirky...individualistic...strong.....maybe they have a romantic chemistry thing going on..any way..some kind of connection that makes them feel for each other....she tries to help him uncover his past..and as the story unfolds, she becomes the heroine, not him....he becomes the tragic character.....the reason why he didn't quite fit in with the world above..why he was sent down to investigate the "murders"...the murders that Nikka Malenova, not her percieved assassins, set up? was because he actually was not human.....as the terrorist, Nikka had the world above at her will...but she still didn't have the people who didn't buy into her plan.......she had to destroy them too......what better way than to take a live human...but not any human who could only just strap on some bombs doing limited damage...but a specially modified android/human who had the destructive power that could destroy a city....ever see the new animated film Metropolis which is based on japanese manga...that kind of idea was in that film.......in his horror of discovering who he really is, more than just a bad guy who had been brainwiped, but a living bomb....he was a pawn...and now the girl who loves him will lose him....does she keep her love alive or does she destroy him, knowing what he really is. The traps have been set.....
tune in...same James-time, same James-channel!
Dear Dave,
This is serving as my mind dump diary of a film that has been in my head and partially on paper for about 5 years.....as I'm in Detroit, and don't have access to my storage drive....I'm going to try to find the original script of I had started and the images of the environments; I even had some animations prototyped already including a spy mechanical insect. But here are some thoughts for your consideration. Perhaps this could be part of the film you are making or you would be interested in this for another film.
I basically have been merging the following stories - it follows the basic pattern of Metropolis and is in essence a subtle recreation and re-interpretation of this film's structure. It also provides references to Brave New World and Brave New World. And then from a plot twist perspective, inspiration from filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock. Visually, the underground is similar to Blade Runner, but the City Above is something that as far as I know has never been done.... a lumniscent, colorful organic city that contrasts to the dark somber city below...we are talking better than Oz. Walls and walkways appear organic...morphing and adjusting to the needs of the inhabitants that come near, programmed to respond to their brain impulses and desires.....as you walk into a room, the lighting adjusts to the occupant's tastes (at least, those mutually agreed upon if multiple occupants!), and custom-fitting furnishings mold themselves instantaneously to fit the needs of the people entering the room. Imagine walking into an empty room...as you begin to sit on what looks like will be a nice little crash to the floor, a custom forming chair morphs out of the floor to meet your descending bottom. The idea is to show fluidity and customization. When privacy is desired, walls come up...when open space and meetings are needed, walls melt into the organic floor. Like certain membranes in cells, where certain things can get in or out, but not other things...so people may appear to be walking through walls which adjust their rigidity to allow entrance..but with security coded to their genetic structure...it can let certain people in and block others out. The people and the city are one, as the human genetic code of each individual is programmed and known by the city CPU and bio-interfaced so that individual's genetic code can be modified at whim. Sick? Medical heuristic algorithms analyze the individual's genes to determine the root causes and makes appropriate modifcation to the individual's genetic code to eliminate it...if new viruses appear, updates are downloaded into the individual's programming routine. Of course, this all seems benevolent (shades of "the Patriot Act"!), but what if...what if...it got into the wrong hands? The city above is called Soma, which is a reference to the drug in Brave New World. Soma was the drug that people were addicted to in Brave New World...it made them happy and unquestioning. The reason it is called Soma in this film is to pay homage to this book which discussed genetic implications many years before this has become an issue...For the viewer's sake, the name of the city is a reference to the addiction that people have tied to the genetic benefits that this city provides them if they "plug in" to it and become one with it.
In Metropolis, the leader of Metropolis was supposedly benevolent...the Underground, with its workers, fed the machine that powered the City Above. The son of the leader, used to the glory of the City Above, still felt tempted to really explore the Underground, despite his father's warnings. There he finds the workers..slaves to the new technology that was driving the world above (this was a film talking about the industrial revolution). He goes below and finds Maria, a saint like beautiful woman who tries to unite and inspire the workers. But the Leader from the City above has a mad scientist who creates an android who then humanizes itself to appear like Maria. The false Maria goes down and stirs up rebellion and foment, which ends up in the destruction of the City..she is represented as the anti-Christ...Babylon, mystery of harlots.....but at the last minute the real Maria and the son join forces and unite and bring reconciliation to the two worlds.
So in this film, we have a woman who is Messianic in her style. Her daddy's corporation owns the City Above (in this world, corporations own political entities..hmmmm....sound familiar?) and just so happen to own the rights to the human genome coding and many applications of its use...she and daddy have bought food to the Africans by the creation of disease resistant plants and creation of new bio-mechanical agents in the enviornment to rid pollution and disease. This girl has class and style...Nikka Malenova is her name.....and she has the body and face of a top runway fashion model combined with incredible intelligence and charisma..hence her daddy goes into the sidelines as she takes over as the spokesperson..it is her face that adorns the huge jumbo video tron screens (remember Bladerunner videotron screen?) as she declares "Gene technology is dream technology" and hails herself and her products as ushering new hope for the un-genetically altered citizens below the city of Soma, in the underground....there-in resides the genetic mistakes, the normal people, and the cast aways. Everyone above, in Soma, however, because they sign up with NIkka's plan enjoy the benefits of longevity, facial / body alterations via accellerated genetic reengineering (whereby gene codes are dramaticaly altered in a controlled environment whereby people can change their hair color, eye color, physical composition...get that morphing software out!)....this is a commentary on America's complete addiction and unhealthy fascination to materialism and physical beauty...a new eugenics has emerged in the name of being like the hollywood stars!
Instead of going to a hair salon, we see in the film people going to a gene boutique to get transformed, even if they only wish a brief transformation. (Yes, i guess there is even a little Logan's Run in this baby). So Nikka is the shining super star...the future "Messiah"....or is she? (plot twist)
Someone is trying to kill Nikka....she assigns a for-hire by the name of Dominic Hunter (you can change the name..whatever makes sense; originally i had Fortune Hunter; i even thought of approvaching Marvel Comics to see if I could use this story to ressurect an old character of theirs who was a mercenary spy named Dominic Fortune)...only problem is he is truly independent...he hasn't signed on to the system. But she feels he is the one person who can blend in with the masses below and investigate the series of assassinations and murders that have taken place in Soma..which are coming closer and closer to her and her closest associates. What happens then is a series of bizarre murders..for example, in the Underground they find a body with it's arms outstretched toward a tub of water...turning over the body to find gill like markings on the person's neck...he died of suffocation from lack of air....each murder seems like it might have a tie to vengeance. As Hunter makes his way through these strange operations, there are some weird flashbacks and memories he is having...that he isn't who he thinks he is...that he might have a darker past than he realizes....shades of Total Recall.......so he does he decide to be..the good guy or the bad guy.........and Nikka herself isn't who she says she is....she is a genetic terrorist and this salvation she offers by people plugging into her plan gives her the power to destroy everyone who has the gene virus timed for release.....but then again, maybe there are two Nikkas - a good NIkka and a bad Nikka....(like Maria)..p.ot twists abound.......instead of a regular bomb..we have a genetic bomb that is time released...unless someone can reprogram everybody's sequence to reject it...essentially this is a commentary on the implications both good and bad of the new genetic age..while metropolis was a commentary on the industrial age.
ok, that was the film i originally designed..now with your ideas of having a strong female lead....here is one idea we could explore.....
While in the underground Hunter befriends a young girl...maybe she is like the girl in the Fifth Element.superheroine ..quirky...individualistic...strong.....maybe they have a romantic chemistry thing going on..any way..some kind of connection that makes them feel for each other....she tries to help him uncover his past..and as the story unfolds, she becomes the heroine, not him....he becomes the tragic character.....the reason why he didn't quite fit in with the world above..why he was sent down to investigate the "murders"...the murders that Nikka Malenova, not her percieved assassins, set up? was because he actually was not human.....as the terrorist, Nikka had the world above at her will...but she still didn't have the people who didn't buy into her plan.......she had to destroy them too......what better way than to take a live human...but not any human who could only just strap on some bombs doing limited damage...but a specially modified android/human who had the destructive power that could destroy a city....ever see the new animated film Metropolis which is based on japanese manga...that kind of idea was in that film.......in his horror of discovering who he really is, more than just a bad guy who had been brainwiped, but a living bomb....he was a pawn...and now the girl who loves him will lose him....does she keep her love alive or does she destroy him, knowing what he really is. The traps have been set.....
tune in...same James-time, same James-channel!
posted by James Kellogg at 11:49 PM
1 comments
