25 replies to this topic

[terminus]

A little something that I've been working on ...

What Is 'Thicker Than Water'?

I wrote a treatment for a possible fanfiction screenplay in the latter half of 2010 - that treatment variously went under the titles of 'Shatterhand' and 'Thicker Than Water'. It was intended to be 'set' in 1986 and feature Roger Moore. Over the last month, the project has evolved into the current incarnation - it will be set in 2010, in the same continuity as 'Casino Royale' and 'Quantum of Solace', but it will be a vessel for a seventh actor to take the role of James Bond: Alex O'Loughlin.

The screenplay will see Bond being sent to bring in the daughter of the Minister of Defence who has been sighted at the compound of a mysterious cult in Kansas. From there, the adventure will take our hero to Hawaii and Argentina - on his travels, he will team up with the beautiful Frenchwoman Celine Attal (Annelise Hesme) and go up against the ruthless military contractor, Graeme Arsenault (Gad Elmaleh).

In contrast to my last screenplay project, 'For Queen and Country', the screenplay of 'Thicker Than Water' will not be released in one complete script - it will, instead, consist of twelve parts of approximately ten pages each and each part will be released on the last saturday of every month.

I hope that you enjoy the project as much as I have enjoyed concocting it - and as much as I hope you enjoyed my last screenplay.

THICKER THAN WATER

2011

[mttvolcano]

He should be the next Bond definitely!
Can't wait to read your script man!

[terminus]

COMING ON
SATURDAY 29TH JANUARY 2011

When pictures of the Minister of Defence's missing daughter surface, showing her at the compound of a religious cult in Kansas, MI6 decide to send their best man in to recover her - but the best man for the job is on deployment in Northern Italy ...

THICKER THAN WATER

2011

[coco1997]

Can't wait, terminus!

[terminus]

He should be the next Bond definitely!
Can't wait to read your script man!

Can't wait, terminus!

Thanks for the words, mttvolcano and coco1997 - it will be an interesting experiment, delivering a chapter every month. I once read that Isaac Asimov would do something similar - he'd sit in a bookstore and write a story, cellotaping each page to the window of the store as he wrote it. This is, in some ways, a version of that.

[terminus]

I thought that I'd post a partial cast list to tantalise your tastebuds -

Alex O'Loughlin ... James Bond
Rory Kinnear ... Tanner
Simon Woods ... Robinson
Blake Ritson ... Saunders
Kelly Adams ... Miss Moneypenny
Alexander Siddig ... Nasir Sharq
Valentina Cervi ... Alex Friday
Tilda Swinton ... The Foreign Secretary
Anthony Higgins ... The Minister of Defence
Ed Stoppard ... The Armourer
Paola Turbay Gomez ... Livia, The Stewardess
Sally Bretton ... Hotel Receptionist
Chris Vance ... Head of Station, Hawaii
Annelise Hesme ... Celine Attal
Gad Elmaleh ... Graeme Arsenault
Neil Jackson ... Ragnar Martinssen
Craig Vye ... Aurelio Palottino

And the 'themetune' for the film may have just been locked down, following a fantastic suggestion by coco1997.

[dinovelvet]

Neil Jackson ... Mr Spargo

Hmm...pulling a Joe Don Baker on us?

[terminus]

Neil Jackson ... Ragnar Martinssen

Hmm...pulling a Joe Don Baker on us?

A little. I recently saw Jackson in the relaunched Upstairs Downstairs as the chauffeur (which was where the name was also borrowed from) and felt he could do justice to a more beefed up part. In QOS, the audience barely saw Mr Slate, so I felt there wouldn't be quite the confusion that could emerge. Ragnar Martinssen is certainly not the main villain, but he's more than just a henchman.

[Automan]

Come on whats the Title tune music then?

[terminus]

Come on whats the Title tune music then?

It'll be revealed when the first installment is posted at the end of the month.

[chrisno1]

I'm not familiar with Alex O'Loughrin's work. This might be an opportunity to hire The Back Up Plan and letch over Jennifer Lopez.
However, he certainly looks like a 007.
The ten part format should prove quite a testing arena, Terminus, and I'm banking on you to pull it of!
I like the locations and the set up is interesting. If I'm being picky, I'm not a big fan of Annelise Hesme.

[terminus]

I'm not familiar with Alex O'Loughrin's work. This might be an opportunity to hire The Back Up Plan and letch over Jennifer Lopez.
However, he certainly looks like a 007.
The ten part format should prove quite a testing arena, Terminus, and I'm banking on you to pull it of!
I like the locations and the set up is interesting. If I'm being picky, I'm not a big fan of Annelise Hesme.

I'd also suggest that you try and catch some episodes of the new Hawaii Five-0 if you can, that's the major reason he was picked - he's definitely got the hang of delivering some of the wittier dialogue that Brosnan et al sometimes had problems with. But yes - he definitely looks like 007 and that's also very important. And whilst it's set in the same 'universe' as the Daniel Craig films - this incarnation of Bond is a very different beast, consider the change in the Bond character between License to Kill and GoldenEye - there's a bit more humour to the character.

I'm glad that you've got confidence in me - hopefully I do you proud. It's twelve parts, though, of approximately ten pages (though some will be shorter, and a few will be longer). The locations are definitely going to be interesting - there are more locations than have been announced presently and at least one of them has been changed recently (and one sequence moved to later in the movie where it makes a bit more sense). A rundown of locations, at current standing includes (but not limited to): The Sahara, Italy, Kansas, Hawaii and Argentina - with at least one more.

Re: Annelise Hesme. She just struck me as being the sort of earthy yet stunning actress I was looking for the part - the character is a journalist who works for Le Monde and stumbles onto the same plot that Bond does, albeit from another direction.

[volante]

COMING ON
SATURDAY 29TH JANUARY 2011

When pictures of the Minister of Defence's missing daughter surface, showing her at the compound of a religious cult in Kansas, MI6 decide to send their best man in to recover her - but the best man for the job is on deployment in Northern Italy ...

THICKER THAN WATER

2011

I just realized I'd not commented on this thread.
I've been reading it though; and am really looking forward to seeing how it pans out.
Intreging plot line.
As always, I'm looking forward to your work.

[terminus]

Thanks! The pretitle sequence is one of the elements that has been changed at the last minute - the sequence just wasn't working for me and, luckily, I had a second pretitle sequence written up that fits just as better. The location and the stunt that would have featured in the pretitle sequence has now been slotted into the film at a later point - and, for me, it works much much better.

As such, the 'title' of the pretitle sequence doesn't quite work - it would be better titled 'A Shark in the Water' (which is the title that I've given to the 'accompanying' track in my mock soundtrack listing). But the picture still, very much, works for the chapter.

[terminus]

IN ONE WEEK

TANNER
Where the hell is 007?

MONEYPENNY
Well, he's certainly not in Alaska.

JAMES BOND RETURNS

SHARQ
It's time to give Mr Bond the chance for a
close up inspection of our weapons of mass
destruction ...

ALEX O'LOUGHLIN IS 007

BOND
Now there's a case of good luck.

IN
THICKER THAN WATER

[chrisno1]

Aaaahhhhh very nice

[terminus]

Sorry for this not being posted yet - have been having some computer issues on my own computer (using my partners computer at the moment) which means I've not been able to convert the script into pdf format and get it posted yet. I think I've almost solved the issue that's occuring but, even if it doesn't get fixed, (I'm lucky in that I write the script on a private messageboard so I can access it wherever I am), I ought to be able to install the pdf creation programme and get the first installment posted tomorrow.

[terminus]

Hopefully debuting in a couple of hours.

[terminus]

And here we are - the premiere of Part One of Thicker Than Water:

HERE

For some reason I didn't notice my fingers had missed the 'er' from the title, so will put in a request with a mod to get that changed ASAP.

[chrisno1]

007: THICKER THAN WATER

No disappointments here, Terminus.

A BRILLIANT PTS.

Spoiler

What was so refreshing was the absense of the traditional action scene. No fisticuffs, no car chases, no mad cap stunts. This had plenty of intrigue, introduces a character and a plot line and finishes with a swift few seconds of explosive violence. Rather more like FRWL and the Bilbao opening to TWINE. Under the hand of a skilled director, this could be a very tense and mysterious scene, posing early questions to the viewer, such as why is Bond there? who are these rebels? etc etc. I also like the way you introduce the audience to our new James Bond: a hint from Tanner, a long shot, a close up, a little dig at the past movies (Mr St John Smythe) but no full confirmation until Nasir Sharq views the text message.

VERY EXCELLENT WORK.

One query, what's that remark about a Morroccan?

Chris

Edited by chrisno1, 03 February 2011 - 03:31 PM.

[terminus]

007: THICKER THAN WATER

No disappointments here, Terminus.

A BRILLIANT PTS.

Spoiler

What was so refreshing was the absense of the traditional action scene. No fisticuffs, no car chases, no mad cap stunts. This had plenty of intrigue, introduces a character and a plot line and finishes with a swift few seconds of explosive violence. Rather more like FRWL and the Bilbao opening to TWINE. Under the hand of a skilled director, this could be a very tense and mysterious scene, posing early questions to the viewer, such as why is Bond there? who are these rebels? etc etc. I also like the way you introduce the audience to our new James Bond: a hint from Tanner, a long shot, a close up, a little dig at the past movies (Mr St John Smythe) but no full confirmation until Nasir Sharq views the text message.

VERY EXCELLENT WORK.

One query, what's that remark about a Morroccan?

Chris

I'm glad you like it - looking at it now, I'm not completely happy with it. I think the dialogue between Bond and Sharq could be much much better, it just doesn't work to the level that I wanted it to. I think the PTS might get revised at some point.

Re: Morocco. It was supposed to be a nod-of-the-head to the line in TLD about making a good restaraunt in Karachi in time for dinner.

[chrisno1]

The dialogue is a little "flat" I agree, but it might be a case of changing a word or two, or adding a sentence with some impact for the future. If you change it too much, you might overbalance the mood. The fact the dialogue is sparse isn't an issue as it does provide all the important information. They aren't wasted words.

[terminus]

The dialogue is a little "flat" I agree, but it might be a case of changing a word or two, or adding a sentence with some impact for the future. If you change it too much, you might overbalance the mood. The fact the dialogue is sparse isn't an issue as it does provide all the important information. They aren't wasted words.

Oh yes, it wouldn't be overhauled or changed completely - the basic arrangement of the dialogue and the point behind them, and how the sequence ties into the larger plot, would remain, it would just have a polish to make the dialogue zing and give it some pizazz.

[dinovelvet]

An enjoyable read, terminus!

If I have any criticism, it's that this PTS resembles that of DAD (at least the pre-action part of it) perhaps a little too closely - Bond arriving by helicopter for an arms deal, the sidekick revealing Bond's real identity to his boss, the villain blowing up the chopper. Still, you cut it off before any big Brosnan-style chase can break out, which probably works for the tone you're establishing. Obviously there's not too much else to say about just a PTS, I'm assuming the arms deal stuff ties in with the rest of the film somehow?

(I too didn't understand the 'Moroccan' line!)

[terminus]

As I've mentioned in another thread, for the forseeable future I'm going to be busier in RL than I have been and I need to cut down on the amount of time I'm spending online. Apologies for this. - I'll be around every now and again and I will still be contactable, but this means that for the immediate future, TTW will be on hiatus.

[chrisno1]

Disappointing, but then life has to go on.
Good luck, one way or the other Mr T.
Chris