Tropical Island Make-Your-Own-Movie Draft (Round 16)
- Thread starter Bricklayer
- Start date
- Status
So what's the deadline here people? Will we eventually open the box office regardless of write-ups?
I know this takes a bit of creativity, but it's been common knowledge that the write-ups were coming for quite some time (we even extended the rounds allowing more time to plan out a write-up). Passing up this phase for a week or two detracts from the rest of us who actually made our picks on time...
I know this takes a bit of creativity, but it's been common knowledge that the write-ups were coming for quite some time (we even extended the rounds allowing more time to plan out a write-up). Passing up this phase for a week or two detracts from the rest of us who actually made our picks on time...
Title:
Hell Cats
Tagline:
Before petting these kittens, better check their claws!
Starring:
Scarlett Johansson as Miss America Chester
Sam Rockwell as Robbie Cage
With:
Rosario Dawson as Jenny "Boom Boom" Jackal
Rose McGowan as Bunny Bordeaux
Robert Downey, Jr. as Randall Preston
Juliette Lewis as Cricket Preston
Tom Waits as The Devil/The Man in Red
Sarah Shahi as Stacey Black
Alan Rickman
Ewan McGregor
Richard Jenkins
Directed by:
Russ Meyer
Written by:
Robert Rodriguez
Assistant to the Executive Producer:
Jason Statham
Synopsis:
Randall Preston and wife Cricket hatch a scheme to make money by creating and marketing an all girl rockabilly band. A trio of go-go dancers (on vacation from hell), including Miss America Chester and Jenny "Boom Boom" Jackal, catch the Prestons' eye and land the job. When the band takes off due largely to the girls' physical appeal and the Prestons realize they can double their money by selling the girls themselves, as well as just their image, the band takes offense to being so blatantly exploited. Determined to make the Prestons pay, they enlist the help of their surrogate father (the man in red) and America's boyfriend, Robbie Cage, to exact their bloody revenge.
Hell Cats
Tagline:
Before petting these kittens, better check their claws!
Starring:
Scarlett Johansson as Miss America Chester
Sam Rockwell as Robbie Cage
With:
Rosario Dawson as Jenny "Boom Boom" Jackal
Rose McGowan as Bunny Bordeaux
Robert Downey, Jr. as Randall Preston
Juliette Lewis as Cricket Preston
Tom Waits as The Devil/The Man in Red
Sarah Shahi as Stacey Black
Alan Rickman
Ewan McGregor
Richard Jenkins
Directed by:
Russ Meyer
Written by:
Robert Rodriguez
Assistant to the Executive Producer:
Jason Statham
Synopsis:
Randall Preston and wife Cricket hatch a scheme to make money by creating and marketing an all girl rockabilly band. A trio of go-go dancers (on vacation from hell), including Miss America Chester and Jenny "Boom Boom" Jackal, catch the Prestons' eye and land the job. When the band takes off due largely to the girls' physical appeal and the Prestons realize they can double their money by selling the girls themselves, as well as just their image, the band takes offense to being so blatantly exploited. Determined to make the Prestons pay, they enlist the help of their surrogate father (the man in red) and America's boyfriend, Robbie Cage, to exact their bloody revenge.
Blood Valley
As the ultimate movie geek, Director Quentin Tarantino was psyched to have the opportunity to select actors from the time-stream to populate his latest project. He decided to try his hand at the genre that was his favorite as a child, the Western. More specifically, it would be a Rescue Western, where a team of specialists is rounded up to perform a job. This form gives him the flexibility to slot many of his favorite film legends into roles that play off of their film histories and established iconography.
Tarantino has always been influenced by John Woo’s trademark gunplay, but has shied away from attempting shootouts on the scale of Woo’s set pieces himself. Now, he gets to hire the master himself as Second-Unit Director, to stage this film’s action sequences.
He also adds to the technical team Conrad L. Hall, a three-time Oscar winning cinematographer who shot many classics over several decades, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and his this project’s spiritual forbear: The Professionals.
While I will synopsize the premise and characters in a sequential and organized manner, Tarantino will use his trademarked flashbacks to reveal elliptical pieces of our characters’ backstories throughout the film.
And now…
Blood Valley
The Premise
As the 20th century approached, George Smith (Jimmy Stewart) staked out a land claim in an area of the unincorporated Southwest that came to be known as Blood Valley by some, due to the reddish hue of the iron-rich soil. He settled there with his wife Anna (Grace Kelly), built a home, and even started a farm in the unforgiving land with the help of irrigation from a nearby river. As a town grew up around him, the rocketing value of Smith’s claim made him a wealthy man, though he refused to extract as much as he could have when selling off plots to the families that came to settle there. If George is the head of the town, then Anna is its heart, spreading light and goodwill wherever she passes.
Into this small town sanctuary enters Charles Cabot (Marlon Brando), a cold-hearted middle-aged industrialist known as “The Godfather of the Gulf” for his sweeping land ownership, mining, railroad and other business concerns across that region. As much as his eye for an investment opportunity, Cabot’s success can be attributed to the numerous lawmen and politicians in his pocket and the army of mercenaries on his payroll, which allow him to operate with impunity.
As he looks to push his influence ever westward, Cabot visits George’s home to make a hefty offer to purchase much of the land surrounding the town. He believes there is great potential for iron mining in the area, and would also set up refining plants on the land. He would also construct a railway to send the metal back east, which would require the nearby river to be dammed and redirected. George turns his offer down flatly, realizing that this would mean the destruction of the town and a betrayal of all of those who had settled there. Cabot’s offers and anger increase as George holds steadfast and the Godfather storms out.
Believing this matter to be behind him, George is distraught to return from a hunting excursion to find his home trashed and wife missing. A messenger arrives with a final offer at a fraction of the original and a deadline. George is determined not to betray the town, whatever his personal cost, and decides to set off after his wife, Winchester rifle in hand. He is stopped by Kitty DeVille (Raquel Welch), proprietor of a brothel just outside of town, and unbeknownst to George, formerly the U.S. answer to Mata Hari.
Kitty reveals her former life of espionage and assassination working off the books for national interests at home and abroad. She can steal a man’s heart, or just as easily stop it from beating with a well-placed throwing dagger. She offers her up own talents and assistance in assembling a team to track down Anna’s location and take revenge on the Godfather. "Mrs. Anna is the only woman in town who ever addressed me as a lady” she says. “Now I'm no lady, to be perfectly honest, but I always appreciated the thought."
The Gang
Using her old contacts, Kitty quickly identifies several skilled guns for hire operating in the local region. The other members of the team include:
Henry Booker (Robert Redford), an expert tracker and horse wrangler who has a talent for communicating with horses that defies rational explanation. He’s also a fair shot with a pistol when called for.
Vito Vega (Robert De Niro), a city-slicker whose sharp suits look out of place in the frontier. Vega comes from a long line of hired killers that would no doubt continue for generations to come. He’s a sadist that often unnecessarily takes a straight-razor to his victims before putting them out of their misery, and is known to cut a rug to the latest ragtime tune. Vega was once worked for the Godfather’s operation but was let go for lack of discipline. After stewing for the last few years up in New Amsterdam, he’s returned to make the big man sorry.
"Mad Dog" Torrance (Jack Nicholson), a demolitions expert who is as unstable as the nitro in his boomsticks, but has a talent for causing the maximum destruction. Some tell tale that he was once perfectly sane until he spent a winter in an isolated mountain-top cabin. Torrance never revealed what happened up there, but whatever it was left him a raving lunatic.
Baron Carnegy (Sir Laurence Olivier), a British noble who once slaked his bloodthirst by challenging duels for even the smallest of infractions. He left his birthright behind and crossed the pond for more reliable game as an assassin for hire in the wild frontier. Some refer to him by the nickname “Baron Carnage” but not within earshot unless they wish to be added to his long list of kills.
“The Dragon” (Bruce Lee), a mysterious visitor from the East who is a hired hand that has never been seen to pick up a gun. Instead, he uses a strange form of combat to dispatch foes with his hands and feet. The gang is skeptical of his usefulness, until they see him close distance on a gunman before he can get off a shot and crush his windpipe with a chop to the throat.
The Gunman (Clint Eastwood), a nameless drifter who was not among those invited by Kitty, but showed up nonetheless to offer his services, because he “heard there’s a job that needs doing.”
The Mission
The gang travels eastward, seeking out the outposts where the Godfather’s men are stationed and fighting their way up the chain. The Godfather’s private army is led by Hawk Cahill (John Wayne), a former Army Captain. Cahill is a grizzled veteran of the Indian Wars and a true leader of men, but was dishonorably discharged for his drinking problem and questionable field tactics.
Meanwhile, the Godfather watches over Anna in his hidden fortress, where she is unharmed (as he considers himself a gentleman) but subjected to his creepy attempts at charming and seducing her.
Along the way there are bloody battles, heroic efforts, sacrifices, and betrayal, until they track down the Godfather to rescue Anna and exact George’s revenge.
When a bad man does a good man wrong, it takes the baddest men around to set things right.
As the ultimate movie geek, Director Quentin Tarantino was psyched to have the opportunity to select actors from the time-stream to populate his latest project. He decided to try his hand at the genre that was his favorite as a child, the Western. More specifically, it would be a Rescue Western, where a team of specialists is rounded up to perform a job. This form gives him the flexibility to slot many of his favorite film legends into roles that play off of their film histories and established iconography.
Tarantino has always been influenced by John Woo’s trademark gunplay, but has shied away from attempting shootouts on the scale of Woo’s set pieces himself. Now, he gets to hire the master himself as Second-Unit Director, to stage this film’s action sequences.
He also adds to the technical team Conrad L. Hall, a three-time Oscar winning cinematographer who shot many classics over several decades, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and his this project’s spiritual forbear: The Professionals.
While I will synopsize the premise and characters in a sequential and organized manner, Tarantino will use his trademarked flashbacks to reveal elliptical pieces of our characters’ backstories throughout the film.
And now…
Blood Valley
The Premise
As the 20th century approached, George Smith (Jimmy Stewart) staked out a land claim in an area of the unincorporated Southwest that came to be known as Blood Valley by some, due to the reddish hue of the iron-rich soil. He settled there with his wife Anna (Grace Kelly), built a home, and even started a farm in the unforgiving land with the help of irrigation from a nearby river. As a town grew up around him, the rocketing value of Smith’s claim made him a wealthy man, though he refused to extract as much as he could have when selling off plots to the families that came to settle there. If George is the head of the town, then Anna is its heart, spreading light and goodwill wherever she passes.
Into this small town sanctuary enters Charles Cabot (Marlon Brando), a cold-hearted middle-aged industrialist known as “The Godfather of the Gulf” for his sweeping land ownership, mining, railroad and other business concerns across that region. As much as his eye for an investment opportunity, Cabot’s success can be attributed to the numerous lawmen and politicians in his pocket and the army of mercenaries on his payroll, which allow him to operate with impunity.
As he looks to push his influence ever westward, Cabot visits George’s home to make a hefty offer to purchase much of the land surrounding the town. He believes there is great potential for iron mining in the area, and would also set up refining plants on the land. He would also construct a railway to send the metal back east, which would require the nearby river to be dammed and redirected. George turns his offer down flatly, realizing that this would mean the destruction of the town and a betrayal of all of those who had settled there. Cabot’s offers and anger increase as George holds steadfast and the Godfather storms out.
Believing this matter to be behind him, George is distraught to return from a hunting excursion to find his home trashed and wife missing. A messenger arrives with a final offer at a fraction of the original and a deadline. George is determined not to betray the town, whatever his personal cost, and decides to set off after his wife, Winchester rifle in hand. He is stopped by Kitty DeVille (Raquel Welch), proprietor of a brothel just outside of town, and unbeknownst to George, formerly the U.S. answer to Mata Hari.
Kitty reveals her former life of espionage and assassination working off the books for national interests at home and abroad. She can steal a man’s heart, or just as easily stop it from beating with a well-placed throwing dagger. She offers her up own talents and assistance in assembling a team to track down Anna’s location and take revenge on the Godfather. "Mrs. Anna is the only woman in town who ever addressed me as a lady” she says. “Now I'm no lady, to be perfectly honest, but I always appreciated the thought."
The Gang
Using her old contacts, Kitty quickly identifies several skilled guns for hire operating in the local region. The other members of the team include:
Henry Booker (Robert Redford), an expert tracker and horse wrangler who has a talent for communicating with horses that defies rational explanation. He’s also a fair shot with a pistol when called for.
Vito Vega (Robert De Niro), a city-slicker whose sharp suits look out of place in the frontier. Vega comes from a long line of hired killers that would no doubt continue for generations to come. He’s a sadist that often unnecessarily takes a straight-razor to his victims before putting them out of their misery, and is known to cut a rug to the latest ragtime tune. Vega was once worked for the Godfather’s operation but was let go for lack of discipline. After stewing for the last few years up in New Amsterdam, he’s returned to make the big man sorry.
"Mad Dog" Torrance (Jack Nicholson), a demolitions expert who is as unstable as the nitro in his boomsticks, but has a talent for causing the maximum destruction. Some tell tale that he was once perfectly sane until he spent a winter in an isolated mountain-top cabin. Torrance never revealed what happened up there, but whatever it was left him a raving lunatic.
Baron Carnegy (Sir Laurence Olivier), a British noble who once slaked his bloodthirst by challenging duels for even the smallest of infractions. He left his birthright behind and crossed the pond for more reliable game as an assassin for hire in the wild frontier. Some refer to him by the nickname “Baron Carnage” but not within earshot unless they wish to be added to his long list of kills.
“The Dragon” (Bruce Lee), a mysterious visitor from the East who is a hired hand that has never been seen to pick up a gun. Instead, he uses a strange form of combat to dispatch foes with his hands and feet. The gang is skeptical of his usefulness, until they see him close distance on a gunman before he can get off a shot and crush his windpipe with a chop to the throat.
The Gunman (Clint Eastwood), a nameless drifter who was not among those invited by Kitty, but showed up nonetheless to offer his services, because he “heard there’s a job that needs doing.”
The Mission
The gang travels eastward, seeking out the outposts where the Godfather’s men are stationed and fighting their way up the chain. The Godfather’s private army is led by Hawk Cahill (John Wayne), a former Army Captain. Cahill is a grizzled veteran of the Indian Wars and a true leader of men, but was dishonorably discharged for his drinking problem and questionable field tactics.
Meanwhile, the Godfather watches over Anna in his hidden fortress, where she is unharmed (as he considers himself a gentleman) but subjected to his creepy attempts at charming and seducing her.
Along the way there are bloody battles, heroic efforts, sacrifices, and betrayal, until they track down the Godfather to rescue Anna and exact George’s revenge.
When a bad man does a good man wrong, it takes the baddest men around to set things right.
Please bear with me while I am rebuilding my PC. I got back from vacation this morning to find that my laptop freezes every 5-10 minutes. I'm trying my best to backup-rebuild-restore but it will take a while. I'll catch up with the drafts tomorrow.
Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks to all those who sent reminder PM's.
Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks to all those who sent reminder PM's.
I am back.
And actually this is a perfect example of why a structured approach is superior to the chaos of do it when you want to -- the chaos portion has killed every thread its been a part of. Unfortunately I have not been around to enforce the deadlines, nor even to follow them myself so it would be hypocritical of me to slap people silly at this late date.
First things first, I'll put up what I threw together for my own movie, then I'll update what needs updating and PM those who need PMing after some more work. Since I was anticipating this final round to possibly last the full 24hrs per person, I'll look to that as a possible final drop dead date -- think 16 days would be Weds.?
And actually this is a perfect example of why a structured approach is superior to the chaos of do it when you want to -- the chaos portion has killed every thread its been a part of. Unfortunately I have not been around to enforce the deadlines, nor even to follow them myself so it would be hypocritical of me to slap people silly at this late date.
First things first, I'll put up what I threw together for my own movie, then I'll update what needs updating and PM those who need PMing after some more work. Since I was anticipating this final round to possibly last the full 24hrs per person, I'll look to that as a possible final drop dead date -- think 16 days would be Weds.?
I don't want to hold this up any longer, but I have neither the imagination nor ability to translate one of the most interesting and complex events in history into a movie script the way many of you have done. Truly I'm impressed.
Additionally, my movie hinges on two of the most accomplished men in film history (Kurosawa and Ford Coppola) using the raw material provided by Cortes' Conquest of the Aztecs and collaborating to create an Epic film in the vein of Ran and Apocalypse Now. In fact, ideally, the film would be a historical hybrid of those two and I have no way of envisioning what two Giants of the industry my produce together.
Seriously, if I could do that, I'd be paying an assistant to write this out for me while I hit the surf.
So instead, I'm going to put excerpts of the story's history (I'll try not to bore you all too much; I know most people don't share my passion for this stuff) break up the book report with some pictures and hope that suffices.
Obsidian Sun
Explaination of the Title: At the time of Cortes, there had already been four "ends of the world" in the Aztec tradition when the sun of that previous age had been destroyed. The fifth sun, which the Aztecs lived under, required the blood of human sacrifice every day to prevent its own destruction. Should the sacrifices cease, or should mankind fail to please the gods for any other reason, this fifth sun would go black (like obsidian, also the stone used in the sacrifices) and the world would be shattered by a catastrophic earthquake.
To be clear, this is by no means a celebration of Cortes' destruction of the Aztec civilization. Although I am planning to use the obviously biased conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo (played by Mandy Patinkin) as a narrator, partially as an homage to his penning of "Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva Espana" and partially to juxtapose the absurtity of what is actually happening on screen with how the conquistadors interpreted it.
If anything, this is a tale of lust, power, greed, insanity and self-destruction on the part of both the Conquistadors and Aztecs that was eventually everyone's undoing.
There is some speculation that the Aztecs believed the Spanish were gods and Cortes specifically was the wind god Quetzalcoatl, but it appears clear that they regarded the Spanish as nothing more than an invading force they knew nothing about and hoped gifts of gold would stall them until more could be learned. Bad move.
The key component of this tragedy is the lead player: ambitious, rebelious and a little nutty Captain Hernan Cortes (Russell Crowe), who wasn't simply conquering Mexico on orders from King Charles, and in all actuality, was behaving as a flat out renegade in doing so.
In his younger years Cortes, the son of a minor nobel, actually studied law which he would later use to help him as a conquistador in making up BS excuses for annexing land and such. But it became clear after the young teen spent some minor time in jail on several occasions for fights and other philandering, that life as a lawyer or scholar was not in the cards and he began to explore more adventurous pursuits, mainly targeting the new world.
At 18 he had signed up for the first expedition to New Spain (now Mexico) but as legend has it, broke his leg while escaping out the window of a married woman's bedroom when the husband came home wondering why someone was on his roof and was scrubed from the mission. Really, good kid.
Flash forward several years later where Cortes is in Cuba, has a solid relationship with the Governor (Ricardo Montalban) and is the favored choice for the next expedition to New Spain, which at first he gets, until the governor changes his mind assuming a different captain would be more likely to actually follow his orders (he was right). Cortes hears this and before he can receive direct word that his command has been relieved, orders all his men to report and casts off in the middle of the night. (By some accounts, Cortes murdered the messenger and pretended to have never gotten it)
This was just the first order Cortes would directly ignore. Originally he was only supposed to search for a shipwrecked Spaniard from a previous expedition, barter with the natives for gold and really that's it. Fat chance.
No sooner did he find the shipwrecked Geronimo De Aguilar (Andy Garcia) who would become Cortes' first translator having spent several years with the Mayans and learning their language, did Cortes decide to establish the colony of Vera Cruz. This direct violation of orders lead to a mini-revolt among his men, which Cortes promptly squashed, reasoned for his authority to create the colony using those lawyering skills we talked about, and then removed all hope of returning to Cuba by famously dismanteling and scuttling the expedition's ships, seen in picture above. (Legend says he burned them, which may be more dramatic for film purposes, but not historically accurate. That'll be up to Akira)
The other half of this saga is Cortes' translator, guide, mistress and by some accounts second-in-command Dona Marina a.k.a. La Malinche (Salma Hayek). La Malinche was one of 20 female slaves as part of the spoils won by the Conquistadors following their first skirmish with the natives at Tabasco shortly after making land fall on the Yucatan. Legend has it she was sold into slavery as a little girl by her Aztec parents. Some say she was an Aztec princess, although that's unlikely.
In any event, she has become a complicated person of history because of her role in the fall of the Aztecs. Some view her as the ultimate traitor to her people; In fact that's where the mexican curse "malinchista" comes from. But she's also seen as a woman of circumstance who made the most of her situation to carve out a place for herself beyond what would have been possible had she simply accepted her fate.
In either case, it can be said she positioned herself to have a great deal of influence over the actions of Cortes (who had been reluctantly married while in Cuba in an event that's destined for the deleted scenes section.) And some believe she stayed his hand from slaughtering several hundred thousand native people by using diplomatic means when his first instinct was to attack. She also learned Spanish in a handful of months and Spanish is really hard.
From Vera Cruz, Cortes, La Malinche, 500 men, 12 horses and small complement of cannons marched across trecherous terrain during the flood months of August toward Tenochtilan, the Aztec Capital conquering outposts and gaining native allies against the Aztecs.
That's another important concept. The Aztecs were anything but beloved by their neighbors. They ruled over the area with an iron fist and were too powerful to be challeneged ... until the Conquistadors arrived altering the status quo.
One such neighbor was actually involved in the "Flower Wars", basically a continuous, non-invasive war with the Aztecs, that was essentially a tribute to provide warriors for the daily human sacrifices. That's gotta suck. So that was the real key to the Aztec's downfall; having poor relations with their "allies" ... that and small pox, but we'll get to that.
After months of marching and ignoring the Aztec's gifts of gold and demands to turn back, the Conquistadors reached Tenochtilan, the Venice of the West where Cortes and Moctezuma II (Yul Brynner) met for the first time (some accounts have Moctezuma actually meeting Cortes on the causeway, but this is unlikely).
For the next six months Cortes and his men stayed in the city keeping Moctezuma as a captive in his own palace. Until word reached Cortes that a much larger Spanish army lead by Panfilo de Narvez (Benjamin Bratt) had landed in New Spain sent by the Governor of Cuba to arrest him.
Cortes took a small contingent of men, left Pedro de Alvarado (Daniel Day-Lewis) in command of those remaining Tenchotilan and took off to confront Narvez.
Cortes was able to defeat them and convinced the remaining soldiers to join him after telling them about the City of Gold (Tenochtilan). When he returned he found Alvarado had led an unprovoked attack on the Aztecs nobels, slaughtering dozens of them and was now holed up in the palace. Cortes demanded Monteczuma speak to his people from the palace balcony. They threw stones and darts at him, knocking him on conscious. He eventually died a few days later.
During "La Noche Triste" Cortes and his men were forced to flee from the city.
From Wiki:
"The fighting was ferocious. As the Spaniards and allies reached the causeway, hundreds of canoes appeared in the waters alongside to harry the troops. The Spaniards and their native allies fought their way across the causeway in the rain, sometimes using the portable bridge to cover the gaps, although as the battle progressed some gaps had become so filled with wreckage and bodies that the fugitives were able to walk across. In some cases, the gold and equipment weighted down the conquistadores so much that they drowned."
"That night, with La Malinche by his side, Cortes sat under a large kapok tree and wept for the loss of his men and most of what he had gained "
The Spanish would eventually regroup and after several battles, would retake Tenochtilan (where most of the population had been killed through disease or starvation), raze most of the city and build Mexico City on the ashes.
I envision this being a three act film:
Act I: Cortes early history through Destroying the Ships
Act II: Embarking on the march to Tenochtilan through Cortes and Moctezuma meeting
Act III: Cortes engaging the arresting Army through La Noche Triste and eventual Conquest
Additionally, my movie hinges on two of the most accomplished men in film history (Kurosawa and Ford Coppola) using the raw material provided by Cortes' Conquest of the Aztecs and collaborating to create an Epic film in the vein of Ran and Apocalypse Now. In fact, ideally, the film would be a historical hybrid of those two and I have no way of envisioning what two Giants of the industry my produce together.
Seriously, if I could do that, I'd be paying an assistant to write this out for me while I hit the surf.
So instead, I'm going to put excerpts of the story's history (I'll try not to bore you all too much; I know most people don't share my passion for this stuff) break up the book report with some pictures and hope that suffices.
Obsidian Sun
Explaination of the Title: At the time of Cortes, there had already been four "ends of the world" in the Aztec tradition when the sun of that previous age had been destroyed. The fifth sun, which the Aztecs lived under, required the blood of human sacrifice every day to prevent its own destruction. Should the sacrifices cease, or should mankind fail to please the gods for any other reason, this fifth sun would go black (like obsidian, also the stone used in the sacrifices) and the world would be shattered by a catastrophic earthquake.
To be clear, this is by no means a celebration of Cortes' destruction of the Aztec civilization. Although I am planning to use the obviously biased conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo (played by Mandy Patinkin) as a narrator, partially as an homage to his penning of "Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva Espana" and partially to juxtapose the absurtity of what is actually happening on screen with how the conquistadors interpreted it.
If anything, this is a tale of lust, power, greed, insanity and self-destruction on the part of both the Conquistadors and Aztecs that was eventually everyone's undoing.
There is some speculation that the Aztecs believed the Spanish were gods and Cortes specifically was the wind god Quetzalcoatl, but it appears clear that they regarded the Spanish as nothing more than an invading force they knew nothing about and hoped gifts of gold would stall them until more could be learned. Bad move.
The key component of this tragedy is the lead player: ambitious, rebelious and a little nutty Captain Hernan Cortes (Russell Crowe), who wasn't simply conquering Mexico on orders from King Charles, and in all actuality, was behaving as a flat out renegade in doing so.
In his younger years Cortes, the son of a minor nobel, actually studied law which he would later use to help him as a conquistador in making up BS excuses for annexing land and such. But it became clear after the young teen spent some minor time in jail on several occasions for fights and other philandering, that life as a lawyer or scholar was not in the cards and he began to explore more adventurous pursuits, mainly targeting the new world.
At 18 he had signed up for the first expedition to New Spain (now Mexico) but as legend has it, broke his leg while escaping out the window of a married woman's bedroom when the husband came home wondering why someone was on his roof and was scrubed from the mission. Really, good kid.
Flash forward several years later where Cortes is in Cuba, has a solid relationship with the Governor (Ricardo Montalban) and is the favored choice for the next expedition to New Spain, which at first he gets, until the governor changes his mind assuming a different captain would be more likely to actually follow his orders (he was right). Cortes hears this and before he can receive direct word that his command has been relieved, orders all his men to report and casts off in the middle of the night. (By some accounts, Cortes murdered the messenger and pretended to have never gotten it)
This was just the first order Cortes would directly ignore. Originally he was only supposed to search for a shipwrecked Spaniard from a previous expedition, barter with the natives for gold and really that's it. Fat chance.
No sooner did he find the shipwrecked Geronimo De Aguilar (Andy Garcia) who would become Cortes' first translator having spent several years with the Mayans and learning their language, did Cortes decide to establish the colony of Vera Cruz. This direct violation of orders lead to a mini-revolt among his men, which Cortes promptly squashed, reasoned for his authority to create the colony using those lawyering skills we talked about, and then removed all hope of returning to Cuba by famously dismanteling and scuttling the expedition's ships, seen in picture above. (Legend says he burned them, which may be more dramatic for film purposes, but not historically accurate. That'll be up to Akira)
The other half of this saga is Cortes' translator, guide, mistress and by some accounts second-in-command Dona Marina a.k.a. La Malinche (Salma Hayek). La Malinche was one of 20 female slaves as part of the spoils won by the Conquistadors following their first skirmish with the natives at Tabasco shortly after making land fall on the Yucatan. Legend has it she was sold into slavery as a little girl by her Aztec parents. Some say she was an Aztec princess, although that's unlikely.
In any event, she has become a complicated person of history because of her role in the fall of the Aztecs. Some view her as the ultimate traitor to her people; In fact that's where the mexican curse "malinchista" comes from. But she's also seen as a woman of circumstance who made the most of her situation to carve out a place for herself beyond what would have been possible had she simply accepted her fate.
In either case, it can be said she positioned herself to have a great deal of influence over the actions of Cortes (who had been reluctantly married while in Cuba in an event that's destined for the deleted scenes section.) And some believe she stayed his hand from slaughtering several hundred thousand native people by using diplomatic means when his first instinct was to attack. She also learned Spanish in a handful of months and Spanish is really hard.
From Vera Cruz, Cortes, La Malinche, 500 men, 12 horses and small complement of cannons marched across trecherous terrain during the flood months of August toward Tenochtilan, the Aztec Capital conquering outposts and gaining native allies against the Aztecs.
That's another important concept. The Aztecs were anything but beloved by their neighbors. They ruled over the area with an iron fist and were too powerful to be challeneged ... until the Conquistadors arrived altering the status quo.
One such neighbor was actually involved in the "Flower Wars", basically a continuous, non-invasive war with the Aztecs, that was essentially a tribute to provide warriors for the daily human sacrifices. That's gotta suck. So that was the real key to the Aztec's downfall; having poor relations with their "allies" ... that and small pox, but we'll get to that.
After months of marching and ignoring the Aztec's gifts of gold and demands to turn back, the Conquistadors reached Tenochtilan, the Venice of the West where Cortes and Moctezuma II (Yul Brynner) met for the first time (some accounts have Moctezuma actually meeting Cortes on the causeway, but this is unlikely).
For the next six months Cortes and his men stayed in the city keeping Moctezuma as a captive in his own palace. Until word reached Cortes that a much larger Spanish army lead by Panfilo de Narvez (Benjamin Bratt) had landed in New Spain sent by the Governor of Cuba to arrest him.
Cortes took a small contingent of men, left Pedro de Alvarado (Daniel Day-Lewis) in command of those remaining Tenchotilan and took off to confront Narvez.
Cortes was able to defeat them and convinced the remaining soldiers to join him after telling them about the City of Gold (Tenochtilan). When he returned he found Alvarado had led an unprovoked attack on the Aztecs nobels, slaughtering dozens of them and was now holed up in the palace. Cortes demanded Monteczuma speak to his people from the palace balcony. They threw stones and darts at him, knocking him on conscious. He eventually died a few days later.
During "La Noche Triste" Cortes and his men were forced to flee from the city.
From Wiki:
"The fighting was ferocious. As the Spaniards and allies reached the causeway, hundreds of canoes appeared in the waters alongside to harry the troops. The Spaniards and their native allies fought their way across the causeway in the rain, sometimes using the portable bridge to cover the gaps, although as the battle progressed some gaps had become so filled with wreckage and bodies that the fugitives were able to walk across. In some cases, the gold and equipment weighted down the conquistadores so much that they drowned."
"That night, with La Malinche by his side, Cortes sat under a large kapok tree and wept for the loss of his men and most of what he had gained "
The Spanish would eventually regroup and after several battles, would retake Tenochtilan (where most of the population had been killed through disease or starvation), raze most of the city and build Mexico City on the ashes.
I envision this being a three act film:
Act I: Cortes early history through Destroying the Ships
Act II: Embarking on the march to Tenochtilan through Cortes and Moctezuma meeting
Act III: Cortes engaging the arresting Army through La Noche Triste and eventual Conquest
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I am really, really sorry guys. I'm going to have to pull out of this. Something happened in my life and I really don't have the time or energy to finish this off. It's been almost two weeks since I last logged on which has pretty much never happened since I've joined.
I really, really apologise to everyone in the draft. I've taken alot of actors and specialists that people probably wanted.
If someone wants to fill in for me and can fulfill my vision (or their own vision) with this cast, I'd be delighted. If not, I guess people will have to judge my movie based on the very little that's already filled in.
Again, I'm really sorry. Some things are just more important than this to me right now.
I really, really apologise to everyone in the draft. I've taken alot of actors and specialists that people probably wanted.
If someone wants to fill in for me and can fulfill my vision (or their own vision) with this cast, I'd be delighted. If not, I guess people will have to judge my movie based on the very little that's already filled in.
Again, I'm really sorry. Some things are just more important than this to me right now.
I am really, really sorry guys. I'm going to have to pull out of this. Something happened in my life and I really don't have the time or energy to finish this off. It's been almost two weeks since I last logged on which has pretty much never happened since I've joined.
I really, really apologise to everyone in the draft. I've taken alot of actors and specialists that people probably wanted.
If someone wants to fill in for me and can fulfill my vision (or their own vision) with this cast, I'd be delighted. If not, I guess people will have to judge my movie based on the very little that's already filled in.
Again, I'm really sorry. Some things are just more important than this to me right now.
I really, really apologise to everyone in the draft. I've taken alot of actors and specialists that people probably wanted.
If someone wants to fill in for me and can fulfill my vision (or their own vision) with this cast, I'd be delighted. If not, I guess people will have to judge my movie based on the very little that's already filled in.
Again, I'm really sorry. Some things are just more important than this to me right now.
Aren't you completely done, except for the writeup?
That's true, but looking at the writeups from the other posters, I honestly don't think I could put together anything to match it with the way things are right now. I might be able to put together a very small writeup but it would probably take a couple days and it wouldn't be more than a couple paragraphs.
This was the draft I was particularly interested in, so the fact that I've pulled out should be evidence enough that I really am not in the form to do it.
I really don't appreciate the attitude; believe it or not, there are more important things than the internet. I'm sorry if I've been an inconvenience to you.
Kid, I didn't ****ing give you any attitude; it was an honest ****ing question. But, if you want attitude, I can assure you I've got plenty to go around.
And, for the record, I haven't "pulled out." I haven't done my writeup yet because:
1 - It goes against my nature to respond to badgering, be it "polite" or otherwise. I don't like being "politely reminded" to do something that I didn't forget to do in the first ****ing place, and the more people "remind" me, the more inclined I am to sit on my *** and make them ****ing wait... and
2 - I've been working ninety hours a week for the past three weeks, so that I can afford some much-needed home improvements, and I wanted to wait until the next time I had a day off to devote an honest effort to my writeup... which happens to be tomorrow.
Anybody else got a problem with me, the line forms out back...
Kid, I didn't ****ing give you any attitude; it was an honest ****ing question. But, if you want attitude, I can assure you I've got plenty to go around.
And, for the record, I haven't "pulled out." I haven't done my writeup yet because:
1 - It goes against my nature to respond to badgering, be it "polite" or otherwise. I don't like being "politely reminded" to do something that I didn't forget to do in the first ****ing place, and the more people "remind" me, the more inclined I am to sit on my *** and make them ****ing wait... and
2 - I've been working ninety hours a week for the past three weeks, so that I can afford some much-needed home improvements, and I wanted to wait until the next time I had a day off to devote an honest effort to my writeup... which happens to be tomorrow.
Anybody else got a problem with me, the line forms out back...
Secondly, I never said you "pulled out". I didn't mention anything about what you've yet to submit. Don't know where you get that from, or maybe it was intentional as you seem to be determined to ***** and moan to anything and everyone. All you do is moan and whine. Seriously, get over it. Stop living with a chip on your shoulder.
I know you like having this "bad-***" persona when you're sitting behind a computer screen, but it's just sad. Crying mixed with expletives. That's all that you post. Just move on.
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