Pitch Your Movie! Marc’s “Once Upon a Time in Z-West”
Marc Ciafardini from Go See Talk is pitching his movie today in our month long blogathon (Check the schedule) following the Hollywood Fantasy Draft we conducted recently. Please share your thoughts and any insights you have in the comments and don’t forget to visit her site!
Previous Pitches:
- Andrew Robinson’s “Untitled Joss Whedon Project“
- Anna’s “Truth and Lies”
- Novroz’s “Sunset Mystery“
- Kai’s “The Time Jumper“
- Peter’s “Untitled Hallstrӧm Project“
- Next: Ruth on Sunday
TITLE: “Once Upon a Time in Z-West“
BASIC IDEA
Time traveling scientists have gone back to the old west to work on weapons for the future and to win WWII. When their secret biological weapon escapes, the local town becomes a zombie nightmare causing the residents and scientists to make a last stand.
PITCH
A time traveling, quasi sci-fi Western with Zombies. Equal parts Open Range, Dawn of the Dead, The Thing and The Terminator..
Edward Zwick – Director
Kevin Costner – Clint Matthews (local Sheriff)
Djimon Hounsou – John Henry (Owner of rail working company)
Val Kilmer – James Clifton (train conductor stopping in town helping lay new rail lines)
Mark Strong – Richard Helmsworth (school teacher who previously served in the Army)
Michelle Yeoh – Zao Ziyi (jaded owner of the local opium den…was daughter of exiled imperial guard from the forbidden city)
Mélanie Laurent – Getta Rienhart (unassuming Nazi scientist)
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Gregor (Scientist #1)
Sebastian Koch – Anton (Scientist #2)
BACK STORY
The time is close to the end of WWII but the war is still far from over. Germany is beginning to sustain the first of heavy Allied bombings. 3 Nazi scientists are nearly finished with their 10 year R&D project: ability to generate a worm hole for time travel. These scientists have been assembled by some of the highest (but less insane) minds of the Hitler’s cabinet of advisers. Their project will, if all succeeds as planned, allow those three scientists to travel back to the 19th century and begin work on three new projects that will (if the current events are still unavoidable) swing the war in Germany’s favor. Their 3 agendas have little to do with one another but even if none of them succeed, the knowledge of the future events will give the Third Reich the upper hand for years to come.
ACT I
The three scientists travel back 75 years and travel to Arizona and start their testing in areas like paranormal research, learning Navajo to understand the Windtalkers code during the war and the research lifesaving medicine (with a secret agenda to develop a super soldier serum). In an abandoned coal mine they set up a lab and start research. A mining blast releases the serum and it causes 2 of 3 scientists to become zombies.
ACT II
The townsfolk are introduced and the happenings of the town include a rail line going through the old coal mines of the near by box canyon, a Calvary regiment is stopping through town on their way to an outpost fort that is under construction, and many, many laborers have been called to the town to finish the rail line which will connect with a rail line coming from California. People start to be attacked by the Zombies and their numbers grow. One person is brought to a doctor after escaping an attack and the townsfolk are quickly infected by the approaching horde. The surviving scientist makes her way back to the cave (unaware of any of this) only to find the horror of what happened and goes to seek help.
ACT III
She makes it to town but it is like a living nightmare. She finds the Sheriff trying to rescue people and tries to tell him who she really is and that she’s partly responsible for this. Though he doesn’t believe her he can’t ignore what’s going on and so nearly every capable rail worker is now deputized. Many of the characters above start to reveal some exemplary traits and a rescue of surviving townsfolk is being attempted. Also in a random act of luck it is discovered how to take down the Zombies (who in this story we’re calling Victims). But still with guns of that time, head shots aren’t that easy. Chaos ensues and the townsfolk use everything from tools to TNT to the Army Cavalry’s Howitzer machine gun to take out the Victims. Many are killed (both people and Victims), some townsfolk are able to escape to safety and the film concludes with the sheriff and the town teacher on a suicide mission to lure many Victims to the coal mine. As this is happening, the train conductor and rail company owner attempt to slam the locomotive into the entry of the mine. If it works ti will killing those Victims aboard the train as the train is filled with TNT. The blast and resulting shock wave should set off the TNT in the cave collapsing the tunnels in the canyon walls. Story ends and the very few survivors (no main characters) never ever tell what happened.
Epilogue
Now here’s the one up at the ending…sort of a twist if you will. Years later, (in the beginning of the end credits) we see newspaper headlines reading WWII has begun and WWII follows an unaltered path playing out as fated. New headlines show that WWII has ended and after H-Bomb testing in the deserts of Nevada (just miles from the events of the Arizona town) there are stories and reports of strange man-like creatures roaming the deserts. Cannibals thought to be the results of Nuclear testing really are the “Victims” who made it out of the mine…but more headlines reading that this has been disregarded as just a hoax. Full End Credits.
33 Comments
You had me at zombies. Freakin’ awesome, man.
Thanks, unlike Vampires who have just about worn out their revived popularity, I think Zombie movies are just plain fun and they’ll always be around in some form.
Time travel AND zombies.
You had me at wormhole!
Way to go, Marcy Marc of the Blogging Bunch!
You actually kinda had me without the Zombies. But, as you well know, I think Zombies make everything better.
I like the Paranormal research aspect cuz Hitler’s interest in that is well documented so you can play nicely off that.
My only worry is that I’ve seen a few western Zombie flicks and the genres typically don’t mix well. Hopefully this cast will elevate it to another level.
I knew this would get your attention Kai:P
I think this idea may be too many ideas fighting to take prominence but hey if “Doomsday” (which as Ross says it like taking all your toys out and playing with them at once) got made, mine might not be far behind.
I think that even if the idea has been done before its how the pieces are assembled that will make it compelling or not. I’m hoping my cast will pull their weight…and I know Zwick can tell a weighty story.
Nazi zombies in the Old West. An interesting mix of genres. I don’t usually like zombie movies, but I would to see what kind of special effects and make up you would use to make them different from the typical rotting corpses we have seen in other movies.
Well until Kai brought it up, I didn’t think Zombie Westerns had been done before as a film. There have been zombies in the past present and the future and I wanted a unique period in time. While I didn’t want to do Medieval zombies, I opted for the old West:P Haven’t thought of how they’d look but there’s a French Z-Movie coming out called The Horde and that’s got some eerie make up that isn’t rotting like you mention. That might work actually.
You have a very solid idea here greatly executed narrative wise. I could easily see someone doing a campy from dusk till dawn look a like film with this plot.
To bring up some critique I would say that cast and director not feel that oragnic to this type of script compared to some of the other pitches.
I would rent this on DVD.
Thanks much Joel. Never considered a camp angle but that’s why I cast the actors I did, I was going for a sense of realism even if so much of the plot is way out there. Most importantly I wanted to staying away from a Jonah Hex level of drivel.
I see what you mean about the actors and I’m still selling myself on them actually …but this is a fantasy game isn’t it? Anything goes:P
Of course it is. But being in the business I have a tendency to evaluate these pitches quite carefully especially when the plot is easy to understand which is the case here.
Roger Corman could easily produce this film. I’d love to see Fred Ward in it.
Wow, Roger Corman? I could see the di Boneventuras, Mario Kassar or even John Carpenter (as he was my first choice to direct actually) but Corman? I thought the comments section was supposed to be helpful:P
Why didint you go with Carpenter? I dont think anyone picked him.
I was actually thinking Carpenter as well.
Melanie Laurent as a Nazi. The irony.
Ah,Ripley gets it:)
It’s like Back To The Future III meets Night of the Living Dead. Great stuff!
In a way…yes. Funny how unintentionally the films we love become inspiration for us whether we intend it or not.
For my pitch, do I have to do an entire summary?
No Ripley, you don’t have to. You can do like Kai who only pitched the first 15-20 minutes of his movie then gave a broad outline of the rest of the movie.
Eh I should’ve done that now that I think of it
I only gave the first act of mine, and then gave some foreshadowing of Act II and III.
@Joel…while I thought this story would be more in line with Carpenters style and genre crossing, I just felt Zwick could handle the scale of this better. This might make more sense if you knew the whole story. Let me know if you want to read it.
Nah I’m ok. But if you have such a developed treatment or script I would suggest trying to get it developed. The story can be made through campy direct to dvd or as a blockbuster (Zombieland) so you have a lot of options.
I agree with Joel in that the cast and director seem a bit misaligned with the concept and plot. If this were headed up by an actor who was versatile enough to straddle genres, and was made for fun I could see it taking off as a sleeper hit (ala Zombieland,) but as is, it feels like too much of a mishmash. However, as you said Marc, it’s a fantasy game and I think your pitch is the best example of creating the film that YOU would want to see. I mean that as a compliment. Instead of fitting the concept into the normal Edward Zwick style films, it’s interesting to see how Edward Zwick would fit into the concept – as well as the rest of the cast. I honestly cannot fathom the results, but for better or worse they would definitely be incredibly interesting.
Even after reading the treatment, I’d need a trailer to sell me on it, but I admire your creativity!
Well I think that’s my problem, my aspirations for this were too high. I may wanted it to be something sophisticated but in the end it’s a Carpenter picture…I should have gone with my gut in the beginning. But we are where we are and it’s usually your friend who tell you what you can’t tell yourself right? In most people’s eyes this is just a fun romp of a film. No need to bring in Big Guns like Strong, Laurant and Kilmer to possibly ham it up. But then again Strong was in Kick Ass so that’s what made me think he could pull this off.
But thanks for the compliment. Above all this was a neat little exercise. If we are to continue this Hollywood fantasy game out a little further, I can do what Hollywood does all the time – recasts, rewrites, reshoots…and if that still produces a crappy result, then the be all end all of “RE” words, REBOOT:P
Love the story itself and the concept of zombies in the 19th century small town feel. I do think however that the cast seems a bit off-key with what their characters entail but nothing too extreme that they would be miscast so it’s still fine. Having Hounsou as a railroad owner in 19th century America is unfortunately not realistic for example. Overall, good pitch Marc!
As Neon told me last night, what’s with all the time travel lately? ahah
Well Castor, that’s why I named him “John Henry”. After he famously “beat the machine” (whether that was a folk story or an actual historical event) I played up history making him a hero and (inferred backstory) had him somehow getting his own business as a result of his efforts.
So like Tarantino did with Basterds, I tweaked history to my advantage:P
Why am I not surprised to see a zombie movie from you Marc?
And another time travel plot, Castor must be jumping for joy, he..he..
LOVE the title, it’s kinda whimsical but perfect for the genre! Mixing Western, WWII Nazi stuff AND time travel, wow there is definitely nothing like it out there. That’s inspired casting having Melanie as a Nazi… that’s right Ripley, what a sweet irony. Awesome job, Marc!
Than a million Ruth! Didn’t think people would make that correlation with the title…but you got it. You are as witty and sharp as they say you are:)
Yeah, this has all the goods to perk my interest and then a doubly witty ending on top of it. I love watching a movie and feeling like even though I’ve gotten closure the story still goes on.
What can I say guys, zombies, time travel, and action? You’re killing me with goodness.
Well if I got Heather’s vote then that’s all I really need. Thanks Sis ;D
I know it will never win any awards but in my mind it’ll be tons of fun. If it takes forever to catch on I’ll still hold out for the one day it may be a cult classic like Boondock Saints…only I won’t be as obnoxious as Troy Duffy.
Well it really isn’t always about the awards is it? I think most of my concepts would be along the lines of Cameronesque. Thoughtful, but really made for just enjoyment.
Time-Travel, Zombies and Nazis. Where do I get my ticket, dude?
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