The prisoner is noT The one who has commiTed a crime buT The one who clings To his crime and lives iT over and over. – Henry Miller
THE EEL
ROBERTO BENTIVEGNA
THE EEL
ROBERTO BENTIVEGNA
overview Some films stick with you. You feel them on your skin. You dream about them at night. You remember their dialogue, their soundtracks. Most of all, you feel like you were with the characters. Sharing their predicament, their struggle. I want The Eel to do all those things. I want the audience to feel like they swam through the mud, crawled through the Texan desert, and emerged in Mexico for a breath of fresh, free-at-last air. I want them to walk out knowing they have watched a scorching film. One that sits proudly alongside BLOOD SIMPLE, RESERVOIR DOGS and BADLANDS as an ambitious, memorable first feature. The Eel is populated with great characters and stunning locations. But in writing it I wanted to ensure I respected the fundamentals of great storytelling: drama, character goals, tension, humor, high stakes. The Eel has the potential to be fantastic.
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ROBERTO BENTIVEGNA
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inspiraTions The Eel will do that rare thing of being familiar, but completely original. It is infused with my love of movies and it blends two great genres together: Noirs and Westerns. There are some touchstone movies that will make up The Eel’s genetic code. • It will have the stunning cinematography of BADLANDS, shifting between naturalistic landscapes and grittiness. • There will be a careful balance between violence and humor as seen in FARGO.
• The Western throwback and dusty landscapes will be reminiscent of Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone – specifically THE GETAWAY and THE GOOD, THE BAD and THE UGLY. • The heart of the movie- Fred’s relationship with Lorna – will echo that of THE PROFESSIONAL and A PERFECT WORLD.
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TrusT Your audience Throughout the story Fred keeps his emotions close to his chest, revealing little. Leaving it up to the audience to fill in the blanks. I am especially confident in the choice to leave out backstory. What crime did Fred commit? Why did he do it? Is he a bad guy for running away from prison? People will talk about Fred after the movie is over. Some will be shocked that they were asked to sympathize with a man who, most likely, made some very poor decisions. One of the main themes of the film is that you can’t judge someone by what they have done, but rather by what they will do. The audience is asked to sit on the jury and deliver their own verdict on Fred Abernathy III. Actors love anti-heroes. And audiences love them, too. Men will want to be Fred, and women will want to be kidnapped by him.
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sTYle • 2.35:1 aspect ratio for a completely immersive, cinematic experience. • Visual wit and great attention to details.
• Contrast between Fred’s resolve and Sheriff Grey’s increasing violent paranoia. Fred will be shot with elegant close-ups, slow camera moves. Sheriff Grey will be asymmetrical, his color schemes a little “off”. Chaos vs. order until finally the two meet at the end in the tunnel lit only by flashlights. • The town will almost appear like a mirage in the middle of the desert and have a surreal quality to it. Surrounded by snakes, border patrol and cattle ranchers. All roads lead to Purgatory.
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• In the first Act, Fred will be free to move around in the frame - lots of stunning wide shots. Then the framing will change when he meets Sheriff Grey, with Fred literally overwhelmed by the Sheriff’s presence on screen- conveyed through over-the-shoulder shots, two-shots, close-ups of Fred that Sheriff Grey invades. • Let moments play out for the best performances possible. If a scene can be played out in one gorgeous, continuous shot - encourage it. Actors LOVE that. More like theater.
ROBERTO BENTIVEGNA
• Great shift between daytime and nighttime in Purgatory. Daytime: sun-drenched, desaturated, typically “Americana”. Nighttime: desolate, neon-lit, lonely. Two faces to the town, just like Fred and Sheriff Grey. • The film will be meticulously crafted. 70s fllmmaking style aka precision.
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OPENING SCENE
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1) Fade in: The moon. Barking in the background. Tilt down + zoom in.
2) Flashlights illuminate the forest.
3) Fred, half-naked, barrels across.
4) Pull back with Fred as he runs for his life
5) MCU: his mud-covered boots.
6) Follow Fred w/ steadicam as he continues running.
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7) Crane up, bird’s eye: Fred drops into a muddy trapping pit. Dissolve to:
8) Later. Fred emerges from the trapping pit.
9) OTS behind Fred. He removes branches to reveal a clearing.
10) Fred makes his way towards a row-boat. He stops.
11) MS of dog, panting and staring.
12) WS of dog yawning as Fred tiptoes past him.
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13) MCU Freezes. He spots something else.
14) MS Fisherman dozing off with a shotgun by his side.
15) Fred moves over to the row-boat, gets in.
16) MCU the fisherman awakens.
17) From the row-boat, pulling away. The fisherman takes aim with his shotgun.
18) From the river bank: the bullet blasts next to the boat. Fred gets away.
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19) Fred licks his lips. Thirsty.
20) He spots a cooler rocking in the boat.
21) Fred opens the cooler.
22) Inside: an eel writhes helplessly in a few inches of water.
23) LS: Fred releases the kindred spirit into the water. Dissolve to:
24) Fred is half asleep. The cooler bumps against his head.
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25) WS Fred: the boat is full of water.
26) Fred jumps out and swims to shore.
27) From afar he spots oil derricks.
28) Jib down: Fred crosses the road, almost gets run over.
29) He runs towards the gas station. The attendant sees him.
30) MCU Attendant. Look of surprise.
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32) Tracking shot: Fred drags the attendant across the frame.
33) Insert: Fred saws his handcuffs off.
34) Insert: Fred takes money from the cash register.
35) Pan across the landscape to reveal sign: “Purgatory”.
36) MCU Fred’s face. Clean-shaven.
END SCENE
31) POV Attendant. Fred punches him.
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JUNKYARD SHOOTOUT
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1) Grey’s Armadillo boot hits the dust. Then spit. Jib up to reveal:
2) Sheriff Grey, in an ECU. Cadillac wrecks in the background.
3) Over the hip of Bo Bishop holding the suitcase.
4) Bo Bishop goes to get his gun.
5) Slow-motion. Lorna throws herself to the ground.
6) High-angle WS of Sheriff Grey shooting.
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7) Bo Bishop is hit in the chest, goes flying.
8) Slow-motion. Bo Bishop hits the ground in a plume of blood and dust.
9) Sheriff Grey calmly picks up the suitcase with the money.
10) Insert: Sheriff Grey re-loads his pistol.
11) Low-angle: Sheriff Grey extends his hand to Lorna.
12) POV Lorna through her hands: she recognizes his armadillo boots.
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13) Push-in: “I can’t have you running around telling everyone on me, little lady”
14) Blam! The pistol goes flying from Sheriff Grey’s hand.
15) From the distance, in silhouette: Fred. “I hate being told what to do”.
16) MCU Lorna. Surprise and relief.
17) MCU Fred. “I may be a bastard, but there’s bigger bastards out there”.
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END SCENE
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PRODUCTION VALUE Locations can make a relatively small film look like a big one. A wide shot of a stunning landscape, for example, can be more cinematic than a thousand CGI shots. While the script might seem elaborate, it is designed to make the most out of real locations and natural resources. A dilapidated farm house; a cadillac junkyard; an abandoned tunnel; a Texan Victorian mansion.
These are just some of the locations that will give The Eel an edge, and give the illusion that a lot more money was spent. In writing The Eel, I wanted Texas to be a character in the film. It was thrilling to have native Texans acknowledge the script’s authenticity.
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believabiliTY I wanted to ensure that Fred’s plan of escaping through an oil tunnel was believable. As part of my research, I contacted a real Texan oil man. This is what he said.
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There are oil fields on the Texas side that reach the border so let’s consider that. The most likely place to construct tunnels is of course where they would be disturbed – so under the roads that connected facilities in the fields – that way avoiding buried lines (which might leak and cause digging) and well locations of course (most wells are at least 1000’ apart and farther in South Texas so not like the pictures of densely packed wells from the oil times) – most oilfield roads in that part of Texas are made of hard compacted clay or limestone so a sturdy roof, even given the very heavy equipment that often traverses these roads.
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So in your scenario it would be in an older field in South Texas, likely discovered in the 1950’s so not a lot of activity and a smaller “sleepy” operation. The tunnel would have been constructed beneath the roads (by hand in painstaking fashion much as old mines were dug, first with wood structures of support and then perhaps masonry) in the field to the main camp in the intervening years and perhaps abandoned for a reason. As the old oilfield workers died off they would have forgotten the stories and even the trap door entrance was covered by old valves and dust and no one had reason to disturb things….until now!
ROBERTO BENTIVEGNA
You can imagine the tunnel coming up in the camp area of the field where there might be a small office or more interestingly, a warehouse for oilfield parts and equipment – you can imagine this a raised floor building with a wood floor and aluminum sides and a roof filled with belts and valves and the like.
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INT. DANIELS OIL FIELD, TUNNELS- DAY Moist walls surround Fred at the entrance of the tunnel. A disused, rusty MINING TRACK - used to transport coal- runs beneath his feet. Fred snaps his Zippo open, removes a tiny piece of paper from the chamber. The paper reads “B 821”. He is distracted by the sound of FLAPPING. Fred raises the Zippo above his head. POV Fred: Hundreds of BATS, huddled together. Fred carefully proceeds down the tunnel. His feet stop in front of a specific track. He kneels down and reads the etching on the old steel. “B 821”. He quickly removes a screwdriver from his toolbelt and digs it into the wall. The rock is incredibly brittle. It CRUMBLES like cake. Fred smiles, a kid in a candy store.
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INT. DANIELS OIL FIELD, TUNNELS- NIGHT BATS hang upside down on the ceiling. Lorna walks with her back to the wall, her eyes squinting in fear. She moves ever-so-slowly across the wall.She sees LIGHT in the distance, as inviting as a warm blanket. She RUNS towards it. SLAM. Lorna hits something. Standing in front of her is Earl Grey. He is holding a FLASHLIGHT. He grabs her by the hair and SLAPS her across the face. She falls to the ground, out of breath. He shakes her shoulders. EARL GREY: Where is my money? Lorna notices his BANDAGE. She DIGS HER FINGERS into his wound- again! He lets out a blood-curdling SCREAM. She stumbles backwards. He gets up, aims his gun towards her.BANG. Lorna FALLS to the ground. Earl Grey waits for her to move. But she doesn’t. He walks over to her, holding his bleeding hand. Prods at her with his boots. No movement. Her big eyes simply stare at us. SHE IS DEAD.
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A FILM BYBENTIVEGNA ROBERTO ROBERTO BENTIVEGNA
1) Fade in: The moon. Barking in the background. Tilt down + zoom in.
2) Flashlights illuminate the forest.
1) Fade in: The moon. Barking in the background. Tilt down + zoom in.
2) Flashlights illuminate the forest.
1) Fade in: The moon. Barking in the background. Tilt down + zoom in.
2) Flashlights illuminate the forest.
THE EEL ©2012 ROBERTO BENTIVEGNA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.