[Com] Doubt: Special Edition (T)

After the success of my Slumdog Millionaire novelisation, it seems Hollywood has sitten up and taken notice of my talents as a writer of movie-based material. I was lying in the sun on my completely paid-off yacht, just back from telling my gambling ring that I'll be able to continue gambling without fear of losing my toes, when my agent called me with another offer I couldn't refuse.

Doubt is an Oscar-nominated dramatic film about some people who don't trust some other people or something. I'm not sure. I watched the reel they showed at the Oscars, but I only watched it a couple of times before I went back to searching for any wardrobe malfunctions from Beyonce. There was one, and it's barely visible, unless you slow-mo the video.

Anyway, Miramax were happy with the film as a critically-acclaimed piece of story-telling. But they weren't happy with the box office. Apparently some of the themes in the movie might be a bit confronting for audiences and it may have discouraged much of the movie-going demographic. So, they're putting out a 'Special Edition' to tinker slightly with the story to help attract a larger edition. Miramax wanted me to write the script for them. I fired up IMdB and looked at the 'Quotes' section for the film to get a look at what I was supposed to be writing about.

Here a few extracts of what I've done so far.


Doubt

Special Edition Script Extracts



Classroom Confrontation


INT. CLASSROOM – DAY

SISTER JAMES is teaching her class and everything seems normal. She is teaching the class maths and most of her students are reluctantly following along. She glances nervously at the framed photograph of the Pope SISTER ALOYSIUS instructed her to hang on the blackboard in order to use its reflection to keep an eye on her class. Something catches her in the reflection, it is WILLIAM LONDON. He is talking to a female student.

SISTER JAMES
(yelling)
Mister London! Please return to your seat at once!

WILLIAM LONDON takes his seat, surprised that his teacher seemingly had eyes in the back of her head. SISTER JAMES notices something else in the reflection. DONALD MILLER seemed to look a little different.

SISTER JAMES
Mister Miller, is...is that a moustache? And are you wearing a Russian military uniform?

DONALD MILLER
Nyet.

SISTER JAMES keeps her eye on the person claiming to be Donald Miller in the reflection. She saw his hand reach into his pocket. He withdraw a small object. It was a handgun!

We see in slow-motion SISTER JAMES leap into a side-ways cartwheel flip towards her desk. RUSSIAN DONALD MILLER takes aim in slow-motion and fires. The first bullet goes through SISTER JAMES' habit, piercing nothing but cloth. SISTER JAMES' hands, in the middle of the sideways flip, her body upside down in mid-air, grabs a ruler from the desk beneath her. Another bullet whizzes past, this time slamming into the blackboard. We move from slow-motion back to normal speed as SISTER JAMES lands on her feet with incredible agility. She spins on her heel, ruler in hand. She uses the momentum from her spin to launch the ruler towards the assassin. Little does the assassin know that its edge has been sharpened everyday just in case of such an attack. It slices through the air, and then, SLICES THROUGH THE ATTACKER'S NECK. The would-be killer's head falls to the ground before his body tumbles to the floor.

SISTER JAMES
(as she collects her ruler)
Sorry, your skills don't measure up.




A Traitor?

INT. PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE - DAY

FATHER FLYNN walks into SISTER ALOYSIUS' office. SISTER ALOYSIUS stands up as FATHER FLYNN enters. They exchange quick greetings before, much to SISTER ALOYSIUS' annoyance, FATHER FLYNN sits in her seat. The Sister swallows her anger and takes the seat opposite the desk.

SISTER ALOYSIUS
You had a meeting with Donald Miller in the rectory a week ago. Sister James told me when he returned he seemed to act...unusually. She also told me he had alcohol on his breath. Vodka, specifically. What happened in the rectory?

FATHER FLYNN
Happened? Nothing happened. I had a talk with a boy. It was a private matter.

SISTER ALOYSIUS
A private matter? The boy is twelve, what could possibly be private?

FATHER FLYNN
I object to your tone.

SISTER ALOYSIUS
This is not about my tone. This is about arriving at the truth.

FATHER FLYNN
What truth?

SISTER ALOYSIUS
You know what truth. Did you give Donald Miller the nuclear access codes? Was Donald Miller working for the Reds? Are YOU working for the Reds?

FATHER FLYNN
The...Reds? Sister, I am not, nor have I ever been a communist. The boy and I talked about a private matter. If you must know, the boy had been caught drinking altar vodka...if anyone found out, he wouldn't be allowed to be an altar boy anymore...I was trying to protect him...

SISTER ALOYSIUS
You're lying. Right now, you're trying to control your facial expressions.

FATHER FLYNN
You're allowing your fears to cloud your judgement, your fears of the reds, your fears of nuclear war, you want a bad guy to catch – a bad guy to defeat and declare victory over. You don't like me, so I'm your bad guy. I think it's overwork as well. Being the principal of this school and secret nuclear launch facility has driven you to the edge of madness!

SISTER ALOYSIUS
I am not wrong. I have my certainty. Donald Miller was replaced with a Russian assassin and tried to kill Sister James just this morning, I am not paranoid. We are fairly sure Mister Miller was a spy all along. Who do your allegiances belong to?

Final Fight

INT. ABANDONED WAREHOUSE – NIGHT

FATHER FLYNN is keeping perfectly still behind one of the many walls inside the warehouse. A spotlight from outside is beaming in through the windows, circling the building. It is SISTER ALOYSIUS in the HIJACKED RUSSIAN HELICOPTER. FATHER FLYNN clutches his handgun as the spotlight finds him and rests on his terrified face. He immediately scrambles away before leaping into another room as a barrage of mini-gun fire piereced the building, carving up the wall he had been sheltering behind.

SISTER ALOYSIUS
(over a loud speaker)
You can stop it any time.

FLYNN
How?

SISTER ALOYSIUS
Confess and die.

FLYNN
You're holding back the church and the school! We need a welcoming school and progressive church. If it wasn't for your attitude, Donald Miller would still be at school. He wouldn't have felt that he needed to go into hiding, fearing that if you knew that he was a refugee from Russia that you would have made his life a living hell.

SISTER ALOYSIUS
He went into hiding because you gave him the access codes! He's probably given them to the Kremlin already and it's just a matter of time before we're all doomed to nuclear winter!

FLYNN
Unfounded suspicions! Why do you suspect me?!

He is answered by another barrage of mini-gun fire. He runs across a large room, it's entire side opened to the world by glass. He sprints, just inches ahead of the mini-gun fire from the helicopter watching on just mere metres outside the window. As he runs he fires wildly at the helicopter, but it's like a B.B. gun hitting a locomotive. He finally reaches the end of the room and smashes into another room. He closes the door behind him. He's in the stairwell that leads to the roof. FLYNN climbs the stairs. He opens the roof access and walks to the middle of the roof. SISTER ALOYSIUS and her HIJACKED RUSSIAN HELICOPTER rise into view. The helicopter's spotlight is firmly on FATHER FLYNN, the blades sending wind rushing in every direction.

FATHER FLYNN
I can’t say everything, you understand? There’s things I can’t say. Even if you can’t imagine the explanation, Sister, remember there are things beyond your knowledge. Even if you feel certainty, it is an emotion, not a fact.

SISTER ALOYSIUS
I have no sympathy for you. I know you are invulnerable to true regret.

FATHER FLYNN holds his hands aloft in the air, his handgun hanging loosely from his trigger finger. He shuts his eyes tightly. He waits. There is nothing but the sound of helicopter blades. And then it happens. KASHOOM. A missile is launched.

SISTER ALOYSIUS
Say 'hi' to Jesus for me.

It slams into FATHER FLYNN, detonating on impact. The explosion leaves nothing of FATHER FLYNN. He is now just a memory.

INT. HIJACKED RUSSIAN HELICOPTER – NIGHT

SISTER ALOYSIUS is thoughtful

SISTER ALOYSIUS
(to herself)
In the pursuit of wrongdoing, one steps away from God. Of course there is a price. (she begins to cry) I have doubts! I have such doubts!



Doubt: Special Edition coming soon to a theatre near you

I actually do remember looking up Doubt. I hear it's actually a very interesting movie, but I can see how it could be rather confrontational with the traditionally religious folk.

Good luck with this!

Hehe, not bad, not bad. I haven't actually seen the original, but still, this was good for a laugh.