I've been working a lot lately on developing the town in which the film is set, as well as the characters that populate it. From all of the late-night walking discussions with Syd, I've developed a character list for the inhabitants of the town. Like everything else I'm working on, it's not complete yet. But, without further ado, here it is!
The Town (to be filmed somewhere like Grass Valley or Rough and Ready)
- A small town that is on the verge of becoming a tourist spot
- Appears on the surface to be “quaint” but has an underbelly of corruption.
- Noteable figures in the town are the Madame Mayor (who controls the P.D.) and the Businessman
- First landing site of the aliens (during a “meteor-shower,” seen by kids partying on a mountain top at the beginning of the film)
The Aliens
- The monster in this film is, more than anything, excess. Humans who have been infected by alien symbiants, but are unaware of it. Most hosts function as normal human beings, with jobs, lovers and lives, however, they have become hyper-sexed, hyper-decadent, consuming children. Essentially – the prototypical American to the extreme. However, when triggered, the alien symbiant causes psychosis, cannibalistic tendancies, and eventually, death.
- Representative of excess, they drive their hosts to increased primal needs, i.e. they want to eat a lot, fuck a lot, be entertained, be comfortable, etc.
- The aliens function much like bugs, they have a pupal stage, in which they have turned their host into pod-people (this is when they begin feeling the increased desires). As they develop they gain greater control of their host. The goal is to progress to their final stage, when they will erupt from their host as a fully grown alien (could be small). However, when triggered (what is the trigger?) the development stops and becomes perverted, the hosts turn to zombie-like figures, brainless, cannibalistic, etc.
The Hitchhiker (or biker)
- Late 20s, but looks older. His hair short or shaved, he has scruffy facial hair and some piercings. His clothes are worn and dirty and seem vaguely reminiscent of a lone cowboy.
- streetwise & philosophical (not book learned)
- a product of the world, experienced
- mysterious
- Lives in the present
- Has a firm code of ethics (determined by himself, not anyone else)
- Once he has made a decision, he will stick to it to the end, and then will make another decision, they can be contradictory i.e. once he decides to save the world he will do it no matter how hard it gets, but once he has accomplished this he would have no issue with his next choice being to destroy the world
- Doesn’t mind killing, doesn’t mind dying
- He knows who he is, and thus doesn't care what other people think (unlike everybody else in the film)
The Motorcycle
- Old and well-used, but kept in good repair (aside from the part that breaks to strand him in the small town)
- The only real possession owned by the hitchhiker/biker
- Transformed by Maxine into a weapon
Maxine
- Mousy
- Shy, speaking problem
- Was about to go off to college/follow her dreams when her father’s health failed and she had to take care of him
- Lives in her father’s house
- Talented mechanic/good with metal and tech
- Artist?
- Protagonist calls her Max, she becomes Max by the end of the film
- Sidekick/squire
- Low self confidence
- Homicidal fantasies – wants to kill her husband, does?
Maxine’s husband
- runs Maxine’s father’s autoshop (renamed it after himself?)
- ex-teenage badboy
- married Maxine for the shop and the house and because she seemed like she’d make a “good wife”
- possible drinking buddy/brother to Rookie cop
- abusive and misogynistic
Maxine’s father
- permadrunk/senile
- retired mechanic
- live’s with Maxine
Maxine’s dead mother
- Died early in Maxine’s life
- Portrayed by family and town as a “good-wife”
- Many secrets, not what Maxine believes her to be
Madame Mayor
- having an affair with the Businessman
- ambitious and domineering
- concerned with appearances
- becomes a stepford wife
- has her fingers in everything
- wants the town to become a tourist spot
- controls the police and wants them to crack down on “crime”
Mayor’s henpecked husband
- TV addict (or at least addicted to some form of passive escape)
- Escapist
- Sympathetic but dies
- Paternal
- Gets eaten by the mayor
Mayor’s Daughter (The Bride)
- Wants to be a good wife
- Obsessed with planning her very over the top wedding, introduced while trying on a wedding dress?
Businessman
- Prominent land owner who wants to clearcut and develop the forest to build a mall (or something like that)
- Having an affair with the mayor
- Dresses in nice clothes, appears out of place
Businessman’s wife
Businessman’s son (The Groom)
- Already cheating on his fiancé (sleeps with a hooker at his bachelor party?)
Businessman’s daughter (The Damsel)
- Lives in excess with her family
- Protests the land development
- Ex-girlfriend of the Loverboy
- Going off to college
The Loverboy
- Looking for a purpose
- After a comedy of errors, gets arrested at the protest because he went to talk to the damsel
- Love for his ex-girlfriend prompts hero into third act
- At the end of the film, his found conviction prompts hero into saving the world, or wanting to
- Has some everyman qualities - Sympathetic
- Graduating senior (this could be set the summer after his graduation or right before it)
- Got picked on by the Rookie cop, who is was a senior when he was a freshman
- Aimless, no plans for the future other than to win back his girl
- Thinks his ex-girlfriend is out of his league
- A little Peter Parker-ish
B&B Queen (Mayor’s best friend)
- Obsessed with labels
- Has a yappy showdog he takes everywhere
- Powerwalks with his best friend the mayor in the morning, partially to exercise his dog
- Obsessed with labels, mentions the breed of his dog, the designer of his clothes, the make of his car, etc.
- Bizarre fashion sense and appearance
- What makes him sympathetic and not a stereotype?
The Showdog
- Yappy
- Big or small?
- Gets infected
B&B Bear (The Queen’s partner)
The Puppet Police Chief
The Bully Rookie Cop
- Average
- Picked on the Loverboy in highschool
- Becomes part of the hero’s team (provides conflict)
- Wants the appearance of power and its benefits without having to work for it
Cop Number III
Goth Girl
- Romanticizes death, but before her death realizes that it’s not as glorified as she makes it out to be
- Annoying, but endearing
Crazy Meth Guy
Woman Who Must Die
- gets infected but fights it
- faces death
- killed by hero in tender moment
The Dominatrix?
The Town (to be filmed somewhere like Grass Valley or Rough and Ready)
- A small town that is on the verge of becoming a tourist spot
- Appears on the surface to be “quaint” but has an underbelly of corruption.
- Noteable figures in the town are the Madame Mayor (who controls the P.D.) and the Businessman
- First landing site of the aliens (during a “meteor-shower,” seen by kids partying on a mountain top at the beginning of the film)
The Aliens
- The monster in this film is, more than anything, excess. Humans who have been infected by alien symbiants, but are unaware of it. Most hosts function as normal human beings, with jobs, lovers and lives, however, they have become hyper-sexed, hyper-decadent, consuming children. Essentially – the prototypical American to the extreme. However, when triggered, the alien symbiant causes psychosis, cannibalistic tendancies, and eventually, death.
- Representative of excess, they drive their hosts to increased primal needs, i.e. they want to eat a lot, fuck a lot, be entertained, be comfortable, etc.
- The aliens function much like bugs, they have a pupal stage, in which they have turned their host into pod-people (this is when they begin feeling the increased desires). As they develop they gain greater control of their host. The goal is to progress to their final stage, when they will erupt from their host as a fully grown alien (could be small). However, when triggered (what is the trigger?) the development stops and becomes perverted, the hosts turn to zombie-like figures, brainless, cannibalistic, etc.
The Hitchhiker (or biker)
- Late 20s, but looks older. His hair short or shaved, he has scruffy facial hair and some piercings. His clothes are worn and dirty and seem vaguely reminiscent of a lone cowboy.
- streetwise & philosophical (not book learned)
- a product of the world, experienced
- mysterious
- Lives in the present
- Has a firm code of ethics (determined by himself, not anyone else)
- Once he has made a decision, he will stick to it to the end, and then will make another decision, they can be contradictory i.e. once he decides to save the world he will do it no matter how hard it gets, but once he has accomplished this he would have no issue with his next choice being to destroy the world
- Doesn’t mind killing, doesn’t mind dying
- He knows who he is, and thus doesn't care what other people think (unlike everybody else in the film)
The Motorcycle
- Old and well-used, but kept in good repair (aside from the part that breaks to strand him in the small town)
- The only real possession owned by the hitchhiker/biker
- Transformed by Maxine into a weapon
Maxine
- Mousy
- Shy, speaking problem
- Was about to go off to college/follow her dreams when her father’s health failed and she had to take care of him
- Lives in her father’s house
- Talented mechanic/good with metal and tech
- Artist?
- Protagonist calls her Max, she becomes Max by the end of the film
- Sidekick/squire
- Low self confidence
- Homicidal fantasies – wants to kill her husband, does?
Maxine’s husband
- runs Maxine’s father’s autoshop (renamed it after himself?)
- ex-teenage badboy
- married Maxine for the shop and the house and because she seemed like she’d make a “good wife”
- possible drinking buddy/brother to Rookie cop
- abusive and misogynistic
Maxine’s father
- permadrunk/senile
- retired mechanic
- live’s with Maxine
Maxine’s dead mother
- Died early in Maxine’s life
- Portrayed by family and town as a “good-wife”
- Many secrets, not what Maxine believes her to be
Madame Mayor
- having an affair with the Businessman
- ambitious and domineering
- concerned with appearances
- becomes a stepford wife
- has her fingers in everything
- wants the town to become a tourist spot
- controls the police and wants them to crack down on “crime”
Mayor’s henpecked husband
- TV addict (or at least addicted to some form of passive escape)
- Escapist
- Sympathetic but dies
- Paternal
- Gets eaten by the mayor
Mayor’s Daughter (The Bride)
- Wants to be a good wife
- Obsessed with planning her very over the top wedding, introduced while trying on a wedding dress?
Businessman
- Prominent land owner who wants to clearcut and develop the forest to build a mall (or something like that)
- Having an affair with the mayor
- Dresses in nice clothes, appears out of place
Businessman’s wife
Businessman’s son (The Groom)
- Already cheating on his fiancé (sleeps with a hooker at his bachelor party?)
Businessman’s daughter (The Damsel)
- Lives in excess with her family
- Protests the land development
- Ex-girlfriend of the Loverboy
- Going off to college
The Loverboy
- Looking for a purpose
- After a comedy of errors, gets arrested at the protest because he went to talk to the damsel
- Love for his ex-girlfriend prompts hero into third act
- At the end of the film, his found conviction prompts hero into saving the world, or wanting to
- Has some everyman qualities - Sympathetic
- Graduating senior (this could be set the summer after his graduation or right before it)
- Got picked on by the Rookie cop, who is was a senior when he was a freshman
- Aimless, no plans for the future other than to win back his girl
- Thinks his ex-girlfriend is out of his league
- A little Peter Parker-ish
B&B Queen (Mayor’s best friend)
- Obsessed with labels
- Has a yappy showdog he takes everywhere
- Powerwalks with his best friend the mayor in the morning, partially to exercise his dog
- Obsessed with labels, mentions the breed of his dog, the designer of his clothes, the make of his car, etc.
- Bizarre fashion sense and appearance
- What makes him sympathetic and not a stereotype?
The Showdog
- Yappy
- Big or small?
- Gets infected
B&B Bear (The Queen’s partner)
The Puppet Police Chief
The Bully Rookie Cop
- Average
- Picked on the Loverboy in highschool
- Becomes part of the hero’s team (provides conflict)
- Wants the appearance of power and its benefits without having to work for it
Cop Number III
Goth Girl
- Romanticizes death, but before her death realizes that it’s not as glorified as she makes it out to be
- Annoying, but endearing
Crazy Meth Guy
Woman Who Must Die
- gets infected but fights it
- faces death
- killed by hero in tender moment
The Dominatrix?
No comments:
Post a Comment