I've never made a pitch in my life. I've also never written a script. I'm a graphic artist by trade. Creating imagery is what I do. but what I also am is a storyteller, and I am writing this now to paint a picture for you. what if the fate of the next batman movie was in a fans hands? ok so I'm a dork and have too much free time, but I just watched the dark knight last week, and I feel compelled to write this. we know heath isnt around anymore... but batman just isnt batman if you take away the threat of the joker... and two face was just getting warmed up by the end of the dark knight... we all know the rumors about penguin and riddler for the next movie... but come on, that last story was fantastic, and at least in my eyes... needs more exploration. so how about we dont bring them in just yet... where does the batman story most logically go from this point?I have some ideas... mind you, they are unfiltered and very loose... but that is how most ideas start.open on a hallway, It is the interior of one of Arkhams many winding corridors. 6 armed officers stand posted outside of a door at the halls end. We cut to a security veiwing room, the monitors on the wall behind a portly security guard are being observed by two orderlys, one a middle aged man of healthy build and a handsome look, the other a slightly older man with horn rimmed glasses and a balding head shifting uneasily like a man of the street thrust into the den of a lion. He is afraid.the younger man looks into his friends eyes with concern... "you alright with this paul?" (yes this is a paul dini refference)
"yeah," he breathes and nods slightly, like a man about to stare down a demon "I can do it"Paul is walking down the hallway towards the door surrounded by the armed men. He is accompanied by a doctor.
"the patient should be out for at least the next six hours, all possible weapons have been removed from the room and there will be armed guards on the other side of this door at all times should you need them. just get in there, clean him up, and get him ready for his cell.you good to go?""I can do this"the doctor opens the door, and paul steps through. there is a sink on the far side of a room that is tiled in a sickly green, it looks like it hasnt been cleaned or kept up in years. In the middle of the room, we see the joker. unconsious and still as the grave, he is strapped in the unforgiving binds of a straight jacket, and secured in a barbers chair. His eerie smile unflinching, unchanging, unnerving. Paul braces himself, and the doctor closes the door behind him. at this point a fx sculpt of heaths face is being used for the sleeping joker. we show a close up of pauls bag being unpacked on the side of the sink, we see hair clippers, a washcloth, and some other appropriate items. Pauls hands shake as he picks up the clippers and begins to shave the jokers greasy green hair. with each moment pauls face looks more disgusted and pained. we see the close cropped roots of the jokers hair, only to reveal the fact that it in fact grows green. paul whispers almost to himself "what the hell are you?"the last locke of dingy hair falls to the floor, and paul exchanges his clippers for the washcloth. He soaks it with water, and soap before beginning to gently rub the jokers face in an effort to remove the makeup. It does not wipe away. we see paul growing more and more unsettled, he is talking to the sleeping body of the joker. His tone and his words becoming angrier and more choked by supressed tears, we see him exchange his cloth for a patch of steel wool left by the sink... paul is scrubbing frantically, but we dont see the jokers face anymore, the shot comes from behind the jokers shoulder, and we watch pauls face."quit smiling at me, you dont get to smile" he goes on and we see the steel wool become bloody etc... the camera cuts back to the security room, where the young man and security guard are talking to eachother, both temporarily ignoring the monitor behind them in which we see paul attempting to scour away the jokers dark eyes and eternal grin.a young blonde doctor enters the room interrupting the mens conversation, and noticing the action unfolding on the unobserved monitor. she immediately expresses both shock and anger over what is taking place. "what is he doing? get that man out of there!" she is running down the hallway towards the armed men, security guard and young orderly immediately on her heels. "open that door, get that man out of there!" "mam we have orders" "hes her patient let her in"the guards open the door, and seize the now hysterical bloody paul "he's not even human! he murdered my wife! that thing murdered my wife!" as they drag him out kicking screaming, and crying. the young blonde doctor rushes to the jokers side with clear sadness and sympathy in her eyes and voice a she goes to see what damage her patient has sustained. "what did he do to you?"She rests her hand upon the jokers shaven head and strokes him maternally. the scene cuts to the jokers face, his once blackened eyes are raw and bleeding. his chalk white skin remains so, and his disfigured smile is split like a fresh wound... the scene fades out.we pick up two years later...basically beginning with bruce at rachels grave we get an update on whats been going on, as bruce talks in front of her tombstone. heres the basic rundown
since the joker got locked up. Harvey got a heroes funeral publicly, but unknown to the public is that two face is alive in a coma, kept under guard in a secure wing in arkham, per commissioner gordons request. the room is marked as a john doe, and his face is bandaged... not even the attending doctors know who it is in the mysterious room. batman has been forced into running from the police at every turn, though gordon still gives him the heads up often enough. Gotham is changing. there seem to be stranger things happening each day, and while batman pulls criminals from the streets each night, the city has become violently unpredictable as many of arkham former residents still roam the streets. the city has been going crazy, but the people are recovering, and as of late its been so quiet that batman has actually found himself tracking the patterns of a catburglar of all things. which is a sign to bruce that things are getting better... but he's uneasy. the mansion has been rebuilt and bruce now has a computer hub, and crime lab of sorts in the cave beneath the east wing.the story progresses and we have some nice exchanges between bruce and alfred, introduce some new tech from lucious...batman finally comes face to face with catwoman etc...meanwhile back at arkham... dr harlene quinzel has been treating patient j for over two years... (we all know where that leads) basically it comes to harley being completely insane at this point and devoted to the joker as only a cult follwer could relate... and then by some crazy incident she finds out harvey is alive and being kept in a chemically induced coma. this eventually leads to a newly costumed (i use that term loosley, see my deviantart page for refference) harley murdering some guards and busting out two face, who initially tries to kill her. but his coin lands in her favor...now here is where my story heats up... two face finds out that not only is he thought to be dead... but gordon and batman made him the hero while they kept him locked away as their dirty little secret like a bastard child... so now we have harley and two face on the loose in gotham, with practically the same insanity and ferocity the joker had in the dark knight... except harley is trying to impress the joker, who she plans on springing once she has the means (with her going insane and now being a wanted murderer the security has been locked down to a point that batman cant even get in to interrogate him)meanwhile catwoman, who has no interest in killing, only in stealing actually saves a kid from harley and they have a cool little fight scene. two face comes out publicly to gotham, and basically bursts their collective bubble about him. this manages to pollitically harpoon gordon and batmans innocence in the murders in the dark knight...at a televised charity circus (oh yeah i'm goin there) and in a similar but much more meaningful fashion to batman forever... he tries to out batman and winds up killing the flying graysons in front of everyone, before escaping... but big difference here... young dick grayson is no chris odonnell rebel... he is a ten year old boy, who we cant help but compare to a young bruce... this movie does not get a robin... it gets a hardened cold batman/ irresponsible millionaire playboy bruce wayne... becoming a father figure to someone who is essentially him twenty years ago... and trying to balance his guilt and anger, with the newfound responsibilties.I would have bruce actually be a witness at the circus who gordon calls in to get a statement from... and while he's at the station sees dick in the same chair he was in the night his parents were killed... gordon knowing that bruce has been through it is talking about how terrible this turn of events is, yada yada... bruce basically says "jim, i remember when that was me over there, and you were the one comforting me... but I know what hes going through, and until you can find a better place for him to be, he can stay with me and alfred"some cool seeds for future intent could be planted by dick actually meeting barbara gordon at school, where she would have sympathy for him, having faced two face herself once and almost lost her brother to him... and maybe she scares off some bullies who were beating him up... then when he comes home with a black eye, bruce shows him a couple of fight moves, and they kinda bond... setting up the prospect of training him in martial arts.batman is now publicly accepted while gordon is being attacked by the media... and bruce is still out every night, trying to track two face, harley and the catwoman... we get a whole lot of great action involving all of them, plus an attempted assasination on gordon , via a paid hitman who delivers an explosive box with a riddle attatched... (but we never see him, we just know one of them hired him)without revealing too much fun stuff my idea is that eventually catwoman helps batman take care of two face and harley... leaving a door open for their famously divided feelings towards one another... and the movie ends with bats and gordon trying to solve the riddle that landed him in the hospital.tada!
as usual, please pass it around if you like it