| Smyth Casting (for The Day), 7 October 2010 |
| Articles & Interviews - 2010 | |||
|
AUDITIONS for Feature Film “The Day” – Role of ‘NIKKI’Oct 07, 2010 PROJECT DETAILSProject Title: The Day COPY Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Key Dates, Rates And Union Info Storyline And Comments Storyline: Adam, wife Nikki, and 5 y.o. daughter Ava drive through what appears to be an idyllic suburban neighborhood… yet it is completely abandoned. Adam leaves Nikki and Ava in the car along with a gun and enters an abandoned house seemingly to forage for food, even finding some new toys for Ava but one mistake causes him to miss the warning sign from Nikki and by the time he gets outside Nikki and Ava have vanished excwept for a trail of broken glass and blood, taken by unseen assailants… A hard-cut to three years later… and pick-up with Adam once again, now shell of his former self, as he travels with a small band of others– whom we find out have been his long-since childhood friends– as they traverse a silently beautiful countryside, while foraging to survive (It has purposely not been made clear exactly the general state of this world is– something we’ll later find out). Adam, despondent and withdrawn, plods along silently as the rest of the group is introduced: RICK– smartest, strongest, with a natural survival instinct and disciplined m.o.– a natural leader; HENSON– stricken with the onset of pneumonia, yet always high in spirit and lends a much needed levity; SHANNON- – matriarchal, pragmatic, and also Rick’s love-interest; MARY– the mysterious outsider and newcomer… what she lacks in articulate forthcoming, she makes up for in sheer brawn; Mary proved herself a valued ally in a previous (unseen) chapter in this group’s travels… yet they still know very little about Mary’s origin…. The group’s overall tenor is that of constant survival… though hopes are ever-high, especially Rick’s— the fact of the matter is they are starving, seemingly lost (or off-trail), and are implied to always be under the threat of an yet to be seen force or body. Rick checks an old map and discovers their location’s topography is not ideal– what may be lost on us, the audience, for the moment makes clear and grave sense of danger and urgency to the rest. They know the must move through the part of the country – and fast! However, it begins to thunder– and a torrential downpour is imminent. We find the group staring at an ABANDONED HOUSE– isolated in the middle of the vast countryside. They debate the wisdom of seeking shelter here (again, from what?)… but decide that with Henson’s worsening condition, he cannot be out in the rain. Much against the judgment of Adam and Mary, the group decides to hole-up in the house until after the storm. As the rain pours, Rick does an inventory check– the guns they carry have a dwindling bullet-count and they have enough food for one day. However, Rick touts the positive aspect of “Hope” & “Faith”… which are two large jars of SEEDS… something that will help them all with a new start once they reach a destination they can call ‘final’. After the rain stops, Henson still isn’t strong enough to move-on, despite his protest that he can. Rick makes the judgment call they stay the night in the house, again much to the objection of Adam– who seems to really have something out for Rick today– and everyone else for that matter. Not to waste the day, after it stops raining, Rick sends Mary and Shannon out on game-trapping duty, while Henson rests, and he and Adam start tearing apart the house for anything of use: wire, nails, etc. Shannon and Mary forage outside, vainly attempting to trap small animals. Mary knows it is pointless, bit Shannon stays the loyal team player. Shannon lectures Mary for her silence and insists that mutual trust and a family mentality is necessary for survival. Meanwhile, Rick and Adam explore the basement and discover a large store of canned food!!! Back outside, Mary has gone to a nearby creek to cool off from her confrontation with Shannon, as well as bathe the muck and grim build-up off her body. As she bathes, a MAN appears at the age of the creek– a man that looks oddly normal and healthy, but why is Mary so on edge? All of a sudden the man sprints toward her as Mary lunges for her shotgun and blows him away. This is our first encounter with the SAVAGES…. but savage is a harsh term as these people are not monsters, zombies, or deranged hillbillies. These are just people making a choice; it is an allegory for Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 that crashed in the Andes in 1972: no “good guys” or “bad guys,” just people surviving… by eating other people. Some survivors refused to eat their former friends after the plane crash in ‘72 and they suffered and would die for making that choice. Our group of survivors is now suffering and starving because they will not submit to this way of life. Society has evolved. Meanwhile, back in the basement, Henson has come down to check out the unexpected find. Rick accidentally triggers a trap; when he pulls a box off a shelf, a metal spike swings down from the ceiling and impales him , while a guillotine-like sheet of metal slides over the basement door, trapping the men downstairs. An alarm goes off, alerting the Savages to their presence. Mary and Shannon rush back to the house and attempt unsuccessfully to release Adam and Henson from the basement. Mary suggests that she and Shannon should leave and save themselves; Shannon refuses. Mary decides to stay and try to save Shannon and the others. Five Savages (scouts) attack the farm house, and Mary is revealed to be an effective and brutal fighter. She and Shannon kill the Savages, but in the process a brand is revealed on Mary’s thigh, which shows her to be a former Savage, herself! Out in the woods, we get a glimpse of the Savages in their native habitat; Timmy and Sally, two Savage children, play together endearingly. At the distant sound of gunfire, they run to their Father, who is a Savage chief. He is affectionate with them and promises that they will eat meat tonight. Back in the farmhouse, Shannon and Adam tie Mary to a kitchen chair and proceed to interrogate her. Adam tortures her in revenge for the deaths of his wife and child; Henson attempts to stop him, but Mary takes it passively, although she insists that she didn’t personally kill Adam’s family and that she is only trying to survive, just like him. Eventually she manages to slip out of her ropes and fight the other three into a stand-off. She then reveals that the Savages killed and ate her little sister, one of their own, and that this filled her with disgust for herself and her kind. She is now on a mission to kill all the Savages. She hints that a large group is on its way, and that Adam, Shannon and Henson will need her if they want to survive the night. Towards evening, the Savage war party, headed by Father with Timmy and Sally in tow, approaches the farmhouse. Henson, Adam, Shannon and Mary prepare their defenses. Adam and Shannon make a secret pact that, win or lose, they will not allow Mary to survive the night. They burn Rick’s body and give him a proper funeral. Adam echoes Shannon’s earlier words about how the family mentality is necessary for survival. The Savages attack the farmhouse. Our group defend themselves well, but are vastly outnumbered. Shannon ends up killing Timmy when he attacks her, and is horrified because he is just a child. Henson is killed defending Shannon. Mary blames Shannon for the Savages’ continued assault, saying they want revenge for Timmy’s death. Finally, the Savages SET FIRE to the farmhouse. Mary persuades Adam and Shannon to run for it, while she holds the Savages off. They escape into the woods, but Adam turns back, saying he can’t leave Mary to die alone. Shannon continues by herself. Sally stalks Shannon and eventually kills her with Timmy’s weapon. Meanwhile, Adam and Mary successfully fight off and kill the remaining Savages at the farmhouse, but Adam is fatally wounded, deflecting a lethal blow meant for Mary. Mary holds him until dawn, when he finally forgives her for her past, telling her “You have a chance to learn how to live—don’t waste it”. Then he dies. Mary prepares to set out alone, but before she leaves, Sally returns. The little girl wails over the body of her dead Father, and then runs to Mary as if for protection. Mary tacitly accepts this and the two of them set off down the road together. Behind Mary, Sally draws Timmy’s weapon and gets ready to strike…and without turning around, Mary whirls her machete and kills Sally… nothing escapes Mary’s attention! Mary continues off, beginning a new journey of her own… Characters
http://smythcasting.com/pages/?page_id=42
|
© The Dominic Monaghan Resource.
Powered by Joomla!. Valid XHTML and CSS.
Free template 'Colorfall' by [ Anch ] Gorsk.net Studio. Please, don't remove this hidden copyleft!