UPDATED SCRIPT (FINAL?)

Fallen

Act 1: The Death of Dennis
We start with a shot of an urban landscape passing around us as though we were in a car. We cut to a shot of a disheveled young man (Dennis) talking on his cell phone, and hear him leaving a message. This is shown with interspersed shots of the passing landscape with his messages being voiced over them. At a stop light we see the driver lighting what appears to be a hand rolled cigar, he takes a drag, exhales slowly, he then makes a final phone call-“Hey man, it’s Dennis. I need your help.”

We cut to a long shot of an empty, wooded landscape just as the sun is starting to set. The camera zooms out slowly to reveal Dennis sitting in the bottom left corner of the screen. In front of him are two graves; one is already filled in, while the other is left open, waiting for him. He is staring at the sunset with his back toward the camera. We hear a car pull up behind him; a door opens and closes. We see another character walk onto the right side of the screen, next to Dennis, he has a gun in his hand. This is Shane. Dennis turns towards the camera, revealing blood on both his hands.

Dennis-“I shouldn’t have come back.” He turns back toward the sunset but his head sinks.

We move to a profile shot of Dennis when Shane sits next to him. Shane is situated towards the back of the frame and Dennis is slightly in front of him. We see Shane place down his gun in his lap as he stares at the sunset.

Shane-“It’s been a long time.”

Dennis, whose head is still down, says without looking up-“Three years.”

Shane -“Three years too long apparently…” He gives a quick glance at Dennis then at his lap.

Cut to Dennis, he lifts his head and looks at Shane-“I can’t tell what’s real anymore. Everyday I’m right back in it, right there, and there’s nothing I can do…” voice trails off, “nothing.”

Cut to Shane, Squinting into the sunset, half to not be blinded and half steeling himself for what he was about to do-“You’ll be alright…” Shane stands up, his upper body leaving the frame.

Cut to Dennis for the final time as he hears the click of a gun. He is looking at the sunset. Dennis is in focus, Shane is behind him out of focus-“Just another order, huh?” A pathetic laugh, followed by a sad smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

Focus cuts back to Shane, zooming in enough on his face to cut Dennis out of the frame-“Yea… just another order.” We hear a gun shot and a flash of light ignites Shane’s face. Cut to black.

Act 2: Johnny Boy
We fade into the interior of a messy apartment, panning across to a man passed out on the couch, that man is Johnny. Johnny has an almost empty bottle of rum sitting in front of him next to a glass that contains the remnants of a drink. He is woken up by the sound of his phone beeping loudly. Slowly he gets up and grabs his phone. He holds the phone between his ear and his shoulder as he pours himself the remnants of the bottle:

Answering machine-“you have two new messages…” Johnny takes a sip from his drink.
Voice of Dennis (frantic and out of breath, like he is recovering from being in hysterics)-“Hey man, it happened again. I can’t do this anymore. Please call me when you get this, I really need your help man.”
Johnny puts his drink down slowly, as he takes in the severity of the last message.
A.M.-“next message”
Voice of Dennis (composed)-“Hey man, its me again, I think I found another way.I’m sorry I’ve been such a burden, you were a good friend.”

Johnny hangs up the phone in disbelief. He rubs his hand over his head and takes another sip of his drink. After a slow contemplative drink, Johnny picks up the phone and dials another number.

Shane’s Voice-“Who is this?”
Johnny, staring down at the floor with elbows on knees, answers reluctantly-“It’s Johnny.”
Cut to black.

Fade to the interior of Johnny’s apartment. Camera is straight on with Johnny. Johnny is deep in half sober half drunk thought, when he hears a knock. Slowly and hung over he asks-“Who is it?”

Shane’s voice, from behind the door-“It’s me, open the fuckin’ door.”

Johnny gets up slowly-“Gimme a sec…” muttering under his breath, he rubs his eyes, “fuck.”

Camera cuts to mid-distance shot with Johnny walking across his living room tripping on things along the way when he finally walks out of the frame.

Cut to Johnny at door. He unlocks the deadbolt on the door and opens the door cautiously. Upon recognizing the person on the other side he beckons him in.

Johnny- camera is mid-distance (enough to show all of both men) and follows the two men as they enter the room. “Come on in man, its good to see ya. Sorry the place is such a mess.” Johnny is picking things up off of the floor, as though someone just ransacked his place and Shane caught him at a bad time. Johnny throws everything in a pile in the corner, clears off the couch and offers Shane a seat. (Focus is predominantly on Johnny as he tries to clear some space for Shane.)

Cut to tight angle on Shane from the waist up surveying his haphazard host.
Shane-“Cut the shit, Johnny, what do you want me to do.”

Cut to: Johnny seated on the couch, drink in hand.
Johnny-“What makes you think I want anything from you?”

Cut back to Shane. At this point Shane is frustrated, tired, pissed, and already doesn’t like Johnny.
Shane-“Don’t fuck with me man. Every time y’all call me you need me to do something.”

Cut to Johnny, taken back by Shane’s attitude.
Johnny-“Fuck you man, I don’t need this shit…”

Cut back to Shane. Red in the face.
Shane-“Look asshole, you called me!”

Cut back to Johnny. At first he leans back in the couch and takes a sip of his drink.
Johnny-“Fuck…” spoken as though he was caught in a lie. Leans forward, as though about to tell a secret, “Alright man… it’s Dennis.”

Cut to a tight angle shot on Shane’s shoulders, neck and head, eyes focused now,
Shane-“What about Dennis?”

Cut to a mid distance shot. The two of them are looking at each other intensely.

At this point, Shane would love to beat the shit out Johnny, but he also wants to find out what, exactly, Johnny knew about Dennis’ current circumstances.

Johnny-“You may wanna take a seat.” We see Johnny push a chair in Shane’s direction, and Shane obliges.

Cut to frontal shot of Johnny-“He called me. He’s in a bad place. I think… I think he’s gonna kill himself.”

Cut to Shane-“What’s left to kill? We both know he died three years ago. Along with everyone else in that god damned village.”

Johnny- “What the fuck are you tryin’ to say?”

Shane-“you know exactly what I’m sayin’. We all died that day Johnny; you, me, and especially Dennis.”

Johnny-“Your wrong man. Dead fuckin’ wrong!”

Shane-“Wake the fuck up Johnny! We killed fifteen innocent people that day. You can’t keep denying this shit.”

Johnny-“Shane, what the… that was long time ago man, we did what we had to do. That’s got nothin’ to do with Dennis.”

Shane-“That has everything to do with Dennis; everything to do with us. Dennis couldn’t hack it man. He needed to be taken care of.”

Johnny-“What the fuck does that mean?”

Shane-“Dennis called me too, Johnny. He told me he couldn’t get out. He needed help… my help.”

Johnny-“What did you do?” Johnny is starting to realize what Shane is talking about.

Shane-“I did what you couldn’t do. He asked for my help, and I delivered’

J-“What the fuck…how could… Dennis? This isn’t fucking Iraq, Shane! Haven’t you learned anything?”

S-“If you wanted to do it your way then you should have called him back, instead of drinking yourself into denial.”

J-“We didn’t have a choice… I mean I didn’t…you didn’t…” The memories of his past actions come rushing back.

S-“You had a choice Johnny, we all had a choice, but we acted… We did what we had to
(after a momentary pause)… I did what I had to.”

J-“Fuck you man. That’s bullshit! We didn’t have a choice. But you did… You didn’t have to kill him,” he said almost to himself, as though to reaffirm it to his character, but all the while avoiding eye contact with Shane.

S-“He killed someone, Johnny. Someone close to him. Now how many people have to die before you’ll do something about it?”

J-“So you killed him. Like some filthy fucking Haji at Haditha, huh?”

S-“Wow, so you do remember… ha… He wanted to die. He was tired of killing.”

J-“He was sick Shane! He needed help.”

S-“He wasn’t sick Johnny. Hell, he might have been the only sane one. You’re the sick one man. You deny the fucking thing ever happened.”

J-“I don’t… I never… you… you can’t…”

S-“You’re a killer Johnny. You, me, Dennis, we’re all fucking murderers. None of us deserve to live.”

J-“So you fucking killed him?”

S-“He couldn’t live with what we did.”

J-“you fuckin’ killed him man!” As though the reality had finally broken through his drunken shield, Johnny takes a swing at Shane. Shane parries and knocks Johnny to the floor. Johnny screams, “ Get out! Get out, or I’ll kill you!”

S-“I’d like to see you try. You’re a sack of shit, Johnny.”

Johnny gets up and tackles Shane. He punches him in the face breaking his nose. Johnny gets up and kicks Shane in the ribs.

S-“Kill me you fucking pussy.” Shane spits blood out of his mouth, he tries to stand up but Johnny kicks him down. Shane gets back up slowly. He stands face to face with Johnny, waiting for Johnny to do something. Shane laughs a sad, telling laugh-“That’s what I thought… when you grow some balls you know where to find me.”

Cut to black.

Act 3:
Shane is driving back to where he killed Dennis. The ride is silent and intense. Shane is staring at the road in front of him. Blood is pouring down his face. Cut to Johnny pulling a pistol out of his drawer, loading it with bullets. Cut back to Shane. Shane is digging another grave next to Dennis’. Cut back to Johnny driving, gun on the passengers seat. Shane stops digging and leans on his shovel, wiping his face with his hand, smearing his face with dirt and blood. We hear a car pull up behind Shane. A door opens and closes, we see a blurry figure walk behind Shane. We hear a click.

S-“It’s about time.” Shane stares at the camera for an instant before we cut to black.