THE TOURIST by Julian Fellowes, rev. William Wheeler, Jeffrey Nachmanoff

THE TOURIST by Julian Fellowes, rev. William Wheeler, Jeffrey Nachmanoff

102 pages

9 June 08

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (rumored)

Starring: Angelina Jolie & Sam Worthington

Producers: Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, & Jonathan Glickman

Production company: Spyglass

Status: apparently on track to film in February

There’s been a lot of talk lately about this project, a remake of the French film “Alexander Zimmer.”  Tom Cruise was originally slated to star, but then he decided to do “Knight and Day” instead. Now Sam Worthington will play the part of Frank, and he’s starring opposite Angelina Jolie. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck directed “The Lives of Others” more than three years ago and it’s taken him until now to settle on what will apparently be his follow-up to that brilliant Oscar-winning film.

I don’t have a lot of patience for this script.  Nachmanoff is good enough to know better than to pull off some of the cheats he and the other writers try here.  It’s disappointing, really, when seasoned writers ignore a script’s internal logic.  The good news is that apparently Christopher McQuarrie has done or is doing a rewrite; the bad news is that I haven’t read a decent Chris McQuarrie script in years.  He’s batting 0-5 with me since 2002.

He needs to spend more time in the batting cages. What? He's got an Oscar. Does he need my love, too?

No more script links, guys.

If you haven’t read the script yet and want to be surprised, read no further.  Major spoilers abound from here on out!  Though really, if you can’t guess what the spoilers are, then I’m not sure you’ve paid much attention to spy movies.

A primer on the script: CARA is the girlfriend of Alexander, an international criminal who has altered his appearance and now no one knows what he looks like.  She seduces FRANK, a schlubby American tourist, so that the Interpol agents and Russian mobsters trying to find Alexander think that he’s turned into Frank.  Turns out Cara’s an Interpol agent herself and Frank is forced into some sticky situations as he deals with the very mean Russian who thinks he’s Alexander.  The big reveal?  Frank actually turns out to be Alexander.

Looking for the script link?  It’s not in the usual place.  It’s up there right under the picture of Mr. McQuarrie so if someone wanted to read the script first without reading my spoilers, they could do that.  See how considerate I am?

Hey Jeffrey,

Simone is out of the office this week, on vacation back home in Iowa or Ohio or wherever, so if you can believe this, I’m actually typing this email myself!  Haven’t done this since I was a CE at Revolution.

I’ve had a long series of talks with Florian about the script, and we’ve come up with some new directions.  I should say I haven’t seen the French original, but I think that’s to our benefit – I’m looking at this as nothing more than a story independent of its source; I’m not married to any idea or concept.

Right now, the script doesn’t feel like what it should be; it’s stuck in an identity crisis.  It’s not quite an action script, or an adventure.  It’s not a thriller.  It’s actually not a spy story.  The script is written in the tone of a spy thriller, but it doesn’t have the content of a spy thriller.  The story, such as it is, is a manhunt.

I'm a machine? Noooo! I'm human! I'm not a machine!

Here’s where it gets tricky, because while the story is a manhunt, the opening conceit makes us think that this’ll be about an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances.  But because of the reveal that Frank is actually the fugitive everyone is looking for, that means that we haven’t been watching an ordinary man as we were led to believe.  We’ve been watching an extraordinary man, and that forces us to think of the story in some very different ways.

Thing is, I think the script this starts out being is a pretty great one.  I like that Cara makes everyone think that this poor schlub is really an international fugitive.  I like that he’s a naif, clumsy, and so very ordinary.  I like that Cara starts to fall for him, and I like that her guilt eats at her.  That conflict, as she’s dooming this guy while falling into bed with him, has the potential to be really great.

As it stands, the conceit that Frank is actually Alexander and that Cara is actually with Interpol gives us a whole host of inconsistencies.  Frank acts like Frank when he’s around other people, but he also acts like Frank when he’s by himself.  That can’t happen.  The scene in the safe house when Frank does push-ups, the scene in the police station when Frank hesitantly searches on the computer, the scene where Frank dreams about seducing Cara, the scene where Frank investigates the watch and spots Alexander engraved on the back – all these pieces don’t make sense in the context of Frank actually being Alexander.  And just how is it that Cara ends up picking Frank out of everyone on the platform?  Yeah, Frank runs into her, but that’s no guarantee that she’ll select him. The script rests on the notion that Cara will pick Frank, but Frank doesn’t do much to ensure that happens.

Cara is equally conflicting – I’ll believe moments like Cara warning Alexander when Ackerman and the team of Interpol agents assaults his villa, but I don’t think the team would put their entire operation in jeopardy by involving a bystander like they do Frank.  I understand that they were trying to lure in Demidov, but if Demidov was really their target, then at his first appearance, they’d have arrested him or killed him and be done with it.  They would’ve found another agent to masquerade as Alexander so that the entire operation was under their control.  Often, Ackerman says something about Cara as if she isn’t his agent – but everyone else in the scene also knows that Cara is undercover.  C’mon.  That’s just manipulative and unfair.

She's an Interpol agent. An Interpol agent with a ridiculous hair style.

Now we get to the crux of the issue; it’s not enough that Alexander is a money launderer who stole from a powerful Russian and didn’t pay his taxes.  If this story is going to work, I think Alexander has to be a spy.  He could’ve gone rogue.  He could be a double-agent working both sides.  He might be a corporate spy.  He might be retired.  Whatever we settle on (and the rogue spy idea probably has the most promise), it needs to carry with it stakes that are weightier than a tax bill.

Alexander might need a MacGuffin.  I like the concept in the script that Alexander is trying to wipe the slate clean and get the heat off himself somehow; if he’s a rogue agent, then he could be trying to pull off some kind of operation or give someone a piece of information or a device or something that settles a debt or vindicates himself or somehow makes his escape complete.  Whatever it is, make it a movie movie idea.  It has to be brilliant.

The other piece of this is that I think the script will succeed more if Frank doesn’t turn out to be Alexander.  That’s a big note, but it’ll mean that the script delivers on what it’s promising.  We’re here to see a spy thriller about an ordinary guy mistaken for a hunted spy.  Give us that.  Besides, the twist isn’t so shocking that it’s worth the rigmarole it requires of the script.

So we’re back to the concept: a guy is mistaken for an international spy who is wanted by six law enforcement agencies and one pissed-off Russian mobster, and he has to outsmart them all while he falls for the spy’s girl.  Except now, Frank isn’t really mistaken by anyone but the Russians and there aren’t that many instances of Frank being in genuine danger.

Everyone has to actually believe that Frank is Alexander.  At one point, I want even Cara to think that he’s Alexander.  In the end, the point is that it doesn’t even matter who Alexander is – Frank becomes Alexander because that’s who he must be in order to survive and get himself out of this situation.

Lastly, the script needs more sizzle, more pop, and way way more action.  I count 3 action sequences of any note: the hotel escape, the hospital escape, and the finale with Demidov.  None of the sequences are interesting, unique, or imaginative.  None feel dangerous.  None get my blood pumping.  Frank doesn’t need to be an action hero, but we have to feel like he could get caught or killed at any time, and we have to think that every time he gets away is a miracle.  I want Frank to be the high school math teacher who’s just been dumped by his fiance.  Think Clive Owen’s character in “Children of Men.”  Those action sequences were far more visceral and realistic than we’re going for here, but Clive Owen’s reaction to and relationship to the violence is what we should aim for.

Clive Owen's character is confused, off-balance, and mostly just trying to keep his shit together through the entire film.

Really, I think this needs to be all about delivering on what we’re promising, and as it stands now, I believe that keeping Frank the ordinary man he starts out as will achieve that.  It also means more tension and conflict for Cara’s character, as she’s torn between the flawed criminal she thought she loved and the innocent kind man she’s starting to fall for.  She’ll have to actually choose in this new version, instead of be let off the hook like she is now.

The movie I’m talking about here is a genuine action spy thriller, and it should still contain all the relationship work that makes this current draft interesting.  It’ll still be twisty, but it can’t be cheap or manipulative.  It’s massive work, it’s lots to digest, and it’ll require going back to the drawing board.  Breakfast at Penelope’s, 8 AM?  I’d have Simone book it, but Idaho or Ohio, you know the drill.