Movie Adaptation - TAoBBAt8D: Watermelon - P. A. Nolte

1/ Reno and New Jersey enter a lab.  Reno's left arm is in a sling. They wield pistols as if someone or something might pop out at them from any angle at any moment.

The lab itself is fairly standard, looking like any number of other generic science labs, except for a large apparatus that is mostly out of view.

Perfect Tommy (CAP): Cowboy!

New Jersey (CAP): What?

Perfect Tommy (CAP): Hold the gun in front of you, man.

New Jersey (CAP): Oh, yeah... it's... okay.

2/ Partially obscured by a vintage countertop produce scale, a watermelon is being squeezed between two metal plates.  One set of pistons comes from the ceiling, one from the floor.  Tubes and wires run from the plates, sending nigh-unreadable information to a number of nearby computer monitors.

New Jersey: Why is there a watermelon there?

3/ Reno, gun at the ready, exits the lab through a door on the other side.

Reno (OP): I'll tell you later.

4/ New Jersey gives the watermelon experiment, whatever it is, one last concerned glance.

5/ New Jersey follows Reno out the lab.

Movie Adaptation - Hot Fuzz - Perry Kent

This is from one of my favorite movies, Hot Fuzz. It is a scene that I feel ties together the motivation of the killer (though we don't learn the reason until later), the comedy of the movie, and the suspense of “whodunnit". It is also a really simple physical comedy routine that I enjoy.

Danny and Nicholas have just spent the evening out at the pub getting drunk and have been asked to escort a rich drunk fellow home.

Panel 1

Exterior, night. A wide, pulled back shot. Danny and Nicholas, the drunk rich man between them, stagger up to the garish mansion. Danny is hunched and Nicholas is supporting the drunk rich man that is between him and Danny.

1. NICHOLAS: Not really in keeping with the aesthetic of the area, eh?

Panel 2

The drunk rich man, with his back to the door, hands Danny money in the form of a single bill. The rich man looks half-unconscious. Danny looks hunched with half-lidded eyes. Nicholas is the most sober and his eyes are still have closed.

2. DRUNK: Ah-

3. DRUNK: Here you go.

Panel 3

Nicholas snatches the bill from Danny.

Panel 4

Nicholas hands the bill back to the drunk rich man.

4. NICHOLAS: And your change.

5. DRUNK: God bless.

Panel 5

Danny and Nicholas stumble away from the mansion as the door swings shut behind them.

6. SFX (door): Clunk.

Panel 6

Interior, night, dim. The rich man stumbles away from his closed front door. Behind the door stands a tall figure in a black robe with an obscured face. The rich man has taken no notice of the intruder. 

-END- 

Movie Adaptation - Galaxy Quest – MK Stangeland Jr.

(I ultimately decided to go with the selection from my favorite movies that I figured was probably least likely to have already been adapted for real.

RIP Alan Rickman)

(9 Panels)

Panel 1: JASON NESMITH and GWEN DeMARCO have just pushed the blue button to stop the PROTECTOR II from blowing up, but the countdown hasn’t stopped.

The two hug as they await their imminent demise.

COMPUTER: Four…

Panel 2: Two part panel, showing the computer countdown at ’00:03:307’ on the left and JASON and GWEN still awaiting their death on the right.

COMPUTER: Three…

Panel 3: Two part panel, showing the computer countdown at ’00:02:593’ on the left and JASON and GWEN still awaiting their death on the right.

COMPUTER: Two…

Panel 4: Two part panel, showing the computer countdown at ’00:01:720’ on the left and JASON and GWEN still awaiting their death on the right.

COMPUTER: One…

Panel 5: Two part panel, showing the computer countdown at ’00:01:00’ on the left and JASON and GWEN still awaiting their death on the right.

Panel 6: Two part panel – The left panel shows the computer countdown still stuck at ’00:01:00’. On the right, JASON and GWEN are still hugging, but both now look confused at the fact that the PROTECTOR II hasn’t blown up yet.

Panel 7: JASON and GWEN start to pull apart and turn their attention to look at the computer screen.

Panel 8: JASON and GWEN are mostly out of their hug, but still touching, there’s a mild look of confusion on JASON’s face while GWEN has a relieved look of realization.

GWEN: It always stops at ‘1’ on the show!

Panel 9: JASON has started out of the room, having picked up his weapon and laughing to himself. GWEN is just starting to follow.

JASON: Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh!

GWEN: Um…what were you saying…?

(END PAGE)

Movie Adaptation - A Simple Plan: I'm so tired, Hank - Grant McLaughlin

As the title indicates, I'm adapting the Sam Raimi-directed, Scott Smith-written 1998 gem that is A Simple Plan.  If you haven't seen this film yet, stop reading and go watch it, because it's amazing and I'm spoiling one of the final scenes here.



If you're familiar with the film, I'm doing the tail-end of , a beautifully acted moment between Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton.  Everything has hit the fan and Hank is so close to the finish line, but Jacob doesn't know that he can make it across with him...

1 - In the clearing next to the plane and bodies.  Jacob hands Hank the gun.  Hank looks confused, not understanding what's happening.

JACOB: Make it look like the bad guy did it.

HANK: What?

JACOB: I can't do it, so you're going to have to do it.

2 - Jacob turns around and looks away from Hank.  Jacob is calm, decisive.  Hank is horrified, realizing what Jacob is suggesting.

JACOB (1): It's okay with me.  I won't look at you.

JACOB (2): It's perfect.

HANK: No.

JACOB: If you love me, you'll do it.

3 - Close on Hank, looking at the gun, still mortified.  He's sobbing, tears streaming down his face.

JACOB (off-panel): I don't wanna be here.

4 - Establishing shot of the edge of the forest.  Lots of tall, lifeless tress rising up in the cold winter.  A lone figure, still small at this distance, walks across the snow-covered field between the forest's edge and the road.  It's Hank.

NO COPY

Movie Adaptation: "The Usual Suspects"--David Press.

PAGE TWO: Three wide panels, because lots of dialogue. Here’s a the clip  from what is my favorite film.

2.1: We’re in a room with a table. TWO COPS circle MCMANIS who is the focus here. McManis wears a black turtleneck and is smoking a cigarette. He’s being interviewed. We can only see the white button down shirts and ties the cops are wearing as they ask questions. This shot should be the setup of all of them for this page. The captions are Verbal Kint’s narration.

1.CAPTION:           They went after McManis first. Top- notch entry man.

2.COP 1:                  Where's the truck.

3.MCMANIS:          What truck?

4.COP 2:                  The truck with the guns, fuck-o.

5.MCMANIS:          Fuck-o? Brrrrr.

6.COP 1:                  You want to know what your buddy Fenster told us?

2.2: Now on FENSTER: the stuffed shirt cops circle him once again.  Played by Benicio Del Toro, he’s wearing a red shirt and black blazer.

7.FENSTER:           Say who?

8.COP 1:                  McManis. He told us a different story all together

9.FENSTER:           Oh! is dat the one about the hooka with dizentary?

2.3: Fenster has his arms over the top of his head. COP 1 is off panel, but COP 2 stands right behind Fenster.

10.CAPTION:         Fenster always worked with McManis. He was a real tight ass. But when it came to the job, he was right on. A smart man.

11.COP 2:               What are you saying?

12.FENSTER:         Ah said, “He’ll flip ya.” Flip ya fa real.

13.COP 1 [Off]:      Yeah I’m shakin’. C’mon.

--END—

Why Movie Adaptation?

Archie Goodwin by Walter Simonson.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Archie Goodwin. He was perhaps best known for writing and editing Detective Comics in the 1970s. With Walter Simonson they crafted back-up stories centered around Manhunter, Paul Kirk. Goodwin would later go on to found Epic Comics at Marvel years before Vertigo Comics did essentially the same thing. With the Epic line, Goodwin brought Katsuhiro Otomo, Moebius, and a whole plethora of independent and European comics talent to American comics. Perhaps the second biggest achievement Goodwin established was his movie adaptations. Working with Goodwin was Walter Simonson on Alien, Al Williamson on Blade Runner, and Carmine Infantino—most famously—on Star Wars.

A couple years ago a friend found me the Alien adaptation and I frequently go back to it. Now that is an adaptation that is probably as good as the movie.

We do a lot of movie-related posts here at Thought Balloons—usually when there is a new superhero movie out, but none of these movies are our personal favorite films. For this week, I’d like us to adapt one page from our favorite movie if we were to bring that movie to the comic form. As always, feel free to leave a comment on your thoughts. Have fun!