Director's Cut
Last uploaded: Tuesday, April 21, 1998

It arrived in the mail...

A few weeks ago a mysterious package arrived at the "Coming Attractions" studio, attention my name. Loving a mystery I eagerly ripped it open. What would be inside it? More photos from a top secret set? A parking pass from the set of Lethal Weapon 4 that I could scan on the film's web page?? My mind raced with the possibilities. Knowing my luck it'd be my nerd photo from Vanity Fair with the words 'WE WILL GET YOU ONE DAY, SCOURGE!' written in black felt marker. But inside the parcel was something special.

It was a movie script sent anonymously. A couple of cool Mars Pathfinder stamps decorated the envelope, a nice touch. 'Pathfinder' you are, then.

Attached to the script was a typewritten note telling me that this project is starting to gearing up for production this summer. PolyGram/Interscope would be producing it, and the director of Kalifornia, Dominic Sena, would become its director. It was written by Michael France (writer of the first draft of the Fantastic Four movie in development, and who received story credit for GoldenEye and Cliffhanger.) The draft was dated April 17, 1997, and the script was called Worst Case Scenario. Cool.

Now I'm not one to give away the complete premise of a movie, it's not my style. When I created Coming Attractions (three years ago Wednesday, thank you very much) my idea was the same as the coming attractions you see in the theaters that leave you itching to see the movie right now, this moment. Sometimes you explain the magic trick but never the whole act, if you know what I mean. Which is why I'm going to hold back with some of my review and the later plot details in the script. Most of you don't want to know everything there is to know about a forthcoming movie, and that's the way it should be. Still, there's room enough to talk about it.

After all, what good is a secret if you can't tell someone?

Thus, I proudly present the first ever 'coming soon review' of:

"WORST CASE SCENARIO"

Thomas Parrish, his wife Diane and their friend Harry MacNeill have created and maintain a special United States government division -- the Worst Case Scenario Directorate. Their job is to think up possible terrorist atttacks against the United States using the worst horrors modern technology and human ingenuity have to offer. It's ghastly work, and the three of them sometimes feel like they're following in the footsteps of the mass murderers of civilization. One possible scenario wipes out New York with bioengineered plague; another would crash all airport communications systems across the nation; and still another can turn Air Force One into an command post to launch a nuclear strike against the U.S. Their job has allowed them to come up with hundreds of plausible, feasible scenarios that could happen -- and then design the appropriate counter-offensive that would neutralize the threat. It's no longer a world where two superpowers can blow the world up in two hours, but one where just a single properly armed and skilled individual can shatter the sense of security the American people have with their nation.

But there's one other possible outcome to a worst case scenario -- a 'zero solution'. "Choose and lose," says Tom Parrish early on the script as the group discusses solutions to a theoretical problem. "Strategically, it's the best way to go."

The trio are soon put to the test when an inspection of a chemical weapons incineration plant goes critical. When their worst case scenario fails to eliminate the threat, Parrish is left with two options. One means the death of hundreds of innocent civilians, and the other means he pulls the trigger that ends his wife's life. He chooses the only one that he could do really -- and his wife dies.

In the aftermath of the senate hearings about the disaster, Parrish and MacNeill are grilled by The Powers That Be. With the W.C.S.D. funding and reputation dangerously close to non-existence, a emotionally-ragged Parrish calls MacNeill late one night. Parrish accuses MacNeill that maybe if it were someone he loved on the other side of the glass, maybe his Diane would still be alive. Before MacNeill can adequately respond to Parrish the line goes suddenly dead, and off in the distance Harry MacNeill watches Parrish blow up his houseboat -- with Parrish still on-board.

Three uneventful years pass by. MacNeill is still with the W.C.S.D. MacNeill is frustrated with his job -- he continues to point out loopholes in high security areas but the government agency in question is reluctant to admit there's any problem. As an aggressive Senator closes in to shut down MacNeill and his team they receive a tip. Acting on it, they confirm the worst: an apocalyptic militia group has stolen seven kilos of plutonium using a top-secret backdoor program that no one alive should know -- no one that is except for Parrish or MacNeill...

Worst Case Scenario is one of the new wave of action-adventure/thrillers that take the basic structure of the new Bond franchise -- smarter villains, smarter ideas -- and mixes it with the same kind of high-tech warfare tension Tom Clancy uses in his books and the fast-paced kinetic action found in a film like Face/Off. That's why I think this one stands a little ahead of just any Mission: Impossible-wannabe. Screenwriter France must have an incredible amount of knowledge about what kind of technology is out there and how it can be used for and against the best wishes of its users. While they're not the kind of gadgets that would make Bond's Q quit working for Her Majesty's Secret Service, the cool factor comes into play when France plays with the characters using the technology. There's an outstanding chase sequence on-board a runaway train where MacNeill is playing a dangerous game of chess with out-of-control trains across the country -- and the action sequences in that scene are twenty pages long. If Sena can pull this off, this'll be fun to see.

I like the concept of the worst case scenario second best. It's a neat idea in the post-Die Hard Hollywood decade where for a while movies used the same DH plot except in a different environment. The concept of a W.C.S.D. is great, and some of the possible nightmares that France mentions would make frightful images on the movie screen. And you'll get to see some of these acted out in the movie -- some are prevented while there are others that MacNeill fails to stop in time.

And I also liked the character of MacNeill. He's a little different than John McClane, Ethan Hunt or Jack Ryan -- this guy's not just burnt out but consumed with the knowledge that he's the only one of the original W.C.S.D. team to stop the disasters that he's helped envision. There's some room for improvement -- he's a little too single-minded at times, and although it's written as a liability it gets a bit repetitive. Because the script focuses on MacNeill and the events from his eyes some of the supporting characters are a little two dimensional. Casting the right actors could fix that.

In all, I give the Worse Case Scenario a B. Reading this makes me hopeful that a full treatment of a Michael France script will make to the silver screen. After reading his version of the Fantastic Four (it rates an 'A' on my meter), there simply can be no other version. As respectful as I am of Chris Columbus, and I'm sure that the new draft by Philip Morton is sound and shows his skill, Marvel needs France's FF movie to happen. But, barring that, WCS has the promise to put your $8 theater ticket to good use.

Patrick Sauriol
Creator, Chief Content Writer & Director
Coming Attractions

Got some neato items from the shoot? Parking passes, photos from the set?? Poster images, or the latest hot script making the rounds???
That's why we're here.

Send them to our mailing address:

Coming Attractions
7971 Burnfield Crescent
Burnaby, B.C., CANADA
V5E 2B8

FAX: (604) 517-4405

We'll do our best to get 'em on the page. (Just remember to poke air holes in the parcel if it's alive -- thanks.)


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Previous Issues of Director's Cut:

December 15, 1998
December 4, 1998
November 15, 1998
October 28, 1998
October 15, 1998
October 8, 1998
October 6, 1998
October 2, 1998
September 28, 1998
September 24, 1998
September 16, 1998
August 30, 1998
August 27, 1998
August 19, 1998
August 17, 1998
August 12, 1998
August 1, 1998
July 15, 1998
July 7, 1998
June 23, 1998
June 19, 1998
June 17, 1998
June 10, 1998
May 27, 1998
May 17, 1998
May 10, 1998
May 8, 1998
May 4, 1998
April 22, 1998
April 21, 1998
April 8, 1998
April 5, 1998
April 3, 1998
April 1, 1998
March 30, 1998
March 24, 1998
March 18, 1998
March 13, 1998
March 10, 1998
March 8, 1998
March 5, 1998
March 1, 1998
February 24, 1998
February 22, 1998
February 18, 1998
February 14, 1998
February 12, 1998
February 11, 1998
February 7, 1998
February 4, 1998
January 10, 1998
December 30, 1997
December 24, 1997
December 20, 1997
December 17, 1997
December 15, 1997
December 12, 1997
December 10, 1997
December 8, 1997
December 4, 1997
December 3, 1997
December 1, 1997
November 28, 1997