1 - 1994. Classic Nick Fury, the one David Hasselhoff played in that TV movie, has grown old. He's sitting in his office in SHIELD HQ, tired after a long day of work. The trophies of his old adventures are on his walls and desk, gathering dust. There's a G-man standing in front of the desk. We can't see his face, but his body language is comfortable. He's not cowed by the legend of Nick Fury.
G-Man: I'm glad you're taking this well. The guys back at State warned me about old soldiers, said they don't respond well to being asked-
Nick: To turn in the gun and badge? Yeah. I've had to decommission a few antiques myself.
2 - The G-Man is waving off Nick's comment about turning in the gun and badge as he(the G-Man) starts boxing up Nick's old war trophies. We see his face, and it's a young Phil Coulson. We see Fury in profile. He's not sad, or angry, just tired.
Coulson: You can keep the gun and badge, we've got more guns than we know what to do with, and you'll need the badge to use the SHIELD gym. Keep in shape during your retirement. Hit the sauna, play some squash, canasta, whatever you old folks do.
Nick: Canasta?
3 - The New Nick Fury leans on the doorframe as Coulson keeps boxing up Nick's memorabilia. New Nick is the Sam Jackson Fury we know from the movies, though not yet bald. Think Pulp Fiction, but after a visit to the barber. New Nick is crossing his arms, just as comfortable as Coulson in this office. Fury is still at his desk, and has started pouring himself a couple fingers of good whiskey.
New Nick: Yeah. That's a thing retirees do, I think. Oh, how rude of me. Hi, Nick, I'm Nick.
Old Nick: Canasta's a card game. Who plays cards in a gym?
4 - New Nick takes the tumbler of whiskey off Old Nick's desk and drinks it himself. Coulson has finished packing up Old Nick's desk, and is taping up the last box.
Coulson: Who cares where they play?
Old Nick: It doesn't matter, I'm just saying, wh-
Coulson(Interrupting): There. Now get your crap out of my office.
Old Nick: Your office? I thought he...
5 - Close on New Nick's hand as he pulls out a postcard-sized blueprint of the SHIELD Helicarrier,
New Nick(Off Panel): The job just can't be done from an office this size anymore. We're phasing out all the old relics. Phil here is manning Ground Control, while I man the mobile base. An aircraft carrier the size of a medium-size city. Tacoma, for instance.
6 - Old Nick carries the last of his boxes out of his office. We can see Phil and New Nick sharing whiskey over Old Nick's shoulder. Old Nick is still tired, but now he's a bit heartbroken, too.
Caption(Old Nick): They used to say old soldiers never die. But I guess the world moves too fast to let us fade away these days.
It's a little wordy, but they roll off the tongue in rapid fire procession. This is a solid metalook at how the trade off from one Nick to another could go, with a nice mixture of serious and irreverent. Glad to have your style back for the week, Niel.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I've always thought of dialogue as one of my strengths.
DeleteMore than how it could go, this gives off vibes that sadly are highly reminiscent of how they've already put work into booting some of the classics out the door and tried to do everything they can to make people forget them and embrace the new - wiping Spider-Man's marriage from existence, replacing Nick Classic with his movie counterpart in the most ham-fisted way possible, killing off Richard Rider for some controversial newbie...
ReplyDeleteThough I'm not sure I get the SHIELD HQ and Helicarrier bit since I'm under the impression that as far as Old Man Fury was concerned, the Helicarrier WAS SHIELD Headquarters.
I would say that Coulson seems out of character here, but given the tone and aim of the script, it seems depressingly appropriate.
The Helicarrier bit is a result of my own ignorance, as I'd assumed it was a more recent invention. And yeah, I'm diverting a bit from the established characterization of Coulson. He, much like the version of Sam Jackson's Fury I'm writing here, is a more revisionist take on the character, in line with previous scripts featuring the MCU Fury that I've written for the site. Though I only now realize that one of those had him conscripting a soldier into the role of Coulson, so I'm contradicting my own continuity. Heh.
DeleteWhat strikes me about this page, is that your ear for not just dialogue, but VOICE, is astounding. I can actually hear all three actors saying your lines. If you were a drummer, I'd say you mastered their cadence extremely well. It may be wordy, but you don't feel it because it sounds so natural to the ear. Excellent page that nails all three characters. Cheers.
ReplyDelete