Scalped:
I’ve got to be honest, reading the pilot script for WGN America’s Scalped was a bit of a slog. Largely emotion free until close to the finish, it just didn’t grab me much, and there’s zero of the ‘Rez Noir’ from the book (which was half the reason to read). That said I can see how this blank canvas might be remoulded by a talented crew on the business end of this script for a cable TV channel.
Scalped is the story of Dashiell Bad Horse, and his harrowing journey back through the Rez. It isn’t for the feint of heart, and it certainly never minces its words. The comic book by Jason Aaron, R.M. Guéra, Lee Loughridge, and Phil Balsam, is one of the finest examples of the medium, a modern noir, a Rez Noir.
Doug Jung has written a script that just seems to tell a few events that happen without really delving in to personal motivations or any feedback on the actions that the cast of characters are taking. This is fine if you want to ensure that particular beats are covered during the airing of a first episode, however I don’t see this being a situation where an actor will pick it up and say “How could I say no to this script?!”
Scalped is the story of Dashiell Bad Horse, and his harrowing journey back through the Rez. It isn’t for the feint of heart, and it certainly never minces its words. The comic book by Jason Aaron, R.M. Guéra, Lee Loughridge, and Phil Balsam, is one of the finest examples of the medium, a modern noir, a Rez Noir.
Doug Jung has written a script that just seems to tell a few events that happen without really delving in to personal motivations or any feedback on the actions that the cast of characters are taking. This is fine if you want to ensure that particular beats are covered during the airing of a first episode, however I don’t see this being a situation where an actor will pick it up and say “How could I say no to this script?!”
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Happy:
When Bleeding Cool Rumormonger-in-Chief Rich Johnston asked us to review a screenplay for a site-wide initiative today, we was hesitant. What good are we at reviews, anyway? When Johnston revealed that we would be reviewing the screenplay for Happy, the television adaptation of Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson’s tale of an ex-cop turned hitman who is led on a mission to rescue a little girl from a ring of sick pedophiles by a talking, flying blue cartoon horse, we were absolutely terrified. How would Morrison, a legendary practitioner of magick and all around weirdo, take to finding out we were planning to spoil his upcoming TV show? And find out he would, as amongst the usual boilerplate legal jargon, the screenplay PDF itself came with a warning that a magickal curse would alert Morrison, who co-wrote the adaptation himself with Brian Taylor, if a tabloid comic book website tried to do just that. Being the loyal Bleeding Cool employee that we are, we decided to press on and do our journalistic duty in reading and spoiling this script anyway, and though we were attacked near-constantly by Morrison’s terrifying psychic scream while reading the script, we powered through so we could bring our account to you, the reader.
Happy is, if such a thing as possible for a winged cartoon horse, sillier than in the comic, and not necessarily in a good way. Morrison and Robertson manage to portray layers of seriousness and purpose behind the character’s cheer and optimism, but in this script, Happy is like a manic Robin Williams character on steroids. Instead of providing tactical support to Nick while he beats up bad guys, Happy encourages him with comments like “BAM! POW! SLAMMO! Go get ‘em Nick! Woo HOO!” He takes on various cartoon personas, such as splitting into two Happy’s at one point and playing on the angel/devil on the shoulder gag, or becoming a drill sergeant and barking orders at Nick. Whether or not this can be pulled off without causing great irritation to the viewer will largely rely on the talents of the voice actor and the quality of the animation that brings Happy to life.
Happy is, if such a thing as possible for a winged cartoon horse, sillier than in the comic, and not necessarily in a good way. Morrison and Robertson manage to portray layers of seriousness and purpose behind the character’s cheer and optimism, but in this script, Happy is like a manic Robin Williams character on steroids. Instead of providing tactical support to Nick while he beats up bad guys, Happy encourages him with comments like “BAM! POW! SLAMMO! Go get ‘em Nick! Woo HOO!” He takes on various cartoon personas, such as splitting into two Happy’s at one point and playing on the angel/devil on the shoulder gag, or becoming a drill sergeant and barking orders at Nick. Whether or not this can be pulled off without causing great irritation to the viewer will largely rely on the talents of the voice actor and the quality of the animation that brings Happy to life.
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