Mordant's Need: the movie

"Reflect" on Stephen Donaldson's other epic fantasy

Moderator: Cord Hurn

Post Reply
starkllr
Ramen
Posts: 92
Joined: Thu Jan 30, 2003 3:21 pm
Location: Arlington, VA
Contact:

Mordant's Need: the movie

Post by starkllr »

I was going through old files on my computer, and I found something I completely forgot I'd written - the first few pages of an attempt at adapting the books into a screenplay. I actually wrote it back in 2000, and never went back to it, but in looking at it now, all modesty aside, it's not too bad, so I figured I'd share it:

“Book One”

FADE IN

EXT. ORISON – MORNING

We open on a beautiful blue sky, a glorious winter morning. The camera pans down to reveal the castle of Orison – a huge, imposing structure with many towers and a somewhat haphazard look, as though a dozen different architects worked on different sections at different times.

KING JOYSE (vo)
It was like a fable. Just like the tales I amused my daughters
with once upon a time. They used to be fascinated by those old
stories.

FADE TO:

INT. CONGERY WORKSHOP – MORNING

There are mirrors everywhere, surrounding several tables covered with sand and beakers and the various implements of casting mirrors. GERADEN is here, sweating as he works, oh-so-carefully, on a large, oval mirror. GERADEN’s a handsome young man, tall and well-built, with curly brown hair.

KING JOYSE (vo)
Where was I? Oh, yes. The story of Terisa and Geraden.
Well, it began just like a child’s story. Terisa was a princess
in a high tower. And Geraden was the seventh son of the lord
of the seventh Care. She was the prisoner of an enchantment,
and he was a breaker of enchantments.
(laughs)
Oh, if only it was that simple.

Now we notice the images in the various mirrors in the workshop…they’re not reflections of anything in the room, but images of other worlds, and each mirror shows a different other world. The mirror GERADEN’s working on, however, is blank. GERADEN moves his hand on the wooden frame of the mirror, and, like magic, an image begins to form…for just an instant, we see what can only be described as a “flying saucer” perched on an alien landscape. We only see it for an instant, because immediately after the image appears, GERADEN’s left foot slips, and he starts to fall. As he does, he takes the mirror down with him. GERADEN’s got an “oh, shit!” expression on his face, and then, in slow motion –

The mirror’s falling.

The flying saucer disappears; the mirror goes blank.

GERADEN tries to catch the mirror, fails.

The surface of the mirror twinkles for a split second, and a new image appears: an apartment, a bedroom with wall-to-wall mirrors, and a beautiful, red-haired woman – TERISA MORGAN - walking through the image.

As the mirror hits the ground, we’re back in real time. We hear the crack of shattering glass, and we see the mirror split into several large shards on the ground. GERADEN isn’t looking, but we see the image of TERISA moving from one shard to another as she walks around her bedroom. We close in one particularly large shard just as TERISA walks into it, and we close in on it, and we go right through and CUT TO:

INT. TERISA’s APARTMENT – BEDROOM – MORNING

Now we’re in a large and tasteful if sparsely decorated bedroom. The overriding motif is mirrors, on every wall. Through the open bedroom door we can see a big window in the living room, and the Manhattan skyline through it. Then we focus on TERISA, who’s staring at herself in one of her many mirrors.

KING JOYSE (vo)
The problem – well, one problem – was that Terisa’s tower
was something called a luxury high-rise condominium, and it
was in a place called New York City.

As TERISA stares at herself, we can see her reflection in all the other mirrors. Finally, satisfied that, yes, she’s really and truly there, TERISA turns and walks out of the bedroom. All the mirrors reflect her as she departs, except for the one she was staring at. As soon as she turns her back on it, it twinkles, and the image changes to show GERADEN in his workshop cleaning up after his mishap. TERISA walks out, oblivious to that, and we close into the changed mirror, and then we’re through it, and we CUT TO:

INT. CONGERY WORKSHOP – MORNING

GERADEN’s picking up the shards of the broken mirror; we no longer see any images at all in them.

KING JOYSE (vo)
And the other problem? Poor Geraden. He had the talent,
no one questioned that. He had the desire as well, the Congery
would never have accepted him without that. I don’t know
what his trouble was. Perhaps he was trying too hard, or possibly he just hadn’t come into his own yet. Whatever the reason, he was clumsy almost beyond belief. He could turn even the simplest task into a disaster.

GERADEN continues to work.

KING JOYSE (vo)
Still, the Congery gave Geraden the task of going into a mirror
and bringing back a champion to save Mordant from our
enemies. I’m sure that every Master in the Congery expected
him to fail. Most of them, I imagine, expected him to be killed
in the attempt. No one expected him to do what he did. After
all, in theory at least, it was impossible…

ROLL CREDITS

EXT. OUTSIDE ORISON – LATE MORNING

We’re out of sight of the castle, in the hills surrounding Orison. There’s snow on the ground, and we see TERISA standing under a large tree. We hear, off in the distance, the trumpeting of horns. TERISA looks all around, straining to figure out where the sound is coming from. It’s freezing cold; we can see her breath…and off in the far distance, we can see the breath coming from three horses and their black-cloaked riders as they charge towards TERISA.

We see now that each rider – we can’t see their faces, we have no idea if they’re even human or not at this point – carries a longsword in his – it’s? – hand. They’re all heading straight for TERISA, they’re only a few seconds away from hacking her down where she stands, and she’s paralyzed by the whole thing, staring at them, completely transfixed.

And then seemingly out of nowhere, a man runs into the scene – GERADEN. He’s unarmed, but he heads straight for the middle rider, he leaps, grabs at the saddle, pulls strongly enough to spill the rider, and the force of it is enough to bring the horse down, too.

TERISA watches, gaping at the scene, as GERADEN picks up the rider’s sword, and runs through the second rider with it. As he does this, though, the third rider is behind him, sword raised high, ready to strike a killing blow. TERISA’s close enough that maybe she could do something; grab for the reins, try to knock the rider over – anything she does to distract the rider would probably save GERADEN. But she’s still paralyzed, incapable of action…almost incapable, there’s one thing she finds herself able to do.

TERISA
(shouting)
Watch out!

INT. TERISA’S APARTMENT – BEDROOM – NIGHT

TERISA’s sitting up in bed, blankets spread all around her. There’s a night-light plugged into a wall socket; it provides enough illumination that we can see TERISA reflected in the mirrors all around her. She’s staring at herself in one of the mirrors, almost as if she’s surprised to see herself there. She continues to stare at herself, as we CUT TO:

EXT. NEW YORK CITY, 2ND AVENUE – MORNING

It’s a gray, rainy, miserable morning as TERISA makes her way down the street towards her job at the 58th Street Catholic Mission.
User avatar
Cord Hurn
Servant of the Band
Posts: 7630
Joined: Mon Oct 28, 2013 7:08 pm
Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA
Has thanked: 6 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Post by Cord Hurn »

Thank you for sharing that screenplay, starkllr. I especially liked the following part, because it does a really good job at engaging the viewr, taking the viewer "into confidence" like a friend:

KING JOYSE (vo)
Where was I? Oh, yes. The story of Terisa and Geraden.
Well, it began just like a child’s story. Terisa was a princess
in a high tower. And Geraden was the seventh son of the lord
of the seventh Care. She was the prisoner of an enchantment,
and he was a breaker of enchantments.
(laughs)
Oh, if only it was that simple.


I have always felt that Mordant's Need is the most readily-adaptable of all Donaldson's works to the movie medium.
User avatar
IrrationalSanity
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 1633
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:02 pm
Location: Someplace birds sing
Has thanked: 6 times
Been thanked: 3 times
Contact:

Post by IrrationalSanity »

I like it. I have a suggestion about the voiceover, though, which is that it not be the King. He is too deeply involved in the story, and we hear his voice regularly.

The voiceover should be someone peripherally involved, so that we can bring in narration wherever necessary (hopefully not often, but probably more frequently than the bookends), but without distracting from our primary characters.

Personally, I think it should be Torrent. While she is a very minor character in the narrative (we don't see her often, and when we do, she is mostly in the shadow of her mother), it is really her who is most greatly impacted by the events that take place. The actress, therefore, should be pitching herself during her scenes (except the last one right after the avalanche) as somewhat timid and mousy. The narrator, however, should use the strong and confident voice she develops at that last second, so it isn't immediately apparent that it is Torrent doing the speaking.
- Woody -
Linden Lover and proud of it...
But I love my wife more!

"Desecration requires no knowledge. It comes freely to any willing hand." - Amok
User avatar
IrrationalSanity
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 1633
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:02 pm
Location: Someplace birds sing
Has thanked: 6 times
Been thanked: 3 times
Contact:

Post by IrrationalSanity »

Cord Hurn wrote:Thank you for sharing that screenplay, starkllr. I especially liked the following part, because it does a really good job at engaging the viewr, taking the viewer "into confidence" like a friend:

KING JOYSE (vo)
Where was I? Oh, yes. The story of Terisa and Geraden.
Well, it began just like a child’s story. Terisa was a princess
in a high tower. And Geraden was the seventh son of the lord
of the seventh Care. She was the prisoner of an enchantment,
and he was a breaker of enchantments.
(laughs)
Oh, if only it was that simple.


I have always felt that Mordant's Need is the most readily-adaptable of all Donaldson's works to the movie medium.
I agree - it is very cinematic in its structure and scope.
- Woody -
Linden Lover and proud of it...
But I love my wife more!

"Desecration requires no knowledge. It comes freely to any willing hand." - Amok
User avatar
samrw3
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 1842
Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2008 3:05 am
Been thanked: 2 times

Post by samrw3 »

I agree I think these books are the most able to go to movie format.

But yes King Joyce should not be voice over. We cannot know that King Joyce has any degree of confidence or plans in beggining of movie just like we did not know that reading the books. I think it could be a future Geraden recounting the story to future children. If done well enough it could be read as if Geraden is hiding the fact that he is the protaganist of the story from his children and he reveals those facts as the story progresses.

"oh yes that young lad was a bumbling foolfoot the other Masters looked down on him" This could bring emotion and wistfulness into the story telling.
Anyways just a thought
Not every person is going to understand you and that's okay. They have a right to their opinion and you have every right to ignore it.
Post Reply

Return to “Mordant's Need”