RIVIERA PICTURES & DMC FILM LTD presents
Michael Fassbender in
THE SHOT written by Eli California Richbourg
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A thriller in the spirit of Taken, The International, Enemy of the State and The Conversation, THE SHOT follows a former British Special Forces SOLDIER (Michael Fassbender) into the world of celebrity PAPARAZZI. An assignment to catch a pop star and her lover on film embroils the soldier-turned-photographer in an international assassination plot when he’s framed for their murders.
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CHARLIE SANDSTON returns to England after doing time in military prison and struggles to reenter civilian life. A friend from his Army days, BUDDY, offers Sandston a place to live and an unusual job -- As a PAPARAZZI. Buddy runs a team of photographers who apply military tactics to celebrity-hunting. (A bizarre, true-to-life side-effect of our recent wars is that a number of unemployed veterans have been drawn into the paparazzi game.) These soldiers-turned-paparazzi specialize in the most sought-after pictures, scandal shots.
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Tabloid photography is all about “THE SHOT.” Exclusives are everything: the picture nobody else got. Ideally, the one that shows a celeb doing something - or someone - they shouldn’t. “Everybody has ups and downs. We’re there for the downs.” What sets Buddy’s team apart is that if they can’t find the shot, they’ll stage it. Buddy’s team follows a job to Paris where they’re commissioned by a tabloid to photograph a Ukrainian POP STAR. The catch is, they want pictures of the Star and her French LOVER. The other catch is, the Pop Star’s husband is a BADASS GANGSTER OLIGARCH.
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Framed for murder and running for his life, Sandston must untangle a web of deceit and betrayal to bring down a powerful, unseen enemy. Military training alone won’t save him - Sandston has to bring to bear all the resources and equipment from his paparazzi experience to turn the tables on his persecutors. He has to get THE SHOT or die trying.
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ACT ONE: OPEN ON - SHOES. Row upon row of shoes. An endless confectionery of shapes, colors, sizes. End-stage capitalism illustrated on the shelves of a LONDON DEPARTMENT STORE. A SOLDIER in fatigues - SANDSTON - stares at the display like he’s sleepwalking. One step removed from his own life. He picks the WHITEST WHITE SHOES he can find. Leaves his stinking desert boots. A SERIES OF SHOTS follow Sandston through the store as he trades out his dirty uniform for WHITE CLOTHES. Shirt, jacket, trousers, underwear, socks, the works. ALL WHITE. He steps out onto Oxford Street REBORN. INT. DANCE HALL PENSIONERS shuffle to tinny music. Occasion a glance at the man in the white suit, nursing a punch in the corner.
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An OLDER DANCE INSTRUCTOR takes to the floor with one of her students. Sandston cuts in. She stares at him, gutted, and wordlessly BREAKS DOWN. He carries on dancing like he doesn’t notice the woman falling apart in his arms. An OLD MAN asks Sandston to leave. “You shouldn’ve come here Charlie... You shouldn’ve come.” Sandston walks out, bumping someone. Knocking a glass of cheap wine on the white suit. Staining it red. CREDITS ROLL over a FAST-FORWARD BLUR OF DRINKING AND DRUGGING. We track Sandston’s decline STAIN by STAIN. MONTAGE ENDS on a dreary COUNCIL FLAT PARK. A lone WHITE SHOE circles on a MERRY-GO-ROUND. Kids stare down at something on the ground. Off their look, we find Sandston passed out in the dirt. Dead-looking and FILTHY. We hear the squawk of a POLICE RADIO O.S. and...
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CUT TO:
TO BE CONTINUED
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RIVIERA Pictures
PRODUCERS Didier Lupfer Antoine Delesvaux EMAIL production@rivierapictures.biz ADDRESS Riviera Pictures 5, rue Vernet - 75008 Paris
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Document confidentiel _Toute reproduction interdite_Š RIVIERA PICTURES 2012
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