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Pitter-patter
Basic plot outline
Sasha, Selina and Sofia are triplets born to a single mother named Eugenia. Eugenia is deeply into black magic. Born into poverty, she covets power and wealth, and has learned a spell to let her rip through the fabric of time into the womb of her choice throughout history. She needs a Yaga child, a blind girl with chicken feet who will dance her pitter-patter dance and beat her pretty drum to open up the fabric of history. The Yaga girl will not dance unless she has pretty feet to play with. So Eugenia must turn one of her girls into a Yaga, and keep one of the others feet to keep her happy.
As we open, We see Eugenia hovering over a wooden table in a small cottage with an hearth blazing. A baby her back is turned to the camera and we see two children on an animal skin rug, crying. There is pounding on the door as we here people demanding that she open. The door is broken down and three men rush into the room to halt in horror. Eugenia turns around, blood spattered on her face. The men garrote her and stab her repeatedly with a knife as children wail. On the table, we see the horror of her crimes. There lies Sofia, her second a fourth toes and fingers severed in a bowl, her eyes gouged out. The other babies continue to scream as the camera pans into the fire and men shout in the background.
“The chicken toed girl, she lies in the corner, unmoving. The ghastly ghoul waits for her set of pretty feet to dance the pitter-patter beat upon the floor unto which the fabric of history itself will sway and moan.”
The movie takes place in a small village in the wilderness of Russia in the 1920's. I'd like to film on location during the autumn if possible. I want there to be some snow around, but not entrenching blizzards.
As we move on in the story, we see a poor family in the village has raised Sasha and Selina as peasant daughters. The family is close to their wits end with the two. They do not get along as twins; they constantly injure each other with what seems to be malicious intent. When the father, Gavril, starts hitting Sasha for stabbing Selina in the thigh with a pitchfork, Selina takes the opportunity and stabs him in the back with a scythe. As the mother, Agnes, holds Gavril, she tells the girls that they are horrible, evil incarnates just like their mother. Upon this discovery, the girls torture their foster mother by dunking her head in the icy stream as their adopted father lay dying until she confesses the truth. They have another sister. As far as she knows, she could not be burnt nor slain. She sits in the corner of a cottage in the woods, infested with lice and filth. She does not move, just slumps in the corner awaiting to fulfill her ungodly purpose. Once the girls learn this, they beat Agnes on the head with a rock until she ceases to move and set out to find the cabin.
One of the things I want to convey in this movie is the sickly poverty. The actors/actresses might be beautiful, but their hair should be matted and their persons dirty. Lice and flies should be abundant to convey the desperation of the despicable deeds.
When Sasha and Selina find the cabin, it's charred and covered with dust. Large spiders roam the floors. They see their sister, Sofia, slumped in the corner unmoving. She is a disgusting sight to behold. Her hair is infested, her eye sockets are hollow and she is mangled from animal claws. The two discover their mothers spell in an old chest. As the two come to realize what needs to be done, the face off immediately begins. One of the two must sever the feet of her sister to be able to harness the dance of Sofia and be reborn in better times.
I'm not pulling back on any violence here. I want the air to reek of what two people who don't like each other could do to one another if they had a chance at a new beginning.
As the finale draws near, Selina rams Sasha's head into a mirror, and then violently stabs at her with a shard. Defending herself, Sasha reaches out to grab an old cast iron poker and hits Selina with it. She continually clubs her until Selina is unconcious. She then grabs a nearby axe and severs Selina's feet. She gives them to Sofia, which animates the seemingly dead corpse to life. Sofia starts to stomp around and beat her little drum, and the template of reality goes fuzzy. Sasha, bleeding profusely, reaches out into nothing and grasps the fabric of history. As the ghosts of the past crawl up her arm, she feels every single birth that has ever been, and ever will be. Sofia continues to dance wildly; as Sasha is absorbed into nothingness. Sofia's mechanical dance halts. She sits in the corner again, fondling Selina's feet. Beautiful feet which she never had. As she caresses her sisters feet, the credits begin to roll as we hear the faint beat of her little drum in the background. Fade to black.
Director – Marc Evans
Writer – Michael Hirst
Cast:
Selina - Maiwenn Le Besco
Sasha – Alex Reid
Gavril – James Coburn
Agnes – Helen Mirren
Eugenia – Holly Hunter
After the credits roll, we get to see closure.
Cut to glorious ancient Egypt. Beautiful twin daughters are born as magi and Pharaoh look on. It is a glorious time. There is a celebration, as the daughters are presented to all. Once the night is over, the Pharaoh and his queen lay down to sleep. The old wet nurse creeps into the nursery. As one child squirms, she hovers over her bed, grasps her foot and brings the knife ever close.
This movie should take about two years to film. We need the right before winter feel, which could also be accommodated in late winter/early spring.
For marketing, I'll start by seeing if I can get Mike Mignola to produce a Hellboy ashcan with the history of the Yaga girl attached. He already uses Baba Yaga heavily in his work, so I don't see it being a big stretch.
I'd also like to get together with Chris Cunningham (of Rubber Johnny fame) and see if he would produce a viral video of the pitter-patter dance for YouTube.
Last, we'll embark on a campaign that every twin who registers on the website gets a chicken foot necklace to ward away evil powers. (There is a program where twins get a two dollar bill on every birthday. It's a slight mirror of that)
This concludes my presentation. I hope I have lived up to the standards that brought me this far in this competition.
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