Thread: Fun Movie Idea About Confederacy That Crossed My Desk

This is the outline for an untitled movie treatment that came across my desk, a treatment is just a proposal for a film before a script has been drafted, it is a common way to test ideas in Hollywood.

I thought the idea was fun and silly in equal measure, take a look:


MAY 2008 TREATMENT

1st DRAFT

OVERVIEW:

History is subject to many courses and “STEAMPUNK MATINEE” sets out to tell an alternate account of world history through the lens of an alternate world.

The world of steampunk is one of Jules Verne-like imagination, where anachronistic technologies take shape in times that are not their own and influence the outcome of world events very differently in turn. The steampunk universe helps us ponder an alternate manifestation of the world we know by creating scenarios where the paths and causes that didn’t survive history are explored as though they did, all in the name of asking “what if?”

This particular story is really three matinee serials rolled into one sample of what American, and indeed world history, would possibly appear like had the Confederacy prevailed and become a separate nation in the 1860s.

We daringly explore what zepplins over Washington would have looked like as General Robert E. Lee surrounds the Whitehouse and demands President Lincoln’s surrender.

We examine the Second World War and how a fictionalized world map with futuristic technology influences the Allied battle against the Axis as the CSA and USA are now forced to defend one another from peril.

We take a look at the “Cold War” and how a Soviet dominated Europe and Canada are challenged by the two American nations, both governed by celebrity presidents elected in the last election, and the futuristic aid they both secretly give to the French-Canadian Resistance to repel their Soviet occupiers.

We do so with a fair sense of humor and adventure, not unlike the glorious Republic serials of yesteryear but while still accommodating a modern sensibility of entertainment and pace. We summon the best aspects of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” and marry them with a story unique in of itself. The style of the film shall be the most adventurous escapism cinema can conceive, our heroes shall be glorious and our villains clear; all while set against the back drop of a revised historical context.

STORY SET UP:

The year is 1863 and CONFEDERATE AIRSHIPS are roaring across the battlefields of Pennsylvania, smoldering wrecks of Union war machines are all that remain of GETTYSBURG in the wake of GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE and his advancing ARMY OF VIRGINIA. As dusk settles into night the aerial bombardment of Confederate forces is unleashed upon WASHINGTON D.C. The UNION has been caught woefully off-guard, GENERAL SHERMAN is captured by Confederate soldiers, now repelling from their airships. He defies surrender and is consumed by the flames of a Confederate flamethrower. PRESIDENT LINCOLN is awoken and irreverently dashed about the WHITEHOUSE in his nightgown and cap, his GUARDS desperate to hide him.

Too late, as dawn approaches, the Confederacy has seized the CAPITOL BUILDING and her colors, the “Stars and Bars” accompanied by the Confederate Battle Flag fly above the conquered city.

In the dim twilight of dawn the iconic silhouette of Lincoln ponders defeat in silence; gracefully he leaves the surrounded Whitehouse and surrenders himself to Robert E. Lee on the front steps. Lincoln is graciously received by a jovial JEFFERSON DAVIS; freshly arrived via MECHANICAL CARRIAGE from RICHMOND, terms of surrender are mapped out as the American Civil War officially ends as the WAR OF CONFEDREATE INDEPENDENCE. The Southern cause has prevailed, Washington is delivered back into U.S hands; two sovereign nations are now separated at the Mason-Dixon line.

The year is now 1942; the United States has been at war for three months, after the JAPANESE invasion of HAWAII. The Confederate States of America have maintained neutrality however, as their chief economic interests are in the Caribbean and not the Pacific. The CSA is drawn into the war after JAPANESES ZEROES venture into the disputed ARIZONA TERRITORIES, a land that the CSA and USA both lay claim toward. A climactic aerial fight between the three nations unfolds in the GRAND CANYON as the USA and CSA join forces to repel the invader.

Shortly after, CONFEDERATE PRESIDENT HUEY LONG convenes with US PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT in Richmond; the CSA officially enters the war on the side of the ALLIES.

Tragedy strikes as the President of the Confederate States is gunned down by an AXIS ASSASSIN in FORD’S THEATER while visiting the United States; the fiend incinerates President Long with a HEAT BLAST from a Nazi made ATOMIC BLASTER and then escapes via JET PACK through the theater ceiling with a mighty crash, evading pursuit.

The charred ashes of the fallen Confederate leader are all that remain in his seat.

Taking his place is VICE PRESIDENT HARRY TRUMAN, of Missouri, now commander in chief of the Confederacy. With the U.S NAVY decimated by the Japanese occupation of Hawaii, the CONFEDERATE NAVY sends the largest invasion force in history to reclaim the islands and drive the Japanese out of the hemisphere.

The ensuing battle is a breathtaking exhibit of “steampunk” weaponry, ROCKET PACKED MARINES, garnishing state of the art MACHINE GUNS, but still maintaining the uniform styles of the era with few alterations. PROPELER PLANES that climb higher with ROCKET BOOSTERS, CLUSTER BOMBS dropped to clear enemy MINE FIELDS before LASER CANNONED SHERMAN TANKS hit the BEACH.

CONFEDERATE ADMIRAL CHESTER NIMITZ, of Texas, emerges victorious, as the BATTLE OF HAWAII is an Allied victory.

The joint efforts of the US and CSA produce a HYDROGEN bomb which is promptly employed by both AIR FORCES on BERLIN and TOKYO in 1944, the war ends abruptly, but EUROPE is soon haunted by the Iron Curtain as the SOVIET UNION, led by a maimed JOSEPH STALIN, who possesses a MECHANIZED LEG, subdues them with threats of annihilation.

The threat of NUCLEAR WAR brings the CSA and USA into permanent alliance to protect the North American continent from Soviet expansion and to bring parody to the Atomic Age. All of Europe is conquered as is CANADA in 1960, who had refused to join the North American Alliance. A WALL is built spanning the length of the American-Canadian border to keep people from fleeing south into the USA and CSA; it is protected by an ENERGY BARRIER that forbids aerial penetration.

We flash forward to 1981 and learn that a pair of elections have swept two celebrities into the presidencies of both respective North American republics; the United States and the Confederacy. Taking power in the USA is the popular former actor and Governor of California, RONALD REAGAN and his counterpart in the CSA is a cultural icon from Mississippi as well as the state’s former governor, ELVIS AARON PRESLEY.

The proceedings surrounding these two landmark elections are broadcast to us by the BBC UNDERGROUND, now in hiding as the banished BRITISH GOVERNMENT operates in exile in the VIRGIN ISLANDS; the occupied world watches in wonder and hope that President Reagan and President Presley will bring them liberation from communist tyranny.

Covertly both leaders meet and agree to fund the FRENCH-CANADIAN RESISTANCE with the weapons they need to fight their Soviet occupiers. A successful clandestine campaign embarrasses the Soviet regime as they are fought into a quagmire by French-Canadian rebels armed with futuristic weaponry supplied by the Americans and Confederates; the last straw breaks the camel’s back as Soviet Premiere MIKHAIL GORBACHEV summits with Reagan and Presley in Cuba, a Confederate State.

He agrees to pull out of Canada and the force field shielding people from flying over the wall is deactivated; the wall comes toppling down in NIAGRA FALLS as Canadians get to see the Waterfall and the American side of the border for the first time.

We close to the flattering remarks President Reagan extends to President Presley for a job well done and the simplistic and humble reply of the Confederate Commander in Chief:

“Thank you, thank you very much.”



FADE OUT:

What cracked me up was that the Confederate WWII takes were listed as 'JACKSON TANKS" instead of Shermans in the writer's side notes.

Jackson was a superior man in all respects. They should be called Jackson tanks.

Originally Posted by Zenas

Jackson was a superior man in all respects. They should be called Jackson tanks.

Well you'll notice in a bit of tongue in cheek irony, the author has Sherman torched by a Confederate flame thrower.

I have a couple of Confederate Alternate History books which are a lot of fun to read. I'd like to see them made into some movies.

Did you mean to say "bring parity to the atomic age" or parody?

Originally Posted by turmeric

Did you mean to say "bring parity to the atomic age" or parody?

I didn't write it, it is probably a typo by the author.

You can film it in Memphis and it can star me.

I'm a great actor. For instance, I acted like I was totally O.K. with the government crossing the threshold of a private residence to arrest a hypothetical defendant.