ADVERSARY by Nila Murali with Niall Mahon

Flat 9, Studio 58, Dighton Street Bristol, BS2 8AU 07772510524

INT. WRESTLING RING. DARK. The scene opens with a black screen. The sound of a crowd chanting fades into audible range. After a short pause, a spotlight blazes down from above, revealing BLUE, who is standing with a determined expression. He GROWLS lowly, staring into the darkness. BLUE GRrrrrhhhhh The shot changes to focus upon the dark once again. A second spotlight beams down, revealing RED, sat upon a char against the turnbuckle. He slowly stands, and quietly cracks his knuckles. Cut to overhead. Suddenly, dozens of lights burst into life, revealing the wrestling ring. The CROWD erupts into life, ceasing the chants and instead cheering and whooping for their brawny warriors. The title ADVERSARY appears on the screen during this moment. The CROWD dies down a little as the wrestlers face off with one another. BLUE begins with some flexes. He lets out some guttural grunts while he shows his muscles off for the audience. In an abstract display, a tiny man appears on his biceps, which is also flexing. The CROWD cheer loudly. Reaction shot on RED. Hes not happy. In retaliation, he does some flexes of his own. Large mountains rise from his arms, with a sequence of rocky sounds, culminating in a yodel. The crowd cheers even louder. The picture cuts to black. Moments later, three frames appear in quick succession, containing the silhouettes of BLUE as he strikes three poses. The first two are strong, combat-ready poses, while the third is a ballet stance. Three pictures containing RED immediately follow. In the same style as before, two of them are strong and the third is a disco dance pose. A shot of the red CROWD cheering is shown for a moment. Reds posing shadow overcasts the stage and traps BLUE beneath it. He braces, tenses, and then lets out a roar. The roar is captured in a quick split-screen shot, with 2

BLUE on the left and RED on the right. As BLUE starts to roar, REDS features are pushed back, momentarily, as if he is being struck by a strong wind. RED hesitates before joining in. Both wrestlers are roaring now, and cracks appear over the shaking screen. RED & BLUE BRAAARGGHHAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! We see the audience again; this time a group of people wearing blue shirts. BLUE blows steam from his nose, taking on a more animalistic posture. He grabs his hair, and tears it out, leaving a pair of pointed hairy horns against an abstract background. BLUE GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHARGRRGRGH!! The camera zooms out to reveal RED, while BLUE scrapes his foot against the floor, like a bull. We see REDs moustache next in an extreme close up. A pair of hands come in slowly from either end of the frame, grabbing hold of the tache. RED yanks away his whiskers with a scream, once again forcing the camera away. RED NYAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAHAHAHAH! RED proceeds to pound on his chest like a gorilla, while paper aeroplanes fly by him, making plane engine noises. The CROWD roar at this development, slowly growing more and more excited. A shot reveals both red and blue spectators. The bell rings, and BLUE glances over his shoulder. RED however doesnt hesitate, and he raises his fist, sending it towards his opponent. The fist zooms through the air against a distorted anime background. We cut repeatedly from REDs angry shots and to BLUEs terrified expressions. They scream and their faces become more twisted and deformed. Eventually the fist bursts into flames and we see a climax approaching. The hand then becomes old and wrinkled. Light flows into the shot, and a small room with a chessboard comes into sight. The hand picks up a bishop chess piece, and moves it to G5.

INT. RETIREMENT HOME. DAY. OLD RED Check Wide shot of the table. You see both players sat opposite one another in a drab, slightly monotone and depressing room. Black and white photographs are visible on the walls displaying the two men in their wrestling career. The words DAWN DALE TEMPLE RETIREMENT HOME with the first letters DDT highlighted are visible on the wall. (DDT is a famous wrestling technique.)Its raining outside to add to the depressing shift. The wide shot will completely drain all energy, and the old men will initially show very little movement. Eventually, OLD BLUE will grow agitated, and hell lean forward in his chair. OLD RED will accept the challenge and do the same. We cut to a close up shot of the two elderlies facing off. Their faces grow closer until their noses are touching, and we hear the echoes of the crowd fill the room. Thunder rumbles, tensions rise, before an instant cut to black and immediate silence. We cut to a final shot of the wall displaying the photos of the wrestlers in their prime. The credits are also displayed here. The chanting of the crowd we heard at the start of the movie echoes in the background, before fading out along with the image.

FADE TO BLACK: THE END