Elektra - Writer Commentary
Genre: Action / Thriller / Superhero
Director: Zack Snyder
Writer: Dwight Gallo
Based on Marvel Comics characters
Cast: Sofia Boutella, Sam Heughan, Sonoya Mizuno, Shun Oguri, Takeshi Kitano, Chuck Norris, Caterina Murino
Plot: Marseille, France.
Elektra Natchios (Sofia Boutella), wearing a slinky red dress, dances in a nightclub. [1] She catches the eyes of a woman, Carmella Unuscione (Caterina Murino), in the VIP area surrounded by bodyguards. Elektra locks eyes with her as she continues to dance. Once the song ends, Elektra walks away from the dance floor and into the restroom. The woman leaves her bodyguards and follows Elektra into the restroom. The woman begins kissing Elektra, who begins kissing back. Elektra starts at Carmella's neck and kisses her way down to her waist. Carmella begins pulling her dress up, but instead of continuing with her sensual kissing, Elektra pulls a sai out from behind her back and stabs Carmella through the heart with it. With her dying breath, Carmella asks who wanted her dead. After Carmella has succumbed to her wound, Elektra answers Carmella's question with a whisper: "The Hand". [2]
[1] Hey everyone, Dwight Gallo here. Welcome to Elektra. I've done quite a few Marvel films over the years, but this one was something of an experiment for me. With the X-Men, you're juggling a dozen characters and enough mythology to fill an encyclopedia. With The Punisher, everything is usually pretty grounded in the criminal underworld. For Elektra, I wanted something much simpler - a lean, violent martial arts movie built almost entirely around nine major action sequences. Basically, I wanted to see how much of a screenplay I could get away with writing without having everybody stop to talk about their feelings every ten minutes.
[2] The biggest comic book influence here was obviously Frank Miller's work on Daredevil, which introduced Elektra, Stick and The Hand. I was also a big fan of Elektra: Assassin, particularly Bill Sienkiewicz's artwork. That book is absolutely bonkers from a visual standpoint, and I wanted to capture some of that nightmarish, exaggerated quality without necessarily adapting the story itself. I figured if I could get even a fraction of that visual madness into the film, we'd have something pretty distinctive.
Valley of Mercy and Wrath, Japan.
On a crimson motorcycle, Elektra speeds along a dark, narrow, winding road cutting through the dense forests west of Mount Fuji. [3] She pulls off onto a gravel road, leading her to a small, seemingly abandoned shack. She enters the shack, which turns out to be an elevator that takes her down to a massive underground complex that serves as the base of operations for The Hand - a group of international assassins. Elektra walks through a series of corridors before finally making her way into the ornate office of the master of The Hand, Jonin (Takeshi Kitano). [4] She hands over a bloody sai to him to prove that she killed her target. Jonin commends her on yet another job well done. Jonin hands her a small bag of diamonds as payment and asks her when she will be ready for another job. She tells him she is always ready. He hands her a folder containing information on her next target: a man known only as "Stick" (Chuck Norris). Elektra has flashes of Stick training her in the ways of martial arts. Her flashback is interrupted by Jonin asking her if her previous relationship with the target will get in the way of a successful contract. Elektra shakes her head "no".
[3] Sofia Boutella was actually one of my earliest choices for the role. When I was putting together my initial casting ideas, I kept coming back to actresses who had some background in dance or gymnastics. Elektra needed to look like somebody who could kill you with a pair of sai, but also move with a certain grace. Sofia checked both boxes. I also liked that she had a somewhat unconventional look for a Hollywood superheroine. I wasn't particularly interested in casting somebody just because she'd look good in a red outfit - although, admittedly, that's not exactly a bad bonus.
[4] Takeshi Kitano was somebody I really wanted for Jonin. I've been a fan of his Japanese crime movies for years, and I thought he could bring a certain quiet menace to the character. Most comic book villains seem to feel the need to announce how evil they are every time they enter a room. Kitano can sit behind a desk, barely say anything and still make you uncomfortable. The one unfortunate thing about casting him was that I knew we were only going to get a couple of scenes out of him before he gutted himself.
In the morning, Elektra collects a new sai from The Hand's armory to replace the one she used to kill Carmella. She is approached by fellow Hand assassin, Kwannon (Sonoya Mizuno) who informs her that Jonin would like to have a word with her before she leaves the complex. [5] Elektra once again enters Jonin's office. He asks her to take a seat. He tells her that he has kept a secret from her for many years and it has shamed him long enough. Elektra is confused, but says nothing. Jonin says that when Elektra was a young child, her mother was murdered by an assassin hired by an enemy of her father. Uncomfortable, Elektra says she knows the story but doesn't wish to hear it again. Jonin then tells Elektra that he was the assassin in the story - he killed Elektra's mother. Elektra is clearly bothered by this news, but does her best to hold back her emotions. Jonin says that he is tired of feeling the shame and asks Elektra to hand him one of his tantō swords that adorn the walls of his office. He looks at the sword, recognizing it as one that once belonged to Kusunoki Masashige, a great samurai leader who used that very sword to commit seppuku nearly 700 years prior to avoid capture by another clan. He says it is oddly suiting. He then plunges the weapon and draws the blade from left to right, slicing his belly open. Elektra coldly watches as Jonin's blood and guts spill across the floor. Jonin dies almost instantly. Elektra calmly walks out of the office. [6]
[5] Zack Snyder wasn't necessarily the most obvious choice when I first started thinking about directors. I originally pictured something closer to a straightforward Asian martial arts film, but the more I developed the story, the more I thought Zack's visual style might actually be perfect for it. He's a filmmaker who can make almost any individual shot look like a comic book panel. I knew he'd embrace the violence, the colors and the more exaggerated elements of the story.
[6] This was probably the most unusual of the nine major sequences I built the script around. When I say nine action sequences, I'm using the term rather loosely in this case. Watching an elderly Japanese man disembowel himself isn't exactly a traditional action scene. Originally, I had considered having Elektra kill Jonin when she learned the truth about her mother, but that felt too predictable. I liked the idea of him denying her that revenge by taking his own life. I probably spent more time researching the history of Japanese ritual suicide than was entirely healthy. That led me down a rabbit hole involving Kusunoki Masashige and the history of seppuku, which is where the business with the antique sword came from. I liked the idea of Jonin viewing his suicide as an honorable act while Elektra sees it as little more than another death. Of course, I also wanted Zack Snyder to have the opportunity to show somebody's guts spilling out onto a very expensive-looking floor.
As Elektra makes her way into the exit elevator, an alarm sounds throughout the complex. She sees several assassins run toward her as the elevator doors close just in time. Once back on the surface, Elektra gets back on to her motorcycle and speeds away. [7] Kwannon sits in front of Jonin's disemboweled body with tears in her eyes. She orders a group of Hand assassins to find Elektra and bring her back to the complex to face punishment for her actions. Elektra makes it back to the expressway that leads to the Haneda Airport only to be caught in rush hour traffic. She looks behind her and sees a group of black motorcycles closing in on her. Elektra begins speeding between the stop and go cars on the road as the black motorcycles open fire on her with submachine guns. She weaves between vehicles, dodging gunfire. As the chase draws closer to the airport, the gunfire has garnered police attention. A police helicopter flies over the expressway, pointing its spotlight on the black motorcycles forcing them to halt their pursuit of Elektra. Now in the clear, Elektra leaves her motorcycle at the terminal and buys a plane ticket to New York City. Kwannon sits behind Jonin's desk. She is informed by her lover and fellow assassin, Kirigi (Shun Oguri), that Elektra was spotted boarding a plane to New York City. Kwannon looks through the file for the Stick contract on the desk. She wonders aloud if Elektra went to New York to fulfill the contract or warn her former master of the threat to his life. Kirigi volunteers to go to the United States to find out.
[7] The nine-sequence structure was something I mapped out before I really started writing the screenplay. I essentially worked backward from the action scenes, figuring out what story needed to happen in between them. It's pretty much the opposite of how I normally approach an X-Men movie, where you have to carefully develop everybody's motivations and relationships. Here, I wanted the action to tell the story. This motorcycle chase establishes that Elektra has gone from being The Hand's most valuable employee to its most wanted fugitive. I suppose it's the ninja equivalent of getting fired and then having your former coworkers try to murder you in the parking lot.
New York City, New York.
Elektra arrives at a cemetery. She places a single red rose each on the graves of Hugo and Christina Natchios, her parents. She looks around to see if she is being watched. Once she is confident in her privacy, she uses a sai to dig a small hole in the ground above her parents' graves. She then places the bag of diamonds in the hole and covers it with dirt. Elektra takes a taxi cab away from the cemetery. Elektra enters a rundown apartment building in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan situated above an old adult movie house. She notices that one of the mailboxes in the lobby has a label in braille. She feels it and then continues up to the corresponding apartment. She puts her ear to the door, but doesn't hear anyone inside. She picks the lock and enters the spartan apartment. The neon lights from the triple-x marquee floods the inside of the apartment with red light. Matt Murdock (Sam Heughan) walks down the city streets. [8] He wears red-tinted sunglasses and navigates down the cracked city sidewalk with the use of a walking stick for the blind. He enters the same apartment building. As soon as he gets out of the stairwell he can sense something isn't quite right. When he gets to the apartment door he collapses his walking stick into a pair of batons. He silently and cautiously enters the apartment. He sniffs the air. He then tells Elektra that she still smells the same even after all the years that have passed. Elektra emerges from the shadows and tells Matt that it is good to see him. Matt jokes that he wishes he could say the same thing. Elektra steps closer and Matt gently puts his hand to her face to "see" her. He comments that she looks sad. She passionately kisses him. He drops his batons as he kisses her back. Elektra and Matt have sex on the hardwood floors of Matt's apartment. [9] As they lay out of breath, covered by a lone red silk sheet on the floor, Matt finally asks Elektra what brought her back to the Big Apple. Elektra reveals that The Hand has a contract on Stick. Matt laughs at the idea that anyone could take out Stick, comparing his ability to survive to that of a cockroach. Elektra says she'll be sure to tell Stick he said that. Elektra gets up and begins getting dressed. Matt walks over to his closet and pulls out a red leather jumpsuit and cowl. Elektra comments that it is still day time so he will stick out like a sore thumb. Matt hangs back up the suit and closes the closet. Elektra and Matt leave the apartment and hail a taxi cab. Meanwhile, Kirigi arrives in New York City with the folder on Stick. He too gets into a cab and orders the driver to take him to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.
[8] Sam Heughan was an interesting casting decision because we really weren't looking to launch a Daredevil franchise with this movie. I wanted somebody who could convincingly play an established superhero without making the audience wonder why he wasn't the star of the picture. Sam has the right combination of physical presence, charisma and humor for Matt Murdock. He's also a rather handsome fellow, which I figured couldn't hurt when you're asking the audience to believe Elektra is still carrying a torch for him after all these years. Not that Matt would be particularly impressed by his own appearance.
[9] One of the things I liked about Frank Miller's original introduction of Elektra in Daredevil #168 was the complicated romantic history between her and Matt. We know these two have been through a lot together, and I wanted to preserve that without spending twenty minutes on flashbacks to their college years. I liked the idea of Matt and Elektra essentially picking up where they left off, at least physically. They have this passionate reunion, have sex on his apartment floor, and then immediately go back to dealing with the fact that somebody is trying to murder their old martial arts instructor. Romance isn't necessarily my strongest area as a writer, but I figured these two probably had enough history that I didn't need to write a bunch of flowery dialogue. Besides, I don't think Elektra is the sort of woman who wants to sit around discussing her feelings over a candlelit dinner.
Elektra and Matt get out of the cab and walk through a beautiful Japanese garden where they find an older, blind man, Stick, pruning some hedges. [10] Stick comments that he may not have the superhuman remaining senses that Matt has, he could still hear them coming a mile away. He then comments that something important must be happening to not only bring those two back together again, but also force his two greatest students to come see an old man like him. Elektra tells Stick that The Hand is coming for him. Stick laughs at the idea, telling her that he's not hid in his life and he doesn't intend to start now. Elektra asks Stick if he has any weapons around. Stick grabs a rake and breaks off the end, turning it into a makeshift staff. [11] Kirigi watches this from a distance. He calls Kwannon to confirm that he has found the target with Elektra and that she appears to be warning him rather than killing him. Kwannon tells Kirigi to follow them while she sends reinforcements to aid him in killing both of them. Kirigi scoffs at the idea of needing backup and tells Kwannon he can take care of it himself. Kwannon tells Kirigi to be careful, referring to him as her "love".
[10] Chuck Norris as Stick started out as one of those casting ideas that sounded a little ridiculous when I first jotted it down. I mean, we're talking about Chuck Norris playing a blind martial arts instructor. It almost sounds like the setup for one of those old Chuck Norris internet jokes. But the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. Chuck had the martial arts credentials, the gruff personality and that wonderfully dry delivery. I didn't want Stick to be some mysterious old sage constantly dispensing ancient wisdom. I wanted him to be a cranky old bastard who just happens to be able to beat the hell out of almost anybody. Chuck seemed perfect for that.
[11] Sadly, Chuck passed away earlier this year, which was obviously a terrible loss. We'd actually planned to bring him back as Stick for the upcoming sequel, but unfortunately that wasn't to be. It's particularly disappointing because I really enjoyed the character's relationship with Elektra and Matt, and there was certainly more to explore there. But I'm glad we were able to get Chuck involved in this first film. He was a genuine action movie legend, and it's pretty special I was able to make him part of the LRF Marvel Universe.
Gusts of wind begin blowing the red and orange autumn leaves around the garden in a swirl. Matt and Stick are both immediately on edge, sensing something with their heightened senses. Elektra asks Matt what he hears. Matt tells her that he hears footsteps carefully stepping with the wind to mask the sound. Stick is impressed Matt can hear that, but also expresses annoyance that he's going to have to rake all the leaves all over again. Matt whispers to Elektra that the footsteps have stopped as he collapses his walking stick into batons. Kirigi leaps from tree to tree in absolute silence. [12] Finally he is right above them, obscured by leaves. Kirigi launches himself at the tree with a katana drawn. Matt hears him just in time to deflect the sword with his batons at the last second. Elektra draws a pair of sai and squares off against Kirigi. Elektra tells Matt and Stick to get out of the area while she keeps Kirigi busy. Matt begrudgingly nods his head and he and Stick retreat from the gardens. Elektra fends off Kirigi's violent sword attacks with her sai. Once she has a chance, she swifty and expertly throws her sai at Kirigi, hitting him in the throat. Kirigi pulls the sai from his neck. Blood gushes from the hole in Kirigi's neck. He collapses in a pool of his own blood. Elektra collects her sai. She wipes Kirigi's blood off on his clothing and leaves Kirigi's body, surrounded by the red of blood and leaves.
[12] Kirigi was another character taken directly from Frank Miller's Daredevil stories. One of the things I liked about the character was that he's this incredibly dangerous assassin who keeps getting killed and resurrected by The Hand. It seemed like a fun concept to work with, particularly since Elektra is accustomed to solving most of her problems by stabbing people. The Japanese garden fight was also one of the scenes I most wanted to see Zack direct. The autumn leaves, the red blood, the swordplay - it was practically begging for slow motion. I imagine Zack was probably just as excited about all those leaves as he was about the actual fight.
Elektra makes it back to Matt's apartment where she finds Stick and Matt, now wearing his red-leather Daredevil armor. Matt asks Elektra if it is safe there. She assures Matt and Stick that The Hand doesn't know about her past with Matt. Matt asks how she could know, and she informs him that she knows because she works, or worked rather, for The Hand. Matt asks Stick why The Hand is trying to kill him now. Stick cryptically says that he is not blind to some of his past actions, and neither are his enemies. Meanwhile, Kwannon and a group of Hand assassins arrive at the Japanese gardens and collect Kirigi's body. [13] As Kwannon places her hands upon his chest, Kirigi gasps back to life. She kisses his forehead and asks him if he's ready to make Eletra and Stick both pay the costs of their actions with their lives. Kirigi, alive but unable to speak due to his throat wound, nods his head. Elektra, Matt and Stick are trying to think of a plan of action. Elektra suggests they all go on the run, informing them that she has a sizable amount of diamonds stashed that they could live on for a while. Matt vehemently tells Elektra that he isn't leaving Hell's Kitchen anytime soon. Elektra asks Stick what his stance is. Stick says that he'd rather fight than run, adding that a blind man running for his life cannot see where he is going. Suddenly Hand assassins burst through the windows of the apartment showering Elektra, Matt and Stick in glass. [14] The trio easily fends off the lower-level Hand assassins. Then Kirigi and Kwannon enter the red neon-soaked apartment. Matt and Stick team up to fight Kirigi while Elektra squares off against Kwannon. Stick uses his staff to quickly and craftily hit Kirigi repeatedly. Matt activates the sprinkler system in his apartment, with the beating rain giving him a sort of echolocation ability that allows him to almost see Kirigi. He joins the fight and begins hitting Kirigi with his batons, forcing Kirigi into a defensive position against his two opponents. Across the apartment, Kwannon charges at Elektra with a pair of katanas. Elektra defends herself with her sai and manages to get a solid kick into Kwannon's chest, sending her crashing through the window and out onto the fire escape. Elektra jumps out the window after her. The fight carries on up the fire escape with neither Kwannon or Elektra getting an upper hand. Back inside, Kirigi manages to stab Matt in the shoulder. Stick kicks the sword, snapping it in half. Matt then grabs the piece of sword from his shoulder and stabs Kirigi in the chest with it. Kirigi then collapses. Stick tells Matt not to take the shard out of Kirigi's chest as Kirigi has a habit of not staying dead, but leaving a piece of blade in his heart is liable to stop that habit. One the rooftop of the building, Elektra and Kwannon continue their fight. Both assassins are clearly growing tired. Elektra lands another kick to Kwannon, sending her stumbling back toward the edge of the roof. Kwannon tells Elektra that she should not have allowed Jonin to end his own life like that as it was not honorable. Elektra tells Kwannon that Jonin felt shame, something Kwannon is clearly not capable of. Elektra then throws a sai at Kwannon, who manages to block it with one of her swords. The sudden action, however, causes Kwannon to lose her balance on the roof's edge and fall over the side. Kwannon falls several stories down, before crashing down on top of a taxi cab. [15]
[13] Kwannon was obviously a character I borrowed from the X-Men side of the Marvel Universe. Comic readers probably know her better through the whole Psylocke and Revanche storyline, which is one of those wonderfully complicated X-Men stories that requires a flowchart to explain properly. She actually has a connection to The Hand through Matsu'o Tsurayaba in the comics, so it wasn't a completely arbitrary decision to use her here. I stripped away most of the mutant and psychic elements and turned her into a more straightforward assassin. Her romantic relationship with Kirigi was another change I made specifically for the film. I wanted her pursuit of Elektra to become increasingly personal rather than just being a matter of loyalty to The Hand. I also deliberately avoided explaining the mechanics of The Hand's resurrection abilities. In the comics, this stuff can become incredibly complicated, with mystical rituals, ancient organizations and all sorts of supernatural business. Here, Kwannon touches Kirigi, and he comes back to life. That's really all the audience needs to know at this point. I'm sure I could have written an entire scene explaining how it works, but that would have meant five fewer minutes of people hitting each other with sharp objects.
[14] This was the big action sequence that everything was building toward, and probably the most complicated one to write. We have three protagonists with very different fighting styles going up against two major villains and a small army of disposable ninjas. I wanted everybody to have something useful to do, rather than having Daredevil and Stick stand around watching Elektra fight. The sprinkler system was one of my favorite little ideas because it gave Matt a chance to use his heightened senses in a creative way. And naturally, I had to give Chuck Norris a few opportunities to smack people around with a wooden stick. You don't cast Chuck Norris in a martial arts movie and have him spend the climax sitting in a chair.
[15] I considered killing Kwannon here, but decided it would be more interesting to leave her fate ambiguous. Of course, after establishing that The Hand can resurrect dead assassins, I suppose throwing somebody off a building isn't exactly the most convincing way to kill them permanently.
Elektra heads down the fire escape and back into the apartment where she finds Stick attempting to patch up Matt's stab wound. Together the three of them go outside to confirm Kwannon's demise. However, when they get to the crushed taxi cab, they do not find Kwannon's body anywhere. Elektra follows a trail of blood down the street until the trail ends. Matt asks her what she's going to do now. Elektra thinks about it for a moment, then says that it seems like she only has one choice now: she must hunt down every last member of The Hand and kill them before they do the same to her. She kisses Matt one more time before walking away from him and disappearing into the shadows. [16]
[16] Well, that's Elektra. Looking back on it, I'm pretty happy with how this experiment turned out. It was fun to get away from the ensemble storytelling of X-Men and the grim crime stories of The Punisher and write something that was basically an excuse to have a bunch of incredibly talented people beat the living hell out of each other for ninety minutes or so. And now, after quite a few seasons away, I can confirm that a sequel is officially on the way. Thanks for listening to me.
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