Genre: Crime/Drama
Director: John Hillcoat
Writer: Dwight Gallo
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kirsten Dunst, Boyd Holbrook, Jesse Plemmons, Rainn Wilson
Plot: Sheriff Dunne (Leonardo DiCaprio) drives his squad car down a desert road. He pulls off the road, parking behind a couple of dead trees away from the road. He pops the trunk, reaches past a garbage bag-wrapped corpse, and pulls out a shovel. He starts digging, when he hits something. He clears away dirt to find a dead body. He calls it in over the radio. [1]
[1] Blackwater is a project I conceived many years before it ever actually saw the light of day with a different studio. My biggest influence was the work of writer Jim Thompson, one of my favorite writers. I was originally considering adapting one of his novels, but I couldn't decide on one, so I ended up developing my own take on his style and vibe. Leo was always my top choice for the role of Sheriff Dunne, as I felt the role needed someone who was both charismatic, but also fearless.
Dunne's deputy Kelly McIntosh (Jesse Plemons) and town veterinarian/forensics "expert" Dwayne (Rainn Wilson) arrive at the scene. [2] Dunne claims he received an anonymous tip. Dwayne inspects the body and takes pictures. He tells the sheriff that identifying the body may be difficult as the face is badly bashed in, all the teeth knocked out or broken, and the fingertips are all cut off. Dunne points out a class ring on what's left of one of the fingers. Dwayne pulls off the ring and realizes it belongs to a former classmate of his, Pat O'Connell. Dunne leaves Kelly in charge of the crime scene and drives away, with his own corpse to still dispose of.
[2] One of the fun things about lining up a major star like DiCaprio in the lead role, is that you can then surround the star with quirkier, somewhat lesser known character actors since you already have the big name draw.
Dunne drives through town, trying to figure out a new spot to dump the body in his trunk. He drives out to the old abandoned factory. He drags the body to a big metal packing machine in the middle of the factory. Dunne opens the machine, and a body falls out. Teeth gone, fingertips sawed off. Dunne realizes the town has its first genuine serial killer.
Everywhere Dunne can think to dump a body, somebody has beat him to it. He finds another one at the town dump, the abandoned Methodist church, even at the used-car lot crammed in the trunk of an old Chevy. The bodies are guys that have been missing for months. All deadbeats nobody missed, with lengthy criminal records. After the first couple bodies, Dunne stops calling them in as his department is too undermanned for all the random bodies. [3]
[3] One take I had when I was writing Blackwater was to make it even more darkly comedic than it ended up. It was a tricky balancing act because I wanted to keep the dark, morbid humor, but I didn't feel it should necessarily BE a comedy. Hopefully the audience feels I walked that tightrope well enough. This sequence was a bit of what was left from the more comedic version, but I felt it still felt it fit the tone of what it was becoming without being overly jokey.
A memory comes back to Dunne from a few months prior. He had stopped at a local roadhouse to use the facilities. Dunne found the restroom occupied - by his wife Jean (Kirsten Dunst) who was having sex with local meth dealer Zeke (Boyd Holbrook). [4] Dunne beat up Zeke, nearly drowning him in toilet water. Jean screamed and jumped on Dunne's back.
[4] I'm very glad that Kirsten Dunst was willing to accept a smaller role like that of Jean. Obviously she doesn't have a lot of screen time, but I think she nailed the role. We needed someone who would be believable as a sort of Midwestern golden girl, but also have an edge to her where it would be believable that she would stand up to and berate Dunne without coming across as over-the-top or distracting.
Dunne thinks about all the bodies and realizes that Zeke was buddies with the dead deadbeats. Dunne decides to stop by Zeke's house to see if he knows anything. [5] When Dunne steps up to the door, he hears movement inside. He knocks on the door and the movement immediately stops. Dunne draws his gun. As he announces himself, the door explodes with a shotgun blast. Zeke runs out of the house, but is tripped by Dunne, who holds his gun to the back of Zeke's head. Dunne handcuffs Zeke and looks inside the house. Inside, he finds yet another body. Zeke claims all the bodies were an accident. Dunne notices twelve skulls tattooed on Zeke's arm, one for each of the deaths. Dunne shoots Zeke twice, killing him.
[5] I had a blast writing this scene. Zeke was probably the most difficult role in the film to cast, but I think Holbrook ended up being the right choice as he's able to do a lot with a role that is admittedly a little under-written. A lot of the smaller roles are a little thin on paper, so I tried to nail the casting of those roles and find actors who could give them a little extra life. Plemmons, Wilson, Dunst and Holbrook all accomplished that in my opinion.
Dunne calls in Kelly and Dwayne. They cart the bodies off and commend Dunne on his detective skills. Once everybody leaves, Dunne drags the body from his trunk and buries it in Zeke's cellar.
Dunne goes home and stares at the kitchen walls. They're splattered with blood. The previous night, Jean had come home reeking of booze and sex. She told Dunne that she would have sex with whoever she wanted, she'd sleep with the whole high school football team if she felt like it, and there was nothing he could do about it. Dunne had calmly pulled out his gun and shot her in the chest. [6] Dunne begins mopping up the blood in the kitchen. [7]
[6] The final reveal was a tricky one from a plotting standpoint. I had a hard time making up my mind about giving the clues about who Dunne had killed, but at the end of the day I like that I held off until the very end.
[7] Season 2 of LRF turned out to be a pretty good season for me as a writer. This was my only original story that season, but I think that the films I wrote then, including Blackwater, helped me develop a lot as a writer. It pleases me that Blackwater has stood the test of time somewhat and still receives some love after all these seasons. Thanks to John Malone and DR Cobb for putting it in their Top 5 Films lists and for voters including it in the LRF 100, it's quite an honor. Hopefully a look back at a "classic" LRF film like this will encourage more newer viewers and writers to take a look at some of the older films in the studio's expansive catalog.
[1] Blackwater is a project I conceived many years before it ever actually saw the light of day with a different studio. My biggest influence was the work of writer Jim Thompson, one of my favorite writers. I was originally considering adapting one of his novels, but I couldn't decide on one, so I ended up developing my own take on his style and vibe. Leo was always my top choice for the role of Sheriff Dunne, as I felt the role needed someone who was both charismatic, but also fearless.
Dunne's deputy Kelly McIntosh (Jesse Plemons) and town veterinarian/forensics "expert" Dwayne (Rainn Wilson) arrive at the scene. [2] Dunne claims he received an anonymous tip. Dwayne inspects the body and takes pictures. He tells the sheriff that identifying the body may be difficult as the face is badly bashed in, all the teeth knocked out or broken, and the fingertips are all cut off. Dunne points out a class ring on what's left of one of the fingers. Dwayne pulls off the ring and realizes it belongs to a former classmate of his, Pat O'Connell. Dunne leaves Kelly in charge of the crime scene and drives away, with his own corpse to still dispose of.
[2] One of the fun things about lining up a major star like DiCaprio in the lead role, is that you can then surround the star with quirkier, somewhat lesser known character actors since you already have the big name draw.
Dunne drives through town, trying to figure out a new spot to dump the body in his trunk. He drives out to the old abandoned factory. He drags the body to a big metal packing machine in the middle of the factory. Dunne opens the machine, and a body falls out. Teeth gone, fingertips sawed off. Dunne realizes the town has its first genuine serial killer.
Everywhere Dunne can think to dump a body, somebody has beat him to it. He finds another one at the town dump, the abandoned Methodist church, even at the used-car lot crammed in the trunk of an old Chevy. The bodies are guys that have been missing for months. All deadbeats nobody missed, with lengthy criminal records. After the first couple bodies, Dunne stops calling them in as his department is too undermanned for all the random bodies. [3]
[3] One take I had when I was writing Blackwater was to make it even more darkly comedic than it ended up. It was a tricky balancing act because I wanted to keep the dark, morbid humor, but I didn't feel it should necessarily BE a comedy. Hopefully the audience feels I walked that tightrope well enough. This sequence was a bit of what was left from the more comedic version, but I felt it still felt it fit the tone of what it was becoming without being overly jokey.
A memory comes back to Dunne from a few months prior. He had stopped at a local roadhouse to use the facilities. Dunne found the restroom occupied - by his wife Jean (Kirsten Dunst) who was having sex with local meth dealer Zeke (Boyd Holbrook). [4] Dunne beat up Zeke, nearly drowning him in toilet water. Jean screamed and jumped on Dunne's back.
[4] I'm very glad that Kirsten Dunst was willing to accept a smaller role like that of Jean. Obviously she doesn't have a lot of screen time, but I think she nailed the role. We needed someone who would be believable as a sort of Midwestern golden girl, but also have an edge to her where it would be believable that she would stand up to and berate Dunne without coming across as over-the-top or distracting.
Dunne thinks about all the bodies and realizes that Zeke was buddies with the dead deadbeats. Dunne decides to stop by Zeke's house to see if he knows anything. [5] When Dunne steps up to the door, he hears movement inside. He knocks on the door and the movement immediately stops. Dunne draws his gun. As he announces himself, the door explodes with a shotgun blast. Zeke runs out of the house, but is tripped by Dunne, who holds his gun to the back of Zeke's head. Dunne handcuffs Zeke and looks inside the house. Inside, he finds yet another body. Zeke claims all the bodies were an accident. Dunne notices twelve skulls tattooed on Zeke's arm, one for each of the deaths. Dunne shoots Zeke twice, killing him.
[5] I had a blast writing this scene. Zeke was probably the most difficult role in the film to cast, but I think Holbrook ended up being the right choice as he's able to do a lot with a role that is admittedly a little under-written. A lot of the smaller roles are a little thin on paper, so I tried to nail the casting of those roles and find actors who could give them a little extra life. Plemmons, Wilson, Dunst and Holbrook all accomplished that in my opinion.
Dunne calls in Kelly and Dwayne. They cart the bodies off and commend Dunne on his detective skills. Once everybody leaves, Dunne drags the body from his trunk and buries it in Zeke's cellar.
Dunne goes home and stares at the kitchen walls. They're splattered with blood. The previous night, Jean had come home reeking of booze and sex. She told Dunne that she would have sex with whoever she wanted, she'd sleep with the whole high school football team if she felt like it, and there was nothing he could do about it. Dunne had calmly pulled out his gun and shot her in the chest. [6] Dunne begins mopping up the blood in the kitchen. [7]
[6] The final reveal was a tricky one from a plotting standpoint. I had a hard time making up my mind about giving the clues about who Dunne had killed, but at the end of the day I like that I held off until the very end.
[7] Season 2 of LRF turned out to be a pretty good season for me as a writer. This was my only original story that season, but I think that the films I wrote then, including Blackwater, helped me develop a lot as a writer. It pleases me that Blackwater has stood the test of time somewhat and still receives some love after all these seasons. Thanks to John Malone and DR Cobb for putting it in their Top 5 Films lists and for voters including it in the LRF 100, it's quite an honor. Hopefully a look back at a "classic" LRF film like this will encourage more newer viewers and writers to take a look at some of the older films in the studio's expansive catalog.
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