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Description

Half-Life fan script (2021) Genre: Scifi, Action, Horror. Total Runtime 3h 19min (Rated R for strong violence and gore, strong language, body horror)

PREMISE: Welcome to Black Mesa Research Facility. Top secret research facility located deep in the New Mexico desert, dedicated for the research of fringe science and study of alien technology. When a brilliant theoretical physicist and Black Mesa employee Dr. GORDON FREEMAN unleashes an alien invasion on the facility after a failed experiment, he is forced to defend himself and his fellow scientists against the merciless alien onslaught, using only his wit and trusty crowbar. In his struggle, Gordon discovers troublesome secrets about his employer and the Black Mesa facility, secrets so deadly that the Government is willing to kill to keep them secret from the public. It falls upon Freeman and his friends to save the WORLD.

MAKING OF: Half-Life cinematic universe starts with Half-Life. I wanted to hold this back until I had enough writing credits under my belt, when you write Half-Life, you better not go in it half- cocked, pun intended xD. We've had Glados's voice in Pacific Rim, Gravity gun in District 9, Portal and Gravity Gun in Free Guy, and we still haven't have Half-Life movie, which is funny, we had everything from the games, but no movie xD. Biggest challenge is how to tell the story that most gamers know like back of their hands, and still be accessable for the new comers. Second issue is with genre and tone, because Half-Life is a hotchpotch of genres, it is a disaster film, it has scifi, action, adventure, horror, comedy, drama, etc. And what is the tone, is it a camp movie, or deep and thoughtful exploration of human condition, or just straight horror survival without bullshit.

Third was casting. Okay, we can all agree that Willem Dafoe would be perfect G-Man, but who would be the lead, Dr. Gordon Freeman himself, I struggled with this for a long time until I saw Netflix's The Last Days of American Crime movie, and I saw Sharlto Copley in a small role, and I swear to god, he looked just like Gordon Freeman without the glasses, and it made sense, star of District 9 and Hardcore Henry, of course! And it would be cool if Neil Blomkamp directed this, just saying xD. And does Gordon Freeman speak? I also struggled with this a long time, in my opinion, no. If you think of Duke Nukem, he needs to speak, it's part of his character. Yes, main character didn't speak in the original Doom or Quake. But what made Half-Life different that it actually had a STORY with the shooting, but Gordon still didn't speak. So mute protagonist could work if we surround him with a strong support cast. It's something we haven't seen before in a blockbuster.

So the summary on the solution. Firstly, I had to examine what inspired the Half-Life game addition to Doom and Quake, and those were Stephen King's The Mist and The Outer Limits episode "The Borderland", and the manga series Akira. I added Eureka, the X-Files and Stranger Things in the mix, update it for the movie. For the genre we use a genre switch in Predator and From Dusk Till Dawn style, but multiple times xD. We start with disaster movie in the first act, the second act is scifi horror when aliens appear, third act is pure scifi action, fourth act is fantasy adventure. And tone is campy all the way through xD. New additions are ALL the expansion packs and heroes, they are all in this from Opposing Force, Blue Shift, and Decay. The Vance family is in this, we know what happened to them, but we don't know how, this will explain it. It is a fresh new take and still tells the same story, but with added bonus and more detailed explanations.

And if you're Adrian Shephard fan, stay for the post-credit scene, you'll love it.

Description

Half-Life fan script (2021) Genre: Scifi, Action, Horror. Total Runtime 3h 19min (Rated R for strong violence and gore, strong language, body horror)

PREMISE: Welcome to Black Mesa Research Facility. Top secret research facility located deep in the New Mexico desert, dedicated for the research of fringe science and study of alien technology. When a brilliant theoretical physicist and Black Mesa employee Dr. GORDON FREEMAN unleashes an alien invasion on the facility after a failed experiment, he is forced to defend himself and his fellow scientists against the merciless alien onslaught, using only his wit and trusty crowbar. In his struggle, Gordon discovers troublesome secrets about his employer and the Black Mesa facility, secrets so deadly that the Government is willing to kill to keep them secret from the public. It falls upon Freeman and his friends to save the WORLD.

MAKING OF: Half-Life cinematic universe starts with Half-Life. I wanted to hold this back until I had enough writing credits under my belt, when you write Half-Life, you better not go in it half- cocked, pun intended xD. We've had Glados's voice in Pacific Rim, Gravity gun in District 9, Portal and Gravity Gun in Free Guy, and we still haven't have Half-Life movie, which is funny, we had everything from the games, but no movie xD. Biggest challenge is how to tell the story that most gamers know like back of their hands, and still be accessable for the new comers. Second issue is with genre and tone, because Half-Life is a hotchpotch of genres, it is a disaster film, it has scifi, action, adventure, horror, comedy, drama, etc. And what is the tone, is it a camp movie, or deep and thoughtful exploration of human condition, or just straight horror survival without bullshit.

Third was casting. Okay, we can all agree that Willem Dafoe would be perfect G-Man, but who would be the lead, Dr. Gordon Freeman himself, I struggled with this for a long time until I saw Netflix's The Last Days of American Crime movie, and I saw Sharlto Copley in a small role, and I swear to god, he looked just like Gordon Freeman without the glasses, and it made sense, star of District 9 and Hardcore Henry, of course! And it would be cool if Neil Blomkamp directed this, just saying xD. And does Gordon Freeman speak? I also struggled with this a long time, in my opinion, no. If you think of Duke Nukem, he needs to speak, it's part of his character. Yes, main character didn't speak in the original Doom or Quake. But what made Half-Life different that it actually had a STORY with the shooting, but Gordon still didn't speak. So mute protagonist could work if we surround him with a strong support cast. It's something we haven't seen before in a blockbuster.

So the summary on the solution. Firstly, I had to examine what inspired the Half-Life game addition to Doom and Quake, and those were Stephen King's The Mist and The Outer Limits episode "The Borderland", and the manga series Akira. I added Eureka, the X-Files and Stranger Things in the mix, update it for the movie. For the genre we use a genre switch in Predator and From Dusk Till Dawn style, but multiple times xD. We start with disaster movie in the first act, the second act is scifi horror when aliens appear, third act is pure scifi action, fourth act is fantasy adventure. And tone is campy all the way through xD. New additions are ALL the expansion packs and heroes, they are all in this from Opposing Force, Blue Shift, and Decay. The Vance family is in this, we know what happened to them, but we don't know how, this will explain it. It is a fresh new take and still tells the same story, but with added bonus and more detailed explanations.

And if you're Adrian Shephard fan, stay for the post-credit scene, you'll love it.