AMERICAN IDIOT - If we could write...

[melissawebster]

In honor of American Idiot's anniversary, I thought it'd be fun to talk about the movie. Being a very new member to GDC, most of you don't know I'm a screenwriter. Well, aspiring screenwriter at any rate, and from the first moment I heard American Idiot back in January/February, I've, well, I've wanted to write the script for the movie so fucking badly, it about killed me to restrain myself from doing it, even for fun, out of respect for the writer already writing it. Purely out of inspiration and the hope I could finally get it out of my system and move on, I broke down and spent the last two weeks writing the outlines for AMERICAN IDIOT and 21ST CENTURY BREAKDOWN, for the movies I'd write if I could do what I wanted. This isn't a script, just the storyline I'd do for American Idiot, based on the story I saw in my head from the moment I heard the music, as well as building on my SLAPPY HOURS script I wrote about their music from the 90s.

The below outline is just my interpretation, and it occured to me you guys might have interpretations of your own. So I thought it'd be fun to see what you'd do differently from the existing storyline in the musical, if anything, if you could write the movie you wanted. Would you change any characters, the plot, the location, etc...? I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas, and I thought it'd be an interesting debate. So, here goes:

1. EXT. BOURBON STREET - NIGHT

PEOPLE on the street sing "Macy's Day Parade" by Green Day from the Warning album.

I'm thinking about a brand new hope.

The one I've never known, and where it goes.

And I'm thinking about the only road.

The one I've never known, and where it goes.

And I'm thinking about a brand new hope, 'cause now I know it's - -

The song screeches to a halt as BAT PIERCE, lead singer of the pop-punk band Dyen Rage, late twenties, seriously cool and good-looking, starts a VOICEOVER MONOLOGUE.

"- - Not that kind of movie."

IMAGES of the twin towers falling, soldiers fighting in war, etc... overlap the monologue.

BAT CONTINUES THE MONOLOGUE

"Another decade. A new fucking century. And here we are on the verge of war in Iraq. They say it's 'cause we were, you know, attacked or some such shit, but really it's just an excuse to, you know, give way to an out and out media mind-fuck that keeps people in fear, paranoia and mass hysteria that slaps the fuck out of any kind of dissent. Welcome to twenty-first century America, where rational thought and reason went on permanent holiday."

IMAGES through the window of Slappy Hours show PEOPLE on TELEVISION gleefully burning CDs in the suburbs...

2. INT. SLAPPY HOURS - NIGHT

... As the PEOPLE, and then BAT PIERCE, LENORE PIERCE, Bat's sister, REMY BOUDREAUX, strong, loyal, dominated love slave masochist, DAVID SMITH, an up and coming drag queen and all around good guy trying to find balance between his family and

the new life he's carved out for himself, ADAM SWANSON, bartender at Slappy Hours, a gay bar on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, and Nora's boyfriend, and MADAME MONIQUE, drag queen beauty with a humble grace, and the OTHERS in the bar sing "Holiday."

3. EXT. BOURBON STREET - NIGHT

JOHNNY SMITH, 18, David's son and convert to the status quo, and JIMMY DONOVAN, 18, Johnny's best friend who doesn't give a shit, and other MARINES walk down Bourbon Street laughing it up, drinking, flirting with girls. Johnny stops them in front of Slappy Hours, works up the courage to go inside.

4. INT. SLAPPY HOURS - NIGHT

David introduces Johnny and his friends around, and then he and Johnny have a heart to heart. Johnny informs David he's on his way to Iraq.

5. EXT. SLAPPY HOURS - NIGHT

David hugs Johnny goodbye, watches him walk down the street, and sings "Tales of Another Broken Home."

6. INT. SUBURBAN HOUSE IN METARIE, LOUISIANA - NIGHT

Johnny talks to his mother, GLORIA and her boyfriend, BRAD, a military man intent on Johnny following in his footsteps, as he packs his rucksack. His highschool graduation cap and gown lay on a chair in the corner.

7. EXT. SUBURBIA USA - DAY

Johnny, Jimmy, TUNNY, another of Johnny's friends, and other MARINES leave their houses, load up in vehicles and head off to war as they sing "Jesus of Suburbia." They pass a church on every street corner, and people standing on the sidewalks waving flags and Bibles and praying with crucifixes and cheering.

8. INT. BARRACKS - NIGHT

Johnny, arrogant, cocky, sure of his place in the world and the rightness of what they're doing. Jimmy, laid-back, the voice of reason who doesn't give a shit, cool, only there because his best friend talked him into it. There's no fear in these guys, because as far as they're concerned, they've already won the war. They and their fellow marines hang out, talk about home, girls, etc... and Jimmy pulls out the alcohol and drug paraphernalia, sings "St. Jimmy" and ends it at "Are you talking to me?"

9. EXT. BAGHDAD - DAY

Johnny, Jimmy, Tunny and other marines celebrate the toppling of a monument of Saddam Hussein and the party in The Green Zone. Johnny meets WHATSERNAME, an Iraqi woman in her late teens, early 20's, in the street.

10. INT. SLAPPY HOURS - DAY

TV SCREEN IMAGE of President George W. Bush in a flight suit on an aircraft carrier declaring MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. Bat looks away from the TV at the others and sings "American Idiot."

11. EXT. FALLUJAH - DAY

SUPER: "Two Years Later - Fallujah, Iraq" Johnny, Jimmy, Tunny and the other marines hip-deep in suicide bombers.

12. INT. SUBURBAN HOUSE IN METARIE, LOUISIANA - NIGHT

Gloria and Brad sit at the dining room table, say the blessing before dinner, talk about Johnny in Iraq, discuss the righteousness of fighting in war. She tells Brad she's going to church to pray for the soldiers and the POTUS.

13. EXT. STREET - NIGHT

Gloria walks down a Suburban street. David walks down Bourbon Street. Johnny, Jimmy and Tunny walk the streets of Fallujah.

INTERCUT them singing "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"

14. INT. CHURCH - NIGHT

Gloria lights a candle and prays. Seeks counsel from her preacher.

15. EXT. RUBBLE-STREWN BUILDINGS - FALLUJAH, IRAQ - NIGHT

Johnny, Jimmy, Tunny and other marines on watch. Exhausted, disillusioned, they pass a joint around and sing "City of the Damned."

16. INT. SLAPPY HOURS - NIGHT

IMAGES on the TELEVISION SCREEN show Hurricane Katrina bearing down on New Orleans as Bat, Remy, David, Nora, Adam and Madame Monique prepare for the storm. They sing "Are We The Waiting."

17. EXT. SUBURBAN HOUSE IN METARIE, LOUISIANA - NIGHT

Gloria and Brad board up windows, pile up sand bags during the outer bands of Hurricane Katrina. The winds blowing, rain pelting. It's an intense situation, while non-stop news reports play over the action.

18. INT. REC ROOM - FALLUJAH, IRAQ - NIGHT

Johnny, Jimmy, Tunny and other SOLDIERS lounge around, watch the news coverage of Hurricane Katrina. They finish the song "Are We The Waiting."

19. EXT. NAVAL BASE CORONADO, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA - DAY

President Bush plays the guitar on stage at a concert for the troops state-side... and has lots of fun.

20. EXT. FALLUJAH / NEW ORLEANS - DAY

Shit-storm in the urban desert. Shit-storm in New Orleans.

Johnny, Jimmy, Tunny and the rest of their platoon in a fire-fight, ambushed by suicide bombers. Jimmy is killed and Johnny and Tunny are seriously wounded. Johnny survives in a dream-like state, imagining Whatsername saving him and pulling him to safety. He crawls

back to Jimmy, cries over his dead body and pulls Jimmy's body to safety before he falls unconscious from his own injuries.

The insurgents have casualties of their own caused by fanatical zeal of a misguided cause.

Gloria and Brad struggle in the flood waters to get to the roof of the house. Gloria on the roof of her house as the flood waters rise. Disillusionment settles in.

David, Bat, Nora, Remy, Adam and Madame Monique at Slappy Hours getting people inside.

INTERCUT them singing "I Don't Care."

21. INT. SLAPPY HOURS - NIGHT

Bat, Remy, Nora, David, Adam and Madame Monique and other survivors sit in the dark and the heat, with nothing but flashlights as they contemplate what's going on outside. Bat sings half-jokingly "Nobody Likes You."

22. INT. MILITARY HOSPITAL - DAY

Johnny lies in bed wounded and half-conscious, blurred VISIONS of Tunny and what's left of his platoon around him, until his eyes land on Jimmy sitting beside his bed in perfect health. Jimmy, now St. Jimmy, a dead figment of Johnny's drug-induced imagination, speaks and then sings the last part of "St. Jimmy."

My name is St. Jimmy.

I'm a son of a gun.

I'm the one that's from the way outside.

I'm a teenage assassin executing some fun in the cult of the life of crime.

I'd really hate to say it but I told you so.

So shut your mouth before I shoot you down ole boy.

Welcome to the club

And give me some blood.

I'm the resident leader of the lost and found.

23. EXT. SUBURB IN METARIE, LOUISIANA - DAY

The last lines of "St. Jimmy" overlap Gloria and Brad sloshing through the flood waters in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as dead bodies float by them. She argues with him about the war, the government's ineptitude regarding Hurricane Katrina, about God himself and religious fanaticism, until she finally realizes he's full of shit and leaves him.

It's comedy and tragedy

It's St. Jimmy

And that's my name

And don't wear it out

24. EXT. BOURBON STREET - DAY

Madame Monique and the others give out food, water and refuge to survivors pouring into The French Quarter, the one place in New Orleans mostly unscathed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

25. INT. MILITARY HOSPITAL - NIGHT

Johnny lies in bed. St. Jimmy sits in a chair beside him. Johnny sings "Give Me Novacaine" begging him to take the pain away until St. Jimmy finally inserts the needle into his arm, sending Johnny flying into a hallucination of sex with Whatsername.

26. INT. SLAPPY HOURS - NIGHT - JOHNNY'S FANTASY

Johnny and Whatsername fantasy of passionate sex. David and the others float through the fantasy of Johnny's happy place.

27. EXT. SUBURB IN METARIE, LOUISIANA - DAY

Gloria still slogs through the flooded streets with dead bodies and other survivors sloshing through it with her. A voiceover from a letter she received from Johnny floats through her head. He sings "Dearly Beloved."

28. EXT. FALLUJAH - DAY

JOHNNY'S DRUG-INDUCED HALLUCINATION

"Dearly Beloved" continues at "Oh therapy..." as Johnny, Tunny and St. Jimmy go on an out and out killing spree. Women, children, insurgents, suicide bombers, they don't care and they don't discriminate.

29. INT. CHURCH - DAY

Gloria makes it to her church to find it empty and badly damaged. She sings "Letterbomb."

30. EXT. FALLUJAH - DAY

Johnny, Tunny and St. Jimmy in a firefight, when Johnny looks around at the wreckage of dead bodies, bombed out buildings and abruptly realizes it isn't real, that Jimmy is dead, that Tunny is in the hospital, that he's in the hospital. He sings "East 12th Street."

31. INT. SLAPPY HOURS - NIGHT

David stares at non-stop footage on the TELEVISION of the disaster in New Orleans and the war overseas as the PEOPLE around him try to pick up their lives.

32. INT. MILITARY HOSPITAL - DAY

Johnny sings "Homecoming" with Tunny and the rest of their platoon as they acknowledge their defeat and mourn the death of Jimmy and the others.

33. INT. HEADQUARTERS FOR END THE WAR NOW - DAY

Gloria takes leaflets and signs and joins the fight to be THE voice against the war, THE Soldier Mom.

34. INT. SLAPPY HOURS - DAY

David on the phone with Gloria, checking in, making sure she's safe. She goes on and on about everything being a lie in her fanatical zeal against the war, against the government leaders, against the response to Hurricane Katrina. When the conversation is over, David

hangs up and sings "She's a Rebel."

35. INT. RUBBLE STREWN BUILDING - BAGHDAD, IRAQ - NIGHT

Whatsername stares around at her father, brother, other insurgents, and various guns and bomb paraphernalia, and pleads with them to reconsider this path of violence and resistance.

36. EXT. MILITARY BASE IN IRAQ - DAY

Johnny, Tunny and other injured soldiers, as well as dead soldiers in plain pine boxes load up to go home. Johnny looks around at his surroundings, at a platoon of troops who've just arrived, and he, Tunny and the rest of the injured and damaged sing "We're Coming Home Again."

37. EXT. SUBURBIA USA - DAY

Johnny, Tunny and other soldiers step off the buses and head to their respective neighborhoods and homes, and continue the song "We're Coming Home." Johnny and Tunny are shocked to find their "home" in ruins and mostly abandoned from Hurricane Katrina.

Nobody likes you

Everyone left you

They're all out without you

Having fun.

38. EXT. BOURBON STREET - DAY

Johnny and Tunny make their way to Slappy Hours and see David, with Madame Monique, Nora and Adam, giving out food and supplies to refugees. Johnny and David have a heartfelt reunion.

39. INT. SLAPPY HOURS - NIGHT

The bar is crowded with people just trying to forget their troubles for a little while. Johnny sits in a corner as the people talk around him and he sings "Whatsername," sees VISIONS of her face and smile in the streets of Baghdad.

40. INT./EXT. NEW ORLEANS/IRAQ - DAY

Whatsername watches her father and brothers and other insurgents make bombs and load up guns into vehicles.

Gloria speaks with fanatical zeal at a podium at a protest meeting.

Bat and Remy help to retrieve dead bodies from houses in the 9th Ward.

Johnny, emotionally and physically fucked up, Tunny and David sit in Slappy Hours and watch the anniversary media blitz of 9/11 on TELEVISION.

INTERCUT them singing "Wake Me Up When September Ends

[melissawebster]

I'd love to hear what you would have done with it. Seriously. That's why I posted the thread, so please share.

Yeah, my take on the music is way different than the intended storyline. It's been that way from the first time I heard the album in its entirety. I see it as more political, and correlate it with the current events going on at the time of its release. But that's just me. By the time I researched the storyline of the album and the musical, "my story" was already firmly embedded in my head and I couldn't shake it, and found it weird how different it was to what the band intended.

And thank you for your thoughts! I'd love to hear more.

[Heather.]

I don't have time to read the whole thing now but I really like the beginning "Not that kind of movie" Cuz when I was picturing people singing Macy's Day Parade I was like WTF!?

[melissawebster]

Ha ha! That's exactly the reaction I was trying for. Hope you have time to read it, 'cause I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[melissawebster]

Holy crap! That's awesome. Seriously dark and really depressing, but compelling. It's weird you say FIGHT CLUB, because I was talking about that same thing with someone on an IC thread a few months ago. Guess the JOS/St. Jimmy dichotomy is so similar, it reminds everyone of that.

I saw JOS as more of a metaphor than an actual person, though I know your interpretation is what BJA said was the intention of the band. But that was my reason for making him every product of Suburbia instead of just one person, or an aspect of one person's personality. How you did it though is really cool. Disturbing no doubt, but awesome. Thanks for sharing!

P.S. Sorry about taking you away from work.

Oh wait, I do have one thing. I wouldn't use songs from other albums for it. It's a conceptual album that tells a story, so my thought is the songs within the album should tell the story. If songs have to be brought in from other albums, then there might be holes in the story. You could probably have the same story without "Brain Stew" and "Jaded" don't you think? You could definitely have the awesome scenes without them.

[Ashley!]

This is Awesome!

It's exactly how I feel the story of American Idiot goes.

[melissawebster]

I picked the extra songs I did pretty carefully, and while I'd prefer not to have songs from other albums in there, the story just moves too quickly between St. Jimmy and Homecoming on the album. I'd either have to cut a lot of meat out of the story to keep things moving along, or go for a long period of time with no songs at all.

I think I struck a pretty good balance between filling the space in with songs and not straying from the plot with the ones I picked. "Maria" is almost a prototype for the songs they'd write for AI as-is, and would have fit very well on that album. "Brain Stew/Jaded" is a generic-enough drug freak-out number that could be used to great effect for the scene it's needed in, as it builds up to the utter chaos I envision that scene ending with. It's also an instantly-recognizable piece that would fit quite nicely tucked in among some of the lesser-known AI tracks.

I did give some thought to using "When It's Time" in there instead, as it's more closely-related to the source material, but somehow a loving, acoustic ballad just doesn't fit the hard-charging St. Jimmy character.

Sounds like you've already written it. Sure you're not Crazy Eyes from the IC? And ferretqueen1 is that you?

[melissawebster]

I meant no offense. Your ideas are really good. You just reminded me of someone else in the way you talked about it. And it's cool you're able to articulate it so quickly and that you've been thinking about it for a while. That's exactly what happened to me, so keep the ideas coming. Please.

[melissawebster]

Yeah, I see scenes in my head with a lot of Green Day songs too. Sometimes it's predictable, and sometimes it's way out there weird. I like to go with the way out there weird.