So its in screenplay form, 20-pages in (roughly the first act). It’s about the Tekken sisters Nina and Anna Williams doing a movie together. Its an elaboration/re-imagining of their Tekken 5 endings obviously (or not so obviously to those who don’t play Tekken). I just wanna talk about the work and get some thoughts; let’s begin.
Concept:
The fan-script “Starring, Ms Williams” began as a vague concept, I just wanted to do something with the Williams sisters for the longest time. Nina is one of my fave fighting game characters (who dresses in my fave color!) and her dynamic with Anna leaves room for elaboration and fun. Two sisters who want to kill each other, one a super-assassin and the other a ‘killer’ fashion temptress, is stuff of fighting game silliness - I love it.
But I needed something more… dare I say a story. I remembered their ending in Tekken 5 where the sisters would approached to do a movie together. I thought that would be cool enough to extend into a feature story. Then my mind got jiggy wit it; how about the movie is actually about the events of Soulcalibur, with the Williams sisters playing the parts of the SC sisters Sophitia and Cassandra Alexandria?
Now this project was fun, and I started riffing more ideas. The close-to-final concept basically turned into this meta-film thing where the Tekken sisters are playing the parts of Soulcalibur sisters. You see the SC sisters love each other, so I could have fun having the arch-enemy Tekken sisters pretend they have those feelings… Or do they really? We’ll get to that question in the characters section, but the final concept was falling into place. I could use this story to poke fun at Hollywood adaptions, being that SC takes place in the Tekken universe - Nina and Anna are doing a historic film. So I’m gonna slide in some fun Hollywood commentary and caricature characters.
Also, this is something of a crossover between Tekken and SC, just not a strict one. The Soul Blade and other elements of that game will not be in the story. This is a Tekken fic, with SC nods. Tekken characters are playing SC characters in a meta-movie, but SC will not operate mythology wise in-story. That’s not to say certain characters will not affect others across the board. …My head hurts.
Characters:
Nina Williams is portrayed much as she was in the games. Cool as ice sexy assassin bitch who’s not too fond of her own sister, Anna. But where Tekken 5 was having fun, I had to make… sense. Why would Nina, who’s been depicted throwing grenade-daggers at Anna, suddenly chill out long enough to coexist on a movie set with her? I had to take liberties, liberties taken as a fan of the character. I kept Nina’s cold exterior, but emphasized my personal belief that she doesn’t really wanna kill Anna (despite numerous accounts, I know). I wondered how Nina would be talked into doing some movie, while not trying to rekindle her thing with Anna. The answers mostly lie in Anna’s character (the star of show IMO). Overall, I’m developing this ‘softening of Nina’ plot - using the relationship with her sister as well as her interactions with Soulcalibur’s Tira (I’ll explain later). Make no mistake, she will still be Nina Williams by story’s end, but I can’t write 100+ pages of Nina trying to kill Anna can I?
Anna Williams. I’m actually liking her character more because of how I approached her in this fic. I made some hearty adjustments to her character for the sake of the plot, but I believe they can be justified. First off, as previous Tekken’s suggest, I made her the softer cheerier ‘not out to kill her sister’ Williams. Yeah she shot at Nina with an RPG in Tekken 5’s intro - just work with me! Being something of an aspiring starlet, she would be the one who gets the part in the period film - henceforth I made her the one who invites Nina to co-star as the other Alexandria sister. I toned down her sultry nature and increased her comedic status. I’m proud of the dialogue between Anna and Nina so far, fun fast-pace exchanges inspired partly by that stupid WB show about the mother and the daughter(?). Anna’s plot will reference their Tekken plot, the origin of the rivalry and such. Not as much growth as Nina admittingly, but she’s fun to write for.
The relationship between Nina and Anna will begin antagonistic, but I need to have them slightly reconcile early on… like first-act early. The whole of the story I have in mind will deal with the Sisters co-existing in this Hollywood production, not ‘Nina vs Anna’. More like ‘The Williams Sisters vs Hollywood Productions’. That’s not to say I won’t have sprouts of their rivalry show up. Infact, a pivotal scene I have in mind is a fight scene between the sisters as they perform as their characters. It’ll be one of those ‘let it all out’ scenes between characters. A fun element I have is Nina being a better actor than Anna, even taking the lead role of Sophitia from her sis! Fans may also remember Sophie having a husband in SC (Rothian). The actor playing the husband will be Anna’s love interest. Fun stuff insues. As you can imagine, I’m leaning toward comedy. Its very different from my other fanfix and I like dipping my hand in something new (insert shit joke, right).
The Director will be something of a Paul Anderson with a Bryan Singer bent. This overly self-important guy who thinks he’s making the greatest thing ever. Lots of fun industry stabs I got coming for this guy (currently unnamed).
The Actor Portraying Rothian, we’ll just call him Roth, is tasked to act as Nina’s character’s husband in the meta-story while being Anna’s love interest in-story. He’ll get caught in the middle of their wacky rivalry. He’s just this Greek guy, means well, your typical male co-star in a female dominated feature.
Tira. Yes, Soulcalibur’s Tira. The bipolar killer girl with the deadly hulahoop . I found a fun way to add her in the story without the use of a timewarp or some other eye-rolling mechanic (you still might do it, though). Its all thanks to Heath Ledger and Robert Downey’s character from Tropic Thunder. You see in the meta-film’s production this young Dakota Fanning-like actress is cast. She’s like one of those scary-good child actresses who really gets into character in a James Woods kinda way. I heard how Heath incorporated Joker’s manic nature outside of the film to nail the part, so I figure what if this girl really gets into Tira mode? So much so she’s practically Tira? Then I remember Downey’s hilarious antics as an Aussie actor portraying a black army guy no matter what. So I have this girl portraying a wacky character like Tira at all times, essentially having a Soulcalibur character in this story. But there’s a serious side to the fun in that. I’m gonna reference Tira’s role as an assassin, and Nina will take note throughout the filming. Her relationship with Tira will tie into her ‘real’ role as an assassin. Back on the fun stuff, Tira will absolutely hate Anna. Her ‘dark side’ will only ever seem to surface to lash out at production crew and Anna, while she will enjoy Nina’s company. I like Nina quasi-adopting a little sister, and it gives Nina a co-star in her own plot just as Anna has Roth in her plot.
Steve Fox will cameo a bit as he’s needed for this C-Plot where he wins a boxing championship and Nina (his mother, don’t ask) notices quite proudly that her offspring is badass. The ‘softening of Nina’ will tie into her attempts at contacting her only other family. Nina revealing to Anna that she has a full grown nephew will also be a moment I can’t wait to write. Steve Fox will probably have three lines tops in the scene I have in my head, but I think its a good beat.
So! What do you guys think? I’m 20-pages in and I’m having fun riffing this story. I’m gonna send a copy to… I forget who asked! But I will. Any questions… comments? Hell, an insult will do. Just keep it moving, dudes!
