lets make a movie!!

As requested by our prof,, we have to post our ideas for a movie based on the theme of “to be in the world, but not of the world” so here is a rough and incomplete plot outline of my movie entitled Alan Li

Alan Li is about a young atheist billionaire and his encounters with non-Christians and Christians, both conservative and liberal. Everyday Alan struggles with the question that all people at one point or another think about and is “what is the meaning of life? Why am I here?” Alan interacts with fellow seekers trying to find answers. Along the way, he encounters Xians, some who avoid the culture influences while others embrace it openly to the point where they have no distinction between other religious or atheist people. Since Alan cannot fully answer his own questions, he drowns out the curiosity by making money, attaining fame, and chasing women.
Alan has a bitter history, he is emotionally hurt partially because of his strict upbringing by foster parents (his own were killed in a car accident when he was 3). The main reason why he is bitter is the lost of his beloved fiancée, who was killed on September 11 2001. All his friends tried and failed to comfort him and to this day he has not fully recovered from that lost. Many of his Christian acquaintances also tried to comfort him, but instead of making him feel better, they indirectly made him bitterer towards God for losing her. He has a younger sister who is a Xian and attending a local Bible College. Eventually, this brings Alan to the college, and he finds himself interacting more with theologians, Biblical scholars, pastors, missionaries and Christian workers. He sees Xians who are dedicated to the work of God, and he also see those who do almost nothing except partying and playing video games. He still hasn’t found what he is looking for, someone to comfort him, someone to love him.

To be continued….

I am not someone who likes “Hollywood endings” (sudden happy endings), for this story it would mean that Alan becomes a Xian. I don’t think it would do Mr. Li justice if he suddenly became a Xian, rather I think an appropriate climax to this story would be that he kills himself out of despair and the end would be everyone trying to figure out just what happened.

The other part of this assignment was to think of who would play the part of Alan. Frankly I don’t know many Asians that would be suitable for this kind of character who is dark and bitter and isn’t a martial artist, so I looked at all the current celebrities and decided that maybe Russell Crowe, Adrian Brody or Christian Bale (Russ and Adrian would research the part very thoroughly and Christian would have the right emotions quite easily ) Next, Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep (STRICT foster parents, the mother would be a reminiscence of the mom from the Manchurian Candidate) , Natalie Portman, Keira Knightly(sweet gf here, happy with life, happy with Alan) and finally the sister could be Lindsay Lohan, Mandy Moore or Hilary Duff. (We’re going for the bratty spoiled baby sister here) Young Alan(there is flashback) could be played by Hayden Christensen or some young 14-18 year old kid.

Feel free to comment, suggestion or ask questions