"There's a lot riding on this one, Nick. It's personal." Bernie, p.13
KILL ME ALL YOU WANT is an independently financed suspense/thriller that is scheduled to begin principal photography in June of 2018.
We invite you to scroll down the following pages to learn more about the film and the people behind its creation.
"You want to kill me right now for this money, don't you?" Lucy, p.74
Ray did something bad. Real bad. Now he's looking over his shoulder... and dying to stay alive.
KILL ME is a short prequel to KILL ME ALL YOU WANT. Shot on location in New York City, this 12 and a half minute short film serves as a taste of the world in which our screenplay takes place.
The film is a thriller about a man on the run whose guilt may be catching up with him. It details a portion of the backstory of our tale while introducing a main character in a brief, surprising manner.
Starring Tony® nominees John Ellison Conlee (HBO's BOARDWALK EMPIRE) and Marin Ireland (Showtime's HOMELAND), the short film will give potential partners in our venture a sense of the feel and the tone that we will instill in the eventual production of the feature.
Marin Ireland and John Ellison Conlee star in the short film KILL ME.
"That's not a life, hiding from her. Every minute looking over your shoulder. The loneliness is unbearable. It didn't work for Otto, and it didn't work for me." Lucy, p.56
"I don't fire people, Nick" says Bernie. "And they don't resign." From this early moment in our story, Nick knows he must find some way to escape Bernie's clutches. And audiences will want to find out not only why, but how.
With KILL ME ALL YOU WANT, we are crafting a noir-infused world of crime, anti-heroes, and romance. Nick walks among us. He could be anyone we see on the street. But his work as a hitman is as horrifying as we might imagine. It’s a life spent in shadows, a lonely one. And his decision to put everything on the line to connect with a woman he loves makes Nick a character for whom we root. We can understand Nick, even as we might fear him.
"Don't worry about it, Nick. I'm not gonna try to be your girlfriend or anything." Lucy, p. 35
Any suspense film must take into account Hitchcock's old adage that "drama is life with the dull bits cut out." From our opening images of Nick's vicious father to our final scene in which Nick and Lucy may or may not be on their way to a happy future, KILL ME ALL YOU WANT is packed with suspense.
With Gibson at the helm, the director's vision speaks perfectly to the goals of the writing. Gib's extraordinary sensitivity as a director allows KILL ME ALL YOU WANT to have the auteur's sensibility of a story told with a singular vision. As a director, a writer, and an actor, Gibson Frazier's work has been hailed as "extraordinary" and "singular" by he mainstream press such as The New York Times and USA Today as well as by alternative publications like the Village Voice, Aint It Cool News, and Icon Magazine. With his own accomplished career as a foundation, Gibson has a unique understanding of how to speak to and get the best from his cast.
KILL ME ALL YOU WANT is a breathless tale of daring intrigue, suspenseful gamesmanship, and heartbreaking romance. The strength of the script has already garnered interest from major Hollywood acting talent; the experienced production team that we are putting together will ensure that the film will get made on time and under budget; and with Gibson's craftsmanship translating the words to the screen, the film will deliver what audiences desire most: an unforgettably well told tale filled with extraordinary characters. Having spent time in Nick's world, you may find yourself looking over your shoulder on the way home from the theatre. You never know if one of "Bernie's guys" is walking right behind you.
- Mark Shanahan
"Did you love her? Because, let me tell you, she didn't love you. She wasn't capable of it." Bernie, p.64
Lucy: "Why are you doing this, Nick?
Nick: "I guess I like you."
Lucy and Nick, p.58
Just as Houston's glass and steel office buildings reflect the powerful, modern business of this oil town, older buildings which bely the city’s past are hidden among the newer neighborhoods and housing complexes. This is where Nick finds Lucy, hiding in plain sight herself.
Our characters exist in their own private "hells" and Houston offers us wonderful visual cues to reinforce this theme. Without question, Houston can be unbearably hot. Below street level, people travel the seemingly endless passageways of "The Tunnels" underground, which extend for miles. This labyrinthine and claustrophobic "underworld" is a perfect environment to illustrate characters desperately in search of personal freedom and a perfect backdrop for the suspenseful foot-chase sequences in the film.
Houston's eastern outskirts offer vistas of industrial landscapes, ultimately giving way to the sea. These nearby locations allow for visual variety, each location mirroring the emotional crises of Nick and Lucy's dangerous and bittersweet relationship. They can stroll the nostalgic confines of Kemah Boardwalk and look to the expanse of the Gulf Of Mexico, contemplating a life of freedom from Bernie. Or they can find themselves deep in the vast and overwhelming expanses of industrial Texas, dotted with oil rigs and miles of electric cables, as they bury a body someplace nobody would ever think to look.
As in the great noir films which inspire KILL ME ALL YOU WANT, location speaks volumes about the characters, and Houston is undiscovered country as a movie landscape. Cropping up from the flat desert of Eastern Texas, Houston is at once cosmopolitan and full of unique character. Yet, underneath this facade, the city still sports something of the Old West, an outlaw town full of mystery and danger. In KILL ME ALL YOU WANT, our heroes are desperate to stay alive. But in Houston, as with our characters, nothing is exactly as it appears.
"I'm staying at the Lancaster Hotel. You know, just here for a few days for this conference. Sort of a Mardi Gras for insurance agents." Nick, p.32
"The people I work with, Nick, the people you work with, whether you know it or not, we've got rules." Bernie, p.14
Gibson Frazier
(Director/Co-Writer)
Defying traditional tracts of success, Gibson Frazier has followed his own inspiration creating opportunities for himself. He co-wrote, produced, and starred in the indie cult hit MAN OF THE CENTURY which won the Audience Award at the Slamdance Film Festival and was cited by the National Board of Review for Excellence in Independent Filmmaking. From performing in some of the most celebrated works on the New York Stage to developing and directing Christopher Titus’ play NORMAN ROCKWELL IS BLEEDING, the inspiration for the FOX television show TITUS, to an impressive list of acting credits working with such luminaries as Jack Klugman, Tony Randall, and Kirk Douglas, Gibson Frazier is as comfortable in the art world as he is in the commercial realm. A stalwart of New York’s downtown theatre scene, Gibson was named one of the best off-Broadway actors by both THE VILLAGE VOICE and TIME OUT NEW YORK.
Mark Shanahan
(Producer/Co-Writer)
As a writer, Mark was nominated by the Mystery Writer's Association of America for the prestigious Edgar Award for his stage adaptation of THE CHRONOLOGY PROTECTION CASE. He is also the co-storywriter, along with John Hamburg (MEET THE PARENTS, I LOVE YOU, MAN) of the screenplay, THE TROUBLESHOOTER, purchased by Universal Studios, and the co-author of the screenplay A CORNER OF THE UNIVERSE, commissioned by Joanne Woodward. Mark is a graduate of Brown University and holds an MA from Fordham University, where he teaches courses on Shakespeare, "New York In Film" and "The Films of Alfred Hitchcock," among others. Mark directed THE 39 STEPS at the Tony Award Winning Alley Theatre, setting record ticket sales in that theatre's 60 year history. As an actor, Mark was a member of the original company of THE 39 STEPS on Broadway and the long running hits AS BEES IN HONEY DROWN and TRYST, off-Broadway. He is an artistic associate of the Hangar Theatre.
"I don't like this, Bernie. They usually aren't so out in the open." Nick, p.26
Susan Leber
(Line Producer)
Named one of Variety's Producers to Watch, Susan Leber has made a career producing critically acclaimed independent features. A graduate of Boston University's Film School, Leber’s first feature production, Ilya Chaiken’s acclaimed MARGARITA HAPPY HOUR, had its world premiere at Sundance 2001. Susan went on to produce a string of critical darlings and indie successes including THE TECHNICAL WRITER (Sundance 2003), DOWN TO THE BONE (Sundance 2004), BITTERSWEET PLACE (Tribeca Film Festival 2005), and TOE TO TOE (Sundance 2010). Leber line produced JC Chandor’s acclaimed MARGIN CALL starring Kevin Spacey, which premiered at Sundance 2011, opened New Directors New Films, and was released by Lionsgate/Roadside in 2011. Leber co-produced recent Oscilloscope release HELLO I MUST BE GOING and the upcoming Isabel Coixet film, LEARNING TO DRIVE, starring Sir Ben Kingsley and Patricia Clarkson.
"She has no schedule. No routine. She's running around all over the city. Like a tourist." Nick, p.26
Jennifer Lane
(Post-Production Supervisor)
Jennifer started her career as an editor, and eventually became President of Post Production at Miramax Films, overseeing post-production on such films as BROTHERS GRIMM (Terry Gilliam) and the Academy Award winning film CHICAGO (Rob Marshall). As a freelance post supervisor, she has worked for Warner Bros., Dreamworks, Disney, and Universal, among others. Her feature credits include THE BOURNE LEGACY (Tony Gilroy), EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE (Stephen Daldry), THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (George Nolfi), REVOLUTIONARY ROAD (Sam Mendes), DOUBT (John Patrick Shanley), TAKING WOODSTOCK (Ang Lee), and THE GOOD SHEPHERD (Robert De Niro). She has also worked on many independent films including SECRETARY (Steven Shainberg), SIDEWALKS OF NEW YORK (Edward Burns), TRUST THE MAN (Bart Freundlich), and most recently THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ELEANOR RIGBY: HIM AND HER (Ned Benson). She most recently oversaw post-production on Disney’s musical INTO THE WOODS directed by Rob Marshall. Jennifer serves as a board member of the Post New York Alliance and the Executive Committee of the East Coast Producer’s Guild of America.
"I've got an angle on the hit. The medicine cabinet." Nick, p.25
"What's going on? Who is this woman?" Nick, p.26
Hitman Nick Arbogast has one simple rule: Never talk to the mark. But when the mark is Lucy Walters, rules were meant to be broken.
"You've got to kill her, brother. Or you're a dead man." Vincent, p.41
Nick is a hitman. He deals with problems most people would like to pretend don't even exist – and he does it very well. But his life is by necessity a lonely one, and working for Bernadette “Bernie” Coyle means no future but the one she allows. He is in a prison of his own making, and his relationship with the one person he has left, his terminally ill father, is strained beyond repair. So, when Bernie sends him to do a job in his hometown of Houston, Nick is glad for the escape. But his target, Lucy Walters, is more than Nick bargained for.
As Nick watches Lucy from a safe distance, he becomes captivated by this woman who seems to live life to its fullest. Most people Nick is sent to "take care of" live off the grid, looking over their shoulder, scared. But not Lucy. At the moment when he's supposed to finish the job, however, Nick breaks the cardinal rule of his profession – he talks to the mark.
What begins as a series of subsequent stolen moments between two lost souls soon turns deadly, as Nick finds out his new love interest was one of Bernie's hitmen, too, and just as dangerous. With no way of escaping Bernie's clutches together, Nick faces an impossible choice: kill the woman he’s fallen in love with or run away with her and end up as just another one of Bernie’s hunted victims. But Lucy doesn’t give in easily. The lovers square off in a brutal game of cat and mouse, culminating in a tense showdown at Bernie's hotel room. Shocking secrets are revealed and each is forced to decide if being free and alone is better than a life on the run with someone to love.
"I knew this girl. She was disloyal, manipulative, cold. Shot me twice and left me for dead. Made me the cripple I am today. She didn't hurt me. She never could." Bernie, p.64
"You're going to have to do it, Jules. You're going to have to finish the job." Bernie, p.82
Several years after my first movie was released, I discovered that one of the actors in the film was being convicted for several execution style murders in New York and New Jersey. I had hired “Jimmy Nickles,” as he liked to be called, performed scenes with him. We even laughed over a couple beers at a bar across the street from the theatre on the night of the movie’s premiere. He was a friendly guy, even if he was keeping some terrible secrets. And the fact that Jimmy had killed three people was a horrifying revelation.
When I was a kid, my great grandfather would tell me stories about his father. He had been “influential” in Democratic politics at the start of the 20th Century. When I grew up and was able to do some research on my own, I was chilled to discover that my early relatives may have been politicians by occupation, but they were Irish mobsters by avocation. Later, when Mark Shanahan and I met, the two of us quickly discovered that our ancestors had traveled in the same circles. We were gobsmacked by the idea that we were descended from such brutal lineage.
I had been so anesthetized by stories of gangsters and hitmen, that they had almost taken on a mythic quality. But people like this actually existed. In fact, I knew them. I had talked with them. They had put their arms around my shoulders. These were people, not myths. Not that what they did deserves sympathy, far from it. But their problems were human problems, and their struggles were universal.
The characters of KILL ME ALL YOU WANT are outsiders, societal misfits, desperate for happiness, and bound for heartbreak – feelings I have on a daily basis. And yet, their lifestyles are so violent, so solitary. It is a duality that is impossible to maintain, and it is that kind of impossibility that intrigues me as a storyteller.
The relationship between Nick and his father Max is a fascinating dynamic which opens the film, when Max asks Nick to kill him. Nick refuses – a perfect dramatic problem for our main character and an endlessly fruitful question for me as a filmmaker: Why would a hitman, who could kill anybody, find it so difficult to kill the one person who has hurt him most of all?
The central story, of course, is the relationship between Nick and Lucy. As with the other characters in the film, Nick and Lucy are in prisons of their own making. Lucy breaks free, knowing that it might kill her, and finally has a taste of real living, if only for a fleeting moment. Nick experiences Lucy’s wonderment vicariously through his surveillance of her, just as the audience experiences it vicariously through the watching of the movie. It’s subjective filmmaking in the classic Hitchcockian tradition. What excites me as a director is the opportunity to place an audience inside the hearts and minds of these complex and fascinating people. This outcast pair seeks companionship and intimacy, even though it might very well lead to disaster. What is the price of love? And how much is love worth to these people who have starved for personal contact for so long?
As in the work of one of my great heroes, Charlie Chaplin, nothing is black and white, except for maybe film stock. Even the happiest ending comes with some heartache. Just as the threat of Bernie hovers over every decision that Nick and Lucy make in KILL ME ALL YOU WANT, those haunting memories of my ancestors and of Jimmy Nickles will live in every frame of this film.
- Gibson Frazier
"Did she make you? If she has, she will kill you. Trust me." Bernie, p.14