Presentation | war-junkies

War Junkies

“Based on Events of Jim Bennett as a Journalist in Vietnam”

· Log Line: In the aftermath of Bobby Kennedy’s June 6th 1968 assassination, maverick KNBC political beat reporter Jim Bennett is summoned to the heart of Vietnam and its escalating battles. The married father of three then brings back America’s first Living Room War our government had secretly escalated with knowing there was no way of winning.

· WAR JUNKIES TRAILER - (Hit “Control” then “Right Click”)

· Director - Jochen Alexander Freydank (Toyland, The Burrow). Oscar-winner – Feature Short “Toyland” – 2009.

· Writer - David M. O’Neill (The Stand at Paxton County, The Black Tulip, Player 5150)

· Producing Team: Mark R. Harris – Academy Award-winning films: (Gods and Monsters, Crash), Lars Bjorck (Havoc), John Biffar, David M. O’Neill. (The Stand, The Black Tulip).

· Cast: TBD (see suggested list)

· Budget: (Under US 12-18 million

· Projected start of production: 2019

SYNOPSIS

In 1968 Los Angeles political beat reporter Jim Bennett stands front-and-center at the Los Angeles Ambassador Hotel covering the California Primary - and, ultimately the assassination of presidential hopeful, Bobby Kennedy.

Summoned center-stage to America’s ill-advised conflict in Vietnam, Bennett leaves his wife Barbara and two sons back home in Santa Monica and ventures into the deepest heart of the Indochinese conflict.

Immediately pitched into the perils and heart of its battles, Bennett becomes NBC's most aggressive and comprehensive Vietnam War correspondent in its history.

Digging deep into its misfortunes, Bennett's resilient commitment to reporting the truth takes shape as he embeds with U.S. troops deep inside North Vietnam and Cambodia.

Exasperated by the Military’s calculated misdirection and paralyzed by his dire and deep longing for home, Bennett is overtaken by the horrors of war and becomes an unrecognizable figure. Alcohol, women, along with his insatiable drug-like addiction to report the truth from the war’s most dangerous places, Bennett is caught by his-own, front-line, near-narcotic, dependence of the pure, raw – adrenalin rush of covering the front lines as he becomes a War Junkie.

Tense and anxious but never so about the truth, Bennett reports directly from the gruesome and bloody battlefields into the safe and comfortable living rooms of every home in mainstream America.

Pressure on Bennett gathers as US Military advisors try their best to keep him far away from its secret and phantom bombing campaigns deep inside the borders of Cambodia and Laos.

Along with his international cadre of photographers and newsmen, they now find themselves mesmerized for the next fix of battle, their next rush of combat, and their next hit of uncooked adrenalin by which the frontline-horrors provide. But the fall of Saigon grows near. Allied and enemy associations become blurred. Bennet, now having fallen to the seduction of ambitious, American photo-journalist Sarah Tyler’s advances, he naturally finds himself along with his fellow war correspondents where the next story is happening next… Phnom Penh, the Khmer Rouge, and its country’s fall.

Cambodia’s Highway One becomes Jim Bennett’s gruesome and deadly crossroad. Venturing out as the Khmer lob shells from the countryside, Bennett’s Air-America transport is shot down by hostile forces leaving him only one way out - through the jungle and down the Mekong Delta. Having made his first mistake, it could very-well be his last. He and his international press colleagues find themselves caught deep behind enemy lines with no U.S. Military support behind them and within the borders of Pol Pot’s Killing Fields. As enemy Khmer forces position their advance, Bennet and his associates are cut-off.

It appears Jim Bennett’s fate and that of his colleagues is all but over when enemy satellite forces push our cadre toward the Mekong Delta. With hope all but lost, Bennet and crew board a Cambodian transport out of the ferry port of Neak Leoung under heavy bombardment narrowly escaping the ruthless Khmer, only to find themselves arriving into Saigon, April 5th, 1975 where the last story Bennett covers is Vietnam’s fall into the hands of North Vietnam’s communist regime.

Director’s Notes “WAR JUNKIES” – Jochen Alexander Freydank

As a filmmaker, I am attracted to stories that have pace, strong characters, and a compelling purpose.

I grew up in East Germany, a so-called communist country. I know what it means to live in a society with censorship, fear of telling the truth and “alternative facts”.

Jim Bennett is a once-in-a-lifetime character to portray. It is through him we will show a new perspective and a greater insight into the events surrounding the Vietnam war and the media’s instrumental input... The camera will follow him. We will see what he sees in the field - the horrors and ordinary innocent citizens caught in the cross-fire of war – the real facts behind the propaganda. We will see a film about an extraordinary courageous guy risking his life to tell the truth. A real journalist, a man of morals and integrity - a man’s man. He was one of the few brave enough to stand up against the establishment at any cost. He inspired people around him and who would, if necessary, kill for him. He took care of his people and set such high standards that aspired a healthy competitive news reporting amongst his colleagues and peers.

This will be the first to use the latest digital technology to create a tense, full-of-suspense film which is fast, modern and real. It will be mainstream and edgy, and for sure not just another Vietnam movie. The look of the movie will be clear and sinister to support the tension.

This film takes us into the mind of a journalist. The audience will experience his fears alongside him as his own fears increase step-by-step; they themselves will undergo the growing terror of our hero experiences as the pressure mounts.

We have access to original material from Bennett. I want to merge that material with our action and actors, morph 16mm with the “War Junkies” footage. The war scenes will have the look of the seventies, but our camera can be much closer than it was back then. Scenes that don’t deal with the actual war or statements from Jim Bennett will have a very rich and contemporary look.

To create a rich production value, we will combine period and modern look that will be subtle so the audience will sense the reality but not visibly notice how we do it. This movie is intended to become the first US Vietnam movie to be shot in Vietnam. I will mix super modern sound with real footage from the war in Vietnam.

Directing “War Junkies” is about creating an atmosphere of realism - not creating "boo!" moments. It will be impossible to look away from the screen when watching the movie. The more we leave to the viewer’s imagination in the beginning, the more disturbingly credible the movie will be in the end. More and more we will feel the tension until the horror of reality finally grabs us. I intend to make sure some scenes, will be among the most hard-hitting moments in today’s movies. It’s time for a new Vietnam movie. It’s time to tell the unedited truth.