Directions Unit: Character Research

The Ladykillers is a classic black comedy; a sweet little old lady, alone in her house, is pitted against a gang of criminal misfits who will stop at nothing… Posing as amateur musicians, Professor Marcus and his gang rent rooms in the lopsided house of sweet but strict Mrs Wilberforce. The villains plot to involve her unwittingly in Marcus’s brilliantly conceived heist. The police are left stumped but Mrs Wilberforce becomes wise to their ruse after One Round spills the money. Marcus concludes that there is only one way to keep the old lady quiet…..


Mrs Wilberforce is the victim in all of this. After posing an advertisement letting rooms in her lopsided old house, she finds herself bombarded with a group of criminal masterminds, who she believes at first, to be musicians. She soon becomes wise to their ruse, and looks to do the right thing; hand them into the police. But unknowingly, she was a vital element to the robbery.


Marcus is the leader of the pack. The robbery is his devised idea, and responsibility rests on him if all goes wrong. A clever man and criminal mastermind; wearing his long grey scarf, and grey cardigan. His hair is wild, despite a couple of attempts to keep it under control. Don’t be fooled by his dull appearance as there are plenty of colourful twists and turns and underlying notions to this mysterious figure.


Louis is a cynical character, who has a hard time trusting Marcus, or any of them come to that (can you blame him?). He especially has a hard time trusting Mrs Wilberforce, and her role in the plan, because she doesn't know what she is doing by collecting the luggage. Although he appears to be the coldest character, he still can't bring it upon himself to kill an old lady. 


Major Courtney, who is seemingly posh, but a crook nevertheless. Mrs Wilberforce favours him because of his polite persona. Despite this he is still a fraud, and his implied ‘military’ background is a lie. However, he is seen as quite a wimp, and fears getting killed, put in prison or the deed of killing.





 One Round, is an ex-boxer. People see him as slow, but has a heart of gold. When all the others plot to kill Mrs Wilberforce, he refuses to let them and will do anything to protect her. Although he isn't the brightest spark, he has morals and will do anything to protect Mrs Wilberforce, who he has become quite attached to.



Harry follows everyone else's instructions and hopes for the best, with no mind of his own. I want to give his character more significance. Harry’s character is very subtle in the film, he doesn’t have a lot to say. Inspired by the play version of the LadyKillers, his character seems more interesting by making him this OCD pill popping schizophrenic. This would be interesting to work on and will be editing the script to adapt to this.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Story Telling Unit-Camera Workshop 3: 180 degree rule

Pre-Production: Professional Practice Interviews

News Production: DIY Tech