< 'Atomic - Meanwhile in Utch'>
CONTENT
Introduction
Nigel Moorhouse falls from a secure life into the dark,dangerous and seedy drug underworld of 'Utch', and unepectdely into a peverse love triangle.'
Location - Uttoxeter 1980 - Action begins Dec 8th 1980. Uttoxeter known locally as 'Utch' Utch is a small rural market town on a rail route halfway between Stoke and Derby, everyone knows everyone else. Hard hit in the recession as major employment centres - a biscuit factory and an agricultural machinery factory have made heavy redundancies. Little else, if you lose your job you are deep in it.
Character Profiles
Character Profiles
Nigel Moorhouse
Age late 40s - Think Nick Frost
Born in Glasgow 1935, moved to Uttoxeter as a child. Always a good student, high achiever, good looking and sporty. Dark-haired, stubble, but now becoming podgy.
Very conventional middle-of-the-road attitude. Lapsed catholic, but with deeply ingrained morals. Weak-willed, gullible.
Educated to secondary level, then worked in Father's car salesroom.
Soft Glaswegian accent, 5.10/12, a little overweight. Dresses fashionably. Generally mild-mannered doesn't swear, is naive to the real world, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and lives by the rules finding it hard to break them. The latter gives him a slightly comic appeal.
Has a dominant wife 10 years his age and a 10-year-old daughter. They split up early in the story, and eventually, Fabien moves in with them at Nigel's matrimonial home!
Worked previously as a car salesman, but was laid off in the recession when he thought he was safe. Also issues with his consumption of porn at work.
As the story progresses, and the stress increases (i.e. Nigel going against his 'moral' grain) Nigel becomes dangerous and delusional, fixated on Debbie Harry in his imagination, and in love with Anna in the real world. He develops a strange leer and a twitch as psychological pressure builds to breaking point.
His sole aim is to make money from the weed business and then leave for New York on a fantasy trip to meet Debbie Harry and starta new life.
Fabien Boycott
Age late 40s - Think psychotic Robert Carlyle in Trainspotting
Local, south Derbyshire accent
Tall and gaunt looking, 6 foot plus, functioning alcoholic and drug addict. Always has an intense look, staring eyes- too much natural eye contact
Psychopathic tendencies. Intelligent, ubermensch type - makes his own rules in life. Educated to degree level in sociology. Originally went to private school, but Father removed him and sent to local Secondary Modern, where his character was forged. Constantly takes the piss ...
Foul-mouthed for effect.
Often seen with a Jack Russel dog in his coat and with a can of beer in a pocket, and a joint stuck between his lips. Large porn star mustache.
Has a wife and two girls he keeps very private. They know little of his drugs and sex work business. During the film, he also moves in with Nigel's wife, offering her 'support' after she learns what Nigel has done with the house, etc.
Has a terminal illness, with only a few years to live. So he is motivated to provide a financial legacy for his children. He will do this by killing Nigel after Nigel has developed aspirations Fabien can destroy - not to mention Nigel's drug money.
He also has an emotional relationship with Anna, whom he has had a chld with (accidentally). He took the child away and it lives with a nanny. He uses the child to motivate Anna into a hard and brutal sexual sadio-masichist relationship and to do his bidding as a sex worker. (NOT explicit in the film)
His moods swing massively, he can be all goodness and light then violent and abusive to all. He is always unpredictable and tense as if he is about to explode. Yet he is ALWAYS calculating outcomes.He manages his feelings and generates them with substances.
Money is his motivation and the ability to control individuals, power over others, and abuse them.
Anna Malonmowski - 40ish , younger than the male leads
Blonde blue eyes 5.6, very pretty, but haggard, worn looking due to drug abuse and tiredness
Came to UK as a child from Poland with her parents after the war, and met a rich local man who had a child. House burned down and only she survived. Blames herself (as she was too drunk to wake and warn the others, being asleep by the pool) and now is determined to punish herself for the rest of her life.
Threw herself onto the street and was picked up by Fabien, who literally saved her life and put her work for him. She has developed a masochist personality and Fabien sees this and exploits it for his own sadistic and financial aims.
She is a generally gentle individual, but strong-willed enough to keep punishing herself, get what she wants, and not lose track of her acute guilt complex. She does challenge Fabien knowing he will punish her for it.
Her goal is punishment, pain, and eventual death, although she will not commit suicide purposefully. After hours she slips into a drink and alcohol haven.
She loves Nigel, in her own way. But knows she cannot commit herself in that direction as Nigel is gentle and conventional man. He cannot give her what she needs in a relationship, so is constantly rejecting him but having to deal with the guilt of hurting him.
She has no focus other than her punishment the child she had with Fabien, who is used to controlling her. It is the existence of the child, a 2-year-old, that keeps her half sane but fighting between guilt and hatred of herself and love of her child ...