TRUCE

J. A. Bayona (The Impossible, A Monster Calls, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) to direct war movie TRUCE for WB.

Studio: WARNER BROS.

Prod Co: Participant

Dates: Fall 2020

Location: UK

Budget: TBD

Execs: Studio Executive: Peter Dodd

Writer (Current): STUART BEATTIE

Producer: Jonathan King, Elaine Chin, Yasmin Hormozi

Director: Juan Antonia Bayona

Logline: A squadron of soldiers on the front line during WWI has an opportunity to recapture a glimmer of their humanity with the infamous
Christmas Truce of 1914

Roles:

[SEARGANT GRAVES]
Lead Male (20 - 25)
"He's got cuts on his face and neck, but his eyes carry the real wound. Graves has seen hell and it has marked him." A farmer turned soldier. He's lost all hope. He's even told his wife to stop writing him because it's too painful. He strikes an unlikely and,
at first, contentious friendship with his idealistic Lieutenant, CALDWELL, who incessantly talks about brokering a truce for Christmas Day. Gradually, however, Graves' eyes are opened.
He has a German save his life and show him kindness. He finds out men are dying and skirmishes fought for no reason. He sees
other men yearn for peace. The final turning point is on Christmas Eve when the men are enjoying a Christmas Eve celebration with the Germans and Graves' superior office, MACINTYRE, breaks it up. McIntyre and Caldwell are battling for Graves' soul. When Caldwell is insubordinate and pleads for
peace, McIntyre shoots him. Graves becomes determined to secure the Christmas truce his friend so wanted. He does and it brings him a brief moment of happiness and peace.

[LIEUTENANT CALDWELL]
Lead Male (20 - 25)
"A pale, thin young man The man wears wire rim glasses and an oxford ring." A wealthy, educated and idealistic man who joined the war, although he didn't have to, because he believed it was right. His tolerant and humanistic view of the Germans brings him into conflict with his fellow soldiers, his commanding office Macintyre and his underling, Graves. Eventually, his spirit infects the rest of the men who come to believe that perhaps the Germans are men, just like them. When he's killed by McIntyre, the men fulfill his dream of a Christmas truce.

[CORPORAL SNELL]
Supporting Male (25)
"Muscular and tight. Snell has a hard edge to him, shaped from years working the coal mines. Snell is a stone-cold killer, just the kind of guy you want on your front line. A million more like him and the war would be over tomorrow. He hates Germans with a passion." Snell's hatred for the Germans is challenged when a soldier, KARL, chats him up from their respective posts. He feels horrible when he wrongly kills the German, believing Karl was throwing him a grenade when he was actually tossing him a present of chocolate. He feels guilty, but to admit he's wrong and that the Germans are people would mean the collapse of his belief system. He rats out his platoon when they're fraternizing with the German on Christmas Eve. The
tragic repercussions leave him devastated.

[CAPTAIN STANLEY MACINTYRE]
Supporting Male (40 - 49)
"McIntyre has a severe look about him. He exudes authority and superiority." He follows orders, period. He expects everyone to do the same. In war there are only numbers. He has no empathy, no heart. He's on a collision course with Graves and Caldwell, whom he bears a particular grudge against due to
Caldwell's upper class origins. He loses Graves' respect by ordering pointless and dangerous missions, then his enmity when he kills Caldwell. In the end, the truce is bigger than him
and he can't stop it.

[PRIVATE TIPPOWITZ]
Supporting Male (19)
"He could have been a university professor. Tippowitz is a genius whose mind is simply too quick for his tongue. Consequently, he speaks in incomprehensible gibberish through a beguiling Cheshire grin. Nobody really pays much attention to
him." Tippowitz is best friends with Snell and extremely protective of PRIVATE ROBINSON. Tippowtiz appears to be fearless in all things he is one of the first soldiers to charge the battlefield, but also one of the first to accept and try and enact
the Christmas truce.

[PRIVATE AVERY]
Supporting Male (19)
"The best shot in the regiment." Avery is the regiments star sniper. He frequently gets into shooting contests with the German sniper from the other side, and is horrified when McIntyre orders him to break his unspoken agreement with the
other sniper and shoot him during breakfast. Avery tries to refuse, but McIntyre threatens to label him as a traitor, so he complies. Shortly after, Avery commits suicide by walking unarmed into No Mans land and intentionally getting himself shot.

[PRIVATE ROBINSON]
Supporting Male (19)
"Robinson doesn't look like much of a soldier with is small frame and a uniform too sizes too big. But there's a tough little streak in him which has landed him in more than a few fights. Tippowtiz and Snell protect Robinson like he's their kid brother,
something he constantly rallies against in vain." Robinson is beloved by the group and one of the first of Grave's squadron to be injured by the Germans. Caldwell negotiates with the Germans to allow he and his men to get Robinson
from No Man's land and the Germans agree, but Robinson dies from his wounds regardless.

[LANCE CORPORAL BENTON]
Supporting Male (25)
"A pure ladies' man, here but for the snappy uniform and the shiny boots. He ought to be singing in a West End nightclub, not fighting in the mud and rain." Corporal Benton keeps a collection of ladies pictures and has a bevy of fiances waiting for him back home that the men like to tease him about. Benton dies when the German's rush the British trenches and he impulsively tries to save pictures of his ladies that he dropped.