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Sheridan Reviews: Ghost Rider by David S. Goyer

Days before the original version of pdfscreenplays imploded, I traversed to my mailbox to find a large envelope with no return address. Intrigued, I opened it, hoping its contents didn’t contain anthrax or some other form of congratulatory thank you in response to the site. Relieved I didn’t die or explode or hemorrhage upon tearing into its contents, I found that it simply held the 117 page April 11, 2001 first draft of Ghost Rider by David S. Goyer. Oh my, I thought. Shortly thereafter, the site imploded and I got busy with other things, like life. And then I decided to move, so the script eventually ended up at the bottom of a box, in a closet, nearly forgotten. That is, until I read about a Ghost Rider sequel/reboot last month¹, which quickly jogged my memory of its existence.

Curious as to why Mark Steven Johnson passed on Goyer’s draft(s) to commit his own take to the silver screen in 2007, I decided to dig the script out of the bottom of that box and see how our beloved “Prince of Darkness”² envisioned Marvel’s flame-skulled antihero. I also decided to scan it and share it with you here, so you can check it out for yourself. Click here to download it.

I should also mention, I suppose, that I’m a comic book fan. I started reading comics when I was ten-years-old and willing partook in the geekery that is ultimately associated with those “funny books” throughout the entirety of my teenage life. That said, I am by no means an expert, but I’m versed in comic lore and can, for the most part, hold my own in a comic-related conversation. Especially if it has anything to do with Marvel characters, as that was my comic company of choice. I could never fully delve into the expanse of the DC universe, save for some select Vertigo titles, as it always seemed so convoluted to me (“Wait, what do you mean there’s a gaggle of Silver Age characters and their timeline’s are completely different, but I need to know them to understand who the Modern Age characters are? Hold on, there’s Golden Age, too?! Ah, fuck it. Where’s my Turok #1 with the chromium cover? I should only have about fifty of them lying around here somewhere.”).

Moving on (small digression aside), I did purchase and read some Ghost Rider comics while growing up, but I could never really connect with the character. He looked cool, for damn sure, but there was nothing really lasting for me to keep going back month after month.

Anyway, after reading this draft I decided to do some homework and found that Goyer had written a previous 113 page draft with revisions made by Ken Sanzel dated June 19th, 1995, which The Stax Report reviewed in 2001³ when Jon Voight and Johnny Depp were rumored to be attached. That draft, though, Goyer explained in 2001 was “a starting point” and “the direction we’re going with the story would simplify things drastically… more Road Warrior than Marvel Universe.” Remember that last Road Warrior bit for later.

There’s also a June 14, 2001 draft by Goyer floating around the interwebs that Internapse posted a review for in 2005⁴. That draft is dated two months after the draft I’m reviewing here, and while I have not read that draft through to completion, a quick once-over revealed that the placement of the structural elements of the script has been altered significantly, but it does seem to retain the majority of the core story. Perhaps, as time permits, I’ll read it and compare the two, but for now let’s get on with the review.

The story begins simply enough:

The coyote is important, remember that.

The coyote wanders through a derelict amusement park before reaching a ridge that looks out over a Southwestern town. We then cut to a bike repair shop and meet our man, John Blaze, who’s cutting out of work early, again, to meet up with some friends, but not before skillfully grabbing a pair of bolt-cutters while screaming out of the shop on his “muscular, battered BSA.” Their destination? A freight train barreling across the high plains. We’ll get to the why in just a second, first you have to know how Blaze gets on the train.

And just as you start to question the validity of such a feat, Goyer is quick to remind us:

Okay, granted, I’ve seen a similar move on ESPN, but not a tail-over-head front flip or on an old BSA for that matter. Dirt bike, yes. BSA, no. Great. Here I am, excited to finally be reading this much-talked-about screenplay, and I’m already rolling my eyes on Page 3. What could be worse? Well, the why, of course.

That’s right. Our boy, Blaze, is a thief. A thief that we’re somehow supposed to connect with and feel empathy toward, especially after we learn in the following scene that his girlfriend, Roxanne, is seven months pregnant and when the cops show up to take John in for questioning (in connection with the freight train robbery), he calls them by their first names! Uh huh, he knows them both, well, and this isn’t the first time this has happened.

And now that we’re really rooting for our hero, he goes and does something sweet in the next scene. Once he gets back from the police station, he rouses Roxanne from sleep and takes her to the aforementioned derelict amusement park and ridge that overlooks the town, complete with a watchful coyote. Blaze then crafts an origami wedding band out of a dollar bill and sort of “proposes” to Roxanne without actually asking. Then we get a brief glimpse of that Goyer genius.

Then there’s some expository dialogue from Roxanne about Blaze’s lifestyle and their soon-to-be daughter. Oh, and the coyote again. Then all hell breaks loose as we cut back to the apartment and Blaze bursting in to warn Roxanne that they have to leave now. As Roxanne questions, we follow him to the bathroom where he pulls a handgun from behind the toilet, Godfather-style, and tears a panel off of the bath tub to grab a stack of black boxes.

CUT TO: Parking lot. El Camino. Backwards spin. Jump a curb. Rain. Passing cop. Fogging windshield. Cop turning around… You can see where this is headed, right? Cop gives chase. Blaze tries to outrun, but wait:

Blaze reacts. The car crashes through a guard rail and flips end over end before finally coming to rest at the bottom of a rocky arroyo. Blaze stirs to find the passenger seat is empty. He scrambles out of the car to see Roxanne lying ten yards away. He makes his way over to her and then breaks down crying. As troopers show up on the scene, we cut to a hospital and find Blaze in handcuffs and arguing with the troopers. He pleads to see Roxanne and one of the deputies finally agrees. As we discover Roxanne lying in a hospital bed, a doctor informs us that she’s in critical condition and that she lost the baby, which devastates Blaze. Later, with Roxanne on life support, Blaze sits handcuffed beside her bed as two troopers stand guard at the door. He’s lost, adrift. Then we hear footsteps, the ICU lights flicker, and the machines around Blaze begin to weaken as we’re introduced to:

Time stops and Starke places a coin in Blaze’s hand. On one side is a soaring eagle with a coyote on the other. Starke offers to save Roxanne if Blaze will work for him. Blaze questions what kind of work, exactly, as we fade to black.

Five years later, we join Blaze in a Motel room, looking haggard and beat as he stares into a mirror. We then meet a Native American woman, Nomi, and her daughter, Rain, in a Seven Eleven. As they exit the store, we also meet Billy Ray Carrigan talking on the phone, who we later learn is actually Nomi’s husband. As Nomi and Rain leave, Carrigan and his henchman follow at a distance.

Back to Blaze in his motel room, we get a glimpse at how he’s been living for the past five years: out of a duffle bag. He studies a map that is crisscrossed with lines tracing storms from city to city.

As Nomi and Rain travel down a rural back road, Carrigan and crew ram them from behind.

Blaze lights a cigarette and the flames acts peculiar, giving us our first hint as to what has happened to him. He then grabs the coyote/eagle coin, places it on the map, and spins it. As we push in on the coin… and this starts a series of back and forth sequences.

We’re back with Nomi and Rain as they’re harassed and chased by Carrigan and crew, then…

Blaze and the coin. Spinning, spinning…

Just as Nomi’s pickup has a blowout that sends it careening off the road. Once it finally comes to a stop, Nomi grabs a revolver from the glove box and leaves Rain in the pickup as she storms off to confront Carrigan, as…

Blazes watches the coin, then shuts his eyes to allow for dramatic buildup, as…

Nomi starts getting the shit beat out of her. Did I mention this was an R-rated script? Carrigan’s henchman manage to pull Rain kicking and screaming from the pickup, as…

Blaze opens his eyes and stares at his hands that are now emitting a heat haze, as…

Carrigan beats Nomi umercifully, then…

The spinning coin stops. Coyote-side up. Blaze screams and WHOOSH…

Carrigan pistol whips Nomi with a Glock! I have to admit, this buildup to the Ghost Rider reveal is pretty damn cool. It reads fast and frantic on the page, just how it should. Keeps you turning the pages.

And just as Carrigan is about to shoot Nomi in the face (this is my favorite part)…

Now that is the Goyer I know and love! I’ll admit, I sat up at this part. It grabs you, demands your attention. If you’re not with the script at this point, then stop reading, put it down, and walk away, quietly.

At this point, Ghost Rider puts his ass-kicking abilities on full display as he, very violently, kills a few of the henchmen, demonstrates his ability to control fire (even in car engines), slices through metal like an acetylene torch, and unleashes the deadly Penance Stare. He’s only stopped, briefly, when one of the henchmen slams into him with a pickup “at sixty plus” that “pile-drives the howling spectre square into a massive boulder.” This gives Carrigan and a couple of his cronies enough time to kidnap and escape with Rain.

Nomi finally comes around in enough time to watch as Ghost Rider hurls the pickup off himself and approaches her. Scared to look at him, she waits until he stalks off, but when she finally does look up, it’s only Blaze rolling a busted-up motorcycle away. I’d say that throws us headlong into Act 2, wouldn’t you? Next, we see the aftermath and the toll that being Ghost Rider does to Blaze’s body while he wanders through a local hospital in search of medication and medical supplies. As he attempts to leave with stolen medication, he sees Nomi and he’s startled when she recognizes him. The following day, we join Blaze as he writes the date and time on a postcard and drops it into a mailbox, then turns to see Nomi, who claims to know what he is, which leads to:

But she ain’t takin’ no for an answer. She catches up to him on “a monster bike of her own.” After a bit of cat and mouse and Nomi pleading for his help, Blaze tears away leaving her alone. Only to reappear, silently agreeing to help. We then get a little exposition-heavy as we’re taken to Nomi’s trailer where we learn a little backstory on the “Spirit of Vengeance” from Nomi and her father, who tells Blaze about the purpose of his coyote/eagle coin and reveals the legend and motivation of that coyote (aka Ambrose Starke) we’ve been seeing.

Next, Blaze questions Nomi and we learn that Rain has been kidnapped because Starke wants her. Why? Oh yeah, that’s because Starke is her father! That’s right, Nomi did the nasty with the Devil, essentially. Crazy, right? And she’s seemingly okay with all of this, just taking it all in stride. Then we have some conversation between Carrigan and Starke, right before Starke goes to rent a car. Now, this scene is just kind of strange and awkward as Starke goes through the entire process of renting a car. It almost reminds me of something straight out of a Coen Brothers film. I get the careful, slow tension that’s created because we now know who and what Starke is, but it’s still a six and a half page scene that plays out long and strange as Starke ultimately kills the gentleman at the rental car place, his wife, and his son.

As Carrigan and crew continue on their journey, Rain warns them that the Ghost Rider is going to kill all of them. Thanks kid! We needed that little pick-me-up.

Blaze and Nomi go on the hunt for Carrigan, which leads them to a casino that Nomi and Carrigan used to frequent. After a confrontation with security, we continue on to where Carrigan’s house. Here we learn that Blaze has the ability to see the past or, as he explains, “Just echoes, sometimes.” We also learn that Nomi was attempting to O.D. when she met Starke and “nine months later, Rain was born.” Then the security guys from earlier show up… and, well, so does Ghost Rider. Ass kicking and burning things ensues.

Later, at another motel, we discover that Blaze can’t die as the Ghost Rider, well, not exactly, and that it [The Ghost Rider] is “drawn to darkness like a bloodhound. If it thinks you’ve sinned, it’ll find you.” Also, the coyote/eagle coin always lands coyote side up because “there’s always some sad motherfucker out there that needs retribution, vengeance –” As Blaze falls asleep, we drift into a flashback with Roxanne that slowly turns ugly as the memories of the car accident come racing back. When Blaze bolts awake, he finds Nomi looking through his old photographs and holding the paper origami ring he made for Roxanne. He then pulls out another postcard and makes note of the time, slaps a stamp on it, and leaves it on the dresser before they’re out the door, gone. As they continue on their own journey, Blaze tells Nomi that he made a deal with Starke so that Roxanne could live, but the cruel twist is that she’s in a coma and has been since the accident. Then she asks:

Nice riff on Indiana Jones there, eh? I’ll discuss instances such as these a little later. Then we’re back to Carrigan and crew and Rain spooks them a little by telling them that The Ghost Rider will find her, which leads to this pleasant exchange:

Did I mention this was R-rated? As the scene continues we discover that Rain has telekinetic abilities as she makes a pen levitate from the car floor and into her hand, which she then uses to stab into the driver’s thigh. The vehicle barrels off the road and crashes and, without missing a beat, Rain is out of the car and on the run. She’s eventually apprehended by Carrigan and his cronies and, realizing their vehicle is totaled, decide to hole up in a nearby shut-down rock quarry.

Later, Blaze and Nomi pass the totaled vehicle and stop to check it out. Blaze uses his ability to see the past to surmise they’re holed up at the rock quarry. Convenient. Just as they’re about to enter the compound, the Gray Gargoyles show up. A biker gang called in by one of Carrigan’s lackeys to offer protection and safe escort to meet with Starke. Of course, if Blaze were to meet a biker gang, what do you think would happen? Uh huh, I’d say you probably guessed right — a twelve page action scene! Most of the Gargoyles are killed as Ghost Rider frees Rain, who joins Nomi in a fleeing pickup, then the Ghost Rider eventually follows a crony into:

Ghost Rider then chases Nomi down and attempts to kill her because, hey, she’s a sinner, too, remember? But before Ghost Rider can finish his business, it’s dawn and John Blaze is once again a man — who doesn’t get a lot of time to recover because the bad guys are in hot pursuit, and Carrigan is bringing up the rear in a “seven ton Mack dumper.” And what would this story be if we didn’t destroy that Mack in a big, make-Hollywood-proud slow, motion crash? Afterwards, Nomi and Rain escape safely, but Blaze is arrested and put in the local county jail, where he pleads to be placed in solitary. “This isn’t a fucking hotel, chief,” replies one of the deputies.

That brings us to another motel, where Rain helps Nomi dress a nasty shoulder wound she suffered in the crash. Through the course of conversation Rain reveals that Starke talks to her while she’s dreaming. The thought of it startles the poor kid to tears. Back at the jail, Blaze waits patiently for nightfall as Carrigan sits alone in a cell of his own. Wait, Carrigan’s here? Since when?

Now we begin another series of back and forth sequences to ramp up the tension.

Motel. Nomi leaves Rain sleeping to purchase a pack of cigarettes. She flashes back to ODing, then turns to see a coyote. Uh oh.

Jail. Blaze’s transformation begins as he falls to the floor.

Motel. Nomi bolts into the room, wakes Rain, drags her to the bathroom, and lifts her toward a window as we hear footsteps approach.

Jail. Still transforming.

Motel. Rain makes it through the window and runs off into the stormy night, just as Nomi turns to see Starke surrounded by coyotes, who attack!

Jail. FWOOOSH!

Woods. Rain runs for her life.

Jail. Behold, The Ghost Rider! Who starts on his fiery rampage all the way to Carrigan’s cell. And just as the Ghost Rider is about to deliver his Penance Stare, Carrigan whips out a mirror and reverses the deadly effect on our unsuspecting flaming demon that causes a burst a Hellfire making the world go white. We fade in from white at the jail and the devastation left behind from the Ghost Rider’s Hellfire explosion. Starke shows up and as he walks into Carrigan’s cell he sees:

Starke asks Carrigan if he’d like to make a deal, and then we’re left hanging much in the same way we were at the beginning of the script when Starke asked the same question to Blaze.

Speaking of Blaze, we join him sitting in a cemetery at dawn, with a gun in his hand. As he remembers the better times with Roxanne, he slowly cocks the pistol and fingers the trigger. Just as the memories become too much, he presses the barrel against his forehead and — chickens out and weeps with frustration. Suddenly, Rain appears out of nowhere and delivers the news that Nomi is dead. This leads to:

They hitchhike to a mission that’s described as “an old adobe building perched on stilts, precariously overhung.” This is where we meet a priest named Rhymer, and some ex-offenders staying at the mission on a work-release program. The ex-cons are quick to spot that Blaze and Rain are trouble, but Rhymer welcomes them anyway. As they start to enter the mission a scarecrow catches Blaze’s eye. The scarecrow is important, remember that. Later, as Blaze helps Rhymer with a generator, Rhymer calls Blaze’s initial bluff about how he and Rain came to be there. Blaze admits to not telling the truth and listens as the priest offers from words of wisdom. He evens offers Blaze a motorcycle sitting out back.

As night descends, we see the scarecrow and then Blaze, who’s had enough and decides to take the padre up on his offer. After checking in on Rain, who’s sleeping, he leaves the coyote/eagle coin on the stand next to her bed and heads out on the motorcycle. Rain wakes in just enough time to watch Blaze leave. Then, as she walks down a hallway, she’s startled by the sight of a scarecrow through a window. She continues down the hall as Rhymer leads the ex-cons in a prayer before dinner.

We cut to Blaze riding down a coastal highway, then back to the mission and the guys eating dinner. Rain has joined them now, as well, but it doesn’t take long for one of them to notice the gathering coyotes outside making their way slowly toward this mission. One of the men starts to blame Rain, convinced there’s something wrong with her. Soon, three dozen coyotes are attacking the mission! And then:

Seconds later:

The deal with Starke has made Carrigan “The Scarecrow!” You know, the one from the field? Together The Scarecrow and the coyotes unleash on the mission as we cut to Blaze continuing down the coastal highway. He rolls to a stop and contemplates and then ultimately comprehends what his purpose is now.

As The Scarecrow and coyotes continue to wreak havoc on the mission, Blaze makes his comeback, going from ninety to “so fast the goddamn camera can barely catch it” to (I’m not kidding, here) Mach 1 as “sonic booms rock the landscape.” At the mission, we’re close on the coyote/eagle coin as it lands — coyote side up — and then The Ghost Rider explodes through a wall in “deep slow motion.” This leads into our seven page climax sequence, where the mission is destroyed and all of the coyotes are killed along with Rhymer and the ex-cons. As dawn approaches, all that’s left in the aftermath is Blaze, Rain, and a badly wounded Carrigan.

And as Blaze and Rain begin walking away from the smoking ruins of the mission, Starke pulls up in his rented Cadillac. There’s some quick banter between the two as Starke asks to be given Rain, but Blaze threatens:

He disappears over a rise, but not before a coyote can join him along the way. Rain reminds Blaze that he’ll be back, to which Blaze simply replies, “Yeah.” We then continue over the rubble to finally land on Blaze’s coin “balanced perfectly on it’s edge. How it fell like that, at the heart of the wreckage, is a mystery that will probably never be solved.”

We then cut to a hospital as a “nurse brings a postcard to a sleeping patient’s bedside.” The patient? Roxanne, of course, and we realize that the girl who’s been narrating the story since the beginning is her.

So, my thoughts? This draft shows promise, but it’s still a bit of a mess, and since it is a first draft that’s to be expected. My first question is, who’s the villain? We meet a lot of them, but who’s the real opposition, here? Is it Starke or Carrigan? It’s never clearly defined and it’s one of the reasons you’re left so unfulfilled at the end of the script. I also think one of the bigger problems is that the plot gets too complicated. We’re here, we’re there, we’re here. By the time we get to the mission it feels like we’re reading a completely different film. It’s almost as if the scope of this script could cover two films, and that causes us to get bogged down in minutiae.

Also, the number of characters seems a little overwhelming because, again, by the time we arrive at the mission I was moaning, “Please stop introducing new characters!” And according to Stax’s review of Goyer’s 1995 draft⁵ this draft was supposed to be simpler. If that’s the case, I don’t think I’d even want to attempt to read that sure-to-be headache of a script. I am curious, though, as to how much Goyer changed in the draft following this version. I may have to read it sooner rather than later.

So, if Columbia/Marvel/Nicolas Cage are thinking of actually doing a reboot of this franchise I definitely have some advice: keep it simple, stupid. The Ghost Rider and his mythology are rather complex, so don’t place him in a complex story because you’ll inevitably get bogged down in the details. It’s the same trap that Mark Steven Johnson fell into; too many details. Another good bit of advice would be to check the camp at the door. The Schwarzenegger/bazooka comment was just too much. Johnny Blaze is a dark character who needs to be taken seriously. If the writer isn’t going to take him seriously, then the we, as an audience, won’t either. Why were Batman Begins and The Dark Knight such huge successes? Because Christopher Nolan respected the character. He respected who Bruce Wayne was first, and that allowed us to respect what he was to become: Batman. Nevermind the nearly absurd premise, we bought it and it was the respect that got us there. The moment that your main character utters a Schwarzenegger/bazooka comment you introduce camp and when you introduce camp you lose respect. The moment Mark Steven Johnson said, “…and Ghost Rider will whistle for his motorcycle and it’ll respond and come pulling up like a pet… or something,” somebody should have slapped the ever-lovin’ shit out of him.

Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying that you can’t have comedy in a story like this. Jon Favreau proved with Iron Man that you can have comedy without the camp and still be taken seriously. It’s just that, Johnny Blaze, by his very nature, is a complex character. His inner demons are what demands to be explored more fully. Make us understand his inner demons and we’ll understand — we’ll respect — the flaming Demon that he becomes. And that road to understanding has to start on Page One. If it doesn’t, the writer is in trouble and we’re in for another shitty Ghost Rider movie.

What would my pitch be, then? Remember that bit that Goyer said at the beginning of this article… “the direction we’re going with the story would simplify things drastically… more Road Warrior than Marvel Universe.” And in another IGN article⁶ Goyer mentions that one of his favorite films is Unforgiven. Now, what is it about Road Warrior and Unforgiven that makes them such great films? First, complex characters with a host of inner demons in not-so-complex, simple, concise, but really good stories. Second, clearly defined villains. That would be interesting, eh? Unforgiven meets the Road Warrior in this story of one man’s battle for his eternal soul against the Devil himself…

Agree? Disagree? Agree to disagree? Leave your comments below.

Related Posts:

• Ghost Rider (2001.04.11 Goyer Draft)
• Amazing Spider-Man, The (Treatment)
• Elektra Assassin
• Elektra (Frank Miller Draft)
• Dark Knight, The

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