THE CUCKOOS CALLING

The Strike Series (Book 1& 2) BBC 1

THE BREIF

We have 7 characters who we are hoping to fit with masks. They feature throughout the drama ( which is contemporary ) but in this scene they are acting out a story within the story. It is a surreal, grotesque, and macabre tale in which we can identify the characters even though they are masked.

We are filming this scenario in a castle in a medieval setting.

Because the director wants to recognise the characters he has asked for half masks, part covering the faces with either top or lower jaw featured and maybe one rather than both eyes.

The characters are as follows:

Quine - a wild boar

Fancourt - a fox

Daniel Chard - a reptile

Kathryn Kent - a shrew

Leonora - a bird with exaggerated eye sockets ( in the rest of the script she wears glasses)

Waldegrave - an albatross

Liz - A bird with an oversized beak (She is recognisable by her red lipstick in the rest of the script so her mouth should not be covered).

We have been inspired specifically by a particular artist - Igor Morski.

CHARACTERS

CHARACTERS - In order of diminishing importance

1.BOMBYX- BOAR QUINE/ TASSEL

Quine appears in the Bombyx Mori as Bombyx, an aspiring author whose genius is undisputed, unappreciated and unsubstantiated, prompting him to seek out his idols, but discovers that they only seek to use him and abuse him before eating him alive.

UPDATES: Version 2 has been approved by Claire but without the ring in the tusk.

Click on link above for PDF Reference / Breif

2.THE TICK- BIRD LIZ/TASSEL

Liz Tassel Role in Bombyx Mori -'The Tick' - square-jawed, deep-voiced and frightening... had an unpleasant habit of suckling from Bombyx while he slept.

Elizabeth Tassel – a failed writer who became a literary agent. She lives and works on the fringe of the London literary community, which she deeply resents, and expresses by bullying her staff.

Tassel appears as The Tick, a parasitic woman who cultivates Bombyx's talent to leech off him.

UPDATES: Design Approved, Can have a longer beak as seen in initial drawings. Bloodstains are great. will need to be able to see lips.

Click on link above for PDF Reference / Breif

3.SUCCUBA- BIRD LEONORA

Leonora Role in Bombyx Mori -'Succuba' - a woman described succinctly as a 'well-worn whore', who captured and tied him up and succeeded in raping him. Leonora was described to the life: thin and dowdy, with her large glasses and her flat, deadpan manner. After being systematically abused for several days, Bombyx persuaded Succuba to release him. She was so desolate at his departure that Bombyx agreed to take her along: the first example of the story's frequent strange, dream-like reversals, whereby what had been bad and frightening became good and sensible without justification or apology.

Leonora Quine – Quine's wife, who becomes the prime suspect in his murder. She spends almost all of her time caring for their intellectually-disabled daughter, Orlando.

Leonora appears as Succuba, a demon in the body of a hideous woman who holds Bombyx in bondage and repeatedly rapes him.

UPDATES: Version 1 preferred with ridges in eye socket. No blood on beak. Lips need to be obscured by mask- beak come down over the actors lips.

Click on link above for PDF Reference / Breif

4.CUTTER- ALBATROSS WALDERGRAVE

Jerry Waldegrave Role in Bombyx Mori -'The Cutter' - ...Here, on a bridge over the moat that surrounded the city walls, stood a large, shambling and myopic figure: the Cutter. The Cutter sported a low cap instead of horn-rimmed glasses, and carried a wriggling, bloodstained sack over his shoulder. Bombyx accepted the Cutter's offer to lead him, Succuba and the Tick to a secret door into the city. Inured by now to the sexual violence, Strike was unsurprised that the Cutter turned out to be intent on Bombyx's castration. In the ensuing fight, the bag rolled off the Cutter's back and a dwarfish female creature burst out of it. The Cutter let Bombyx, Succuba and the Tick escape while he pursued the dwarf; Bombyx and his companions managed to find a chink in the city's walls and looked back to see the Cutter drowning the little creature in the moat.

Jerry Waldegrave – Quine's long-suffering editor, who is one of the few people willing to tolerate him. His reputation is ruined by Quine's behaviour, leading to the breakdown of his marriage and his turn to alcoholism.

Jerry appears as The Cutter, a horned, troll-like creature that ruthlessly destroys Bombyx's work. He carries a bloodied sack implied to carry an aborted foetus, and attempts to drown other creatures.

UPDATES: Eye sockets may need second skin to conceal face- hessian/muslin/gauze/

Click on link above for PDF Reference / Breif

5. PHALLUS IMPUDICUS- REPTILE CHARD

Daniel Chard Role in Bombyx Mori -'Phallus Impudicus' - Speeds on towards the castle of light and meets Phallus Impudicus ... a naked bald man standing over the corpse of a golden boy whose body was covered in stab wounds, each of which emitted the same dazzling light that issued from Bombyx's own nipples... erect penis rotting. As Bombyx stared through the window of the castle, transfixed by the horrible sight of Phallus and the corpse, he found himself roughly seized by a crowd of hooded minions, dragged inside the castle and stripped naked in front of Phallus. By this time, Bombyx's belly was enormous and he appeared ready to give birth... The seven guests move towards him with ropes and overpower him. He was trussed up, placed on the platter and slit open. The mass that had been growing inside him was revealed to be a ball of supernatural light, which was ripped out and locked in a casket by Phallus.

Daniel Chard – the president of Roper Chard, a London publishing house specialising in modern literature. He lacks social skills and is implied to be a latent homosexual.
- Daniel appears as Phallus Impudicus, a man who murders writers to steal their talent, violating their corpses with his diseased penis.

Click on link above for PDF Reference / Breif

UPDATES: This mask to be sculpted last. Hannah not sure how the mask would sit on actors face.

6. VAINGLORIOUS-FOX FANCOURT

Michael Fancourt Role in Bombyx Mori -'Vainglorious' - He climbed the steep streets towards it until hailed from a dark doorway by a male dwarf, who introduced himself as the writer Vainglorious. He had Fancourt's eyebrows, Fancourt's surly expression and sneering manner, and offered Bombyx a bed for the night, 'having heard of your great talent'. ...a young woman was chained up inside the house, writing at a roll-top desk. Burning brands lay white hot in the fire, to which were attached phrases in twisted metal such as pertinacious gudgeon and chrysostomatic intercourse. ... had set his young wife Effigy to write her own book... - but she has no talent/must be punished with the brands.

Michael Fancourt – one of the original literary rebels, who went on to become a bestselling author. He maintains literature is an art form, and that art can only be considered as much when it provokes social discussion; however, this is little more than an excuse for his deeply misogynistic opinions.

Michael appears as Vainglorious, a famous author and Bombyx's idol. He is revealed to be a charlatan, torturing his wife Effigy to fuel his own creativity and passing her torment off as art.

Click on link above for PDF Reference / Breif

7. HARPY- RAT? KATHRYN

Kathryn Kent Role in Bombyx Mori -'Harpy' - Halfway along a dark alleyway, Bombyx was accosted by a woman with long red hair and a demonic expression, who taking a handful of dead rats home for supper. When she learned Bombyx's identity Harpy invited him to her house, which turned out to be a cave littered with animal skulls.... the sex involved Bombyx being strung up from the ceiling and whipped... Then Harpy attempted to breast-feed from Bombyx.... something dark brown and glutinous leaks from Harpy's breasts.

Kathryn Kent – Quine's girlfriend and an author of "fantasy erotica" that has mostly been rejected by the London publishing community.