Scorn is a 2012/2013 spec script written by Derek Kolstad, and would become the basis for the film John Wick 1.
The Scorn script provides examples of:
- Adaptation Distillation: Wick's kill count varies depending on the script version, but never goes above fifteen (and was originally as low as three), in stark contrast to the final film's official kill count of 77.
- Age Lift:
- John Wick is in his mid-sixties in the script, and was originally imagined with someone like Harrison Ford or Paul Newman in mind for the role. In the filmed version, he is played by a then-fifty year old Keanu Reeves.
- Wick's dog is also an old dog in the script, whereas the dog is a puppy in the film.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation:
- Viggo bleeds out during the shootout at the bank/church, as opposed to being stabbed by Wick in the final minutes of John Wick.
- Iosef, instead of getting his brains blown out without putting up much of a fight, gets thrown into a grain chute and suffocates.
- Perkins is killed by Winston himself for violating the Continental rules, not by Winston's guards.
- Gender Flip: Perkins is a male in the script, but was re-written into a female for the film.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Harry is not killed by Perkins in his hotel room, as opposed to the film.