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LEGALLY DEAD

By Anthony WALLER

Drama - Development 2014

To save his wife from certain destruction and give millions of people a choice in their own future, a man must convince a jury that medical advancements prove death is no longer inevitable.

- Year of production
- 2014
- Genres
- Drama, Science-fiction
- Countries
- USA
- Languages
- ENGLISH
- Director(s)
- Anthony WALLER
- Writer(s)
- David HITCHCOCK, Anthony WALLER
- Producer(s)
- Anthony WALLER
- Synopsis
- Technologist Vincent Malone believes in free will and freedom of choice. He dreams of a future with unlimited possibilities and indefinite lifespans; a future he plans on sharing with his new bride - blossoming composer and pianist, Rebecca. However, Rebecca believes in fate and destiny, which later poses a dilemma.
  As a child, Vincent drowned in a frozen lake. His rescue cost the life of his father, but Vincent’s own full and successful revival, after an hour under the ice, motivates him to work as a computer engineer for TimeHop: a cryonics company that has developed the technology to preserve the recently deceased at sub-zero temperatures without a trace of tissue damage. The company hopes to potentially revive their “patients” in the future where science and medicine has become capable of treating the causes of their initial demise.
  Tragedy strikes our newly wed couple when Rebecca is suddenly killed in a hit and run accident by high-powered attorney Blaze Tanner. After Rebecca’s death, Vincent refuses to let go. He forges Rebecca's signature on the necessary documents and has her placed in suspended animation. Rebecca's parents and her brother Norbert ( a religious fundamentalist) object and convince the District Attorney to charge TimeHop and Vincent with abuse of a corpse.
  Anxious to conceal her guilt by manipulating the hit and run investigation, Blaze contacts Vincent and agrees to represent him. The ensuing trial quickly gains national attention. In the media, Rebecca’s case represents a radical break from the age-old idea that humankind must surrender to disease and death.
  The reputation of Blaze Tanner's law firm is on the line. She must either win, or lose everything. For Vincent, losing the trial means handing over Rebecca's remains for certain destruction. For Rebecca’s brother, Norbert and her parents, losing means leaving Rebecca's soul in eternal suspension and denying her the joys of salvation.
  Plagued by guilt, with the investigating detectives relentlessly closing in on her, Blaze gradually changes from cynical skeptic to a supporter of Vincent’s cause. While Rebecca is legally dead, she is not necessarily dead by future definitions. Rebecca’s brain cell structure and neurological connections remain intact, and despite there being no proof that her revival will ever be possible, Blaze agrees that she should at least be given the chance of experiencing a potentially boundless future.
  Blaze’s ultimate legal success in saving Rebecca’s remains, coincides with Vincent’s discovery that Blaze was the one who ‘killed’ her in the first place, leaving Blaze to face her own justice.
  Unable to accept the jury's verdict, Norbert takes the law into his own hands and tries to force Vincent to give up Rebecca's remains. Vincent is killed protecting the woman he loves, giving her a chance at a future he will never see.
  Flash forward 54 years. With a newly cloned, youthful body, Rebecca lays on a hospital bed in an induced coma. Her mind is connected to a form of full immersion virtual reality. Blaze Tanner, 54 years older, explains what has happened, apologizes for her role in the accident, and gives Rebecca a glimpse of the future.
  Now, Rebecca must make a decision. The trial that preserved her life and essence has given countless others the choice to prolong their lives in ways many can barely imagine today. In the ultimate irony, Rebecca was never given the choice her case made possible for so many others; Vincent chose for her. Now, it's her turn; live a life completely different from the one she has known, or accept her “fate” and painlessly fade away into nothingness.