Justice for Love (2023 film)


 * This article is about the 2023 unmade film starring Alicia Silverstone. For the franchise by Toho, see Justice for Love duology.

"It's the end of the world... What will you do?"

- Tagline

"Two worlds collide"

- Intended tagline

Justice for Love (also known as Emily and the Apocalypse) is an unmade 2023 American apocalyptic comedy drama film that was to be produced by Paramount Pictures. It is supposed to be a remake of the 2020 film #JusticeForLove: End of the World by Toho and GMA Pictures. The predecessor to Legendary Pictures' Justice for the End of the World, the project was the first attempt to produce an American remake of #JusticeForLove: End of the World.

The film would have been directed by Amy Heckerling, before being replaced by John Krasinski, while starring Alicia Silverstone and Rachel Blanchard. In the film, a renowned celebrity tries to find closure in her life as she befriends a depressed woman attempting to reunite with her family while an asteroid threatens to impact Earth. Unlike the original film which takes place in San Francisco and the Philippines, the film mostly takes place in New York City.

After the films #JusticeForLove: End of the World and Don't Look Up received positive reception, Paramount became interested in doing an American remake. The film is intended to be released on April 2, 2023, serving as a 30th anniversary tribute to Alicia Silverstone's film career. However, due to legal disputes between Paramount, Toho, and Legendary Pictures for the rights to the Justice for Love duology, plans for the film were abandoned.

Plot

 * Based from the screenplay's first draft, when Amy Heckerling was still the film's director. The second draft was never completed.

The film takes place mostly in New York City approximately three months after the discovery of a 10-kilometer asteroid on a collision course with Earth, while small asteroid fragments destroy the cities of Tokyo and San Francisco. The United States and Russia attempt to deflect the asteroid by launching intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

Renowned celebrity Emily appears to have the perfect life she wanted; married, popular, and rich. However, the asteroid threat has severely affected her career, as more and more people are concerned with the imminent end of the world. One day, an emergency broadcast informs the world that the attempt to deflect the asteroid has failed, and the asteroid is projected to impact somewhere in western Europe in approximately one week, triggering an extinction-level event.

Emily and her husband Michael decide to spend their remaining week at their vacation home in Maine, but while on the Grand Central Terminal, Michael confesses to Emily that he's having an affair with a woman named Heather for some time, and finally abandons their marriage as he boards the last train to Philadelphia instead. Feeling dejected, Emily returns home, and with all her friends and co-workers refuse to leave their loved ones, she is left alone. The next day, the streets of New York City are all deserted, and stores have been looted. While attempting to visit a friend in New Jersey, Emily encounters a man looking for a cab, as all modes of public transportation have been suspended. Realizing that some people are stranded, Emily decides to help the man reach his destination in Queens, while she realises that she enjoys doing good deeds.

Emily continues driving stranded people to their destinations around New York City. One day, she meets a depressed woman named Sarah, and befriends her. It is revealed that Sarah is a big fan of Emily, is actually from Boston, and is attempting to reunite with her mother. With nowhere else to go, Sarah asks if she could stay in Emily's apartment for the time being, which she accepts.

At the Empire State Building, Emily reveals to Sarah that it reminds her of her first love interest, Alex, which she last met at the building's 86th floor observatory back in 1998, and she never saw him again afterwards. Emily kept returning to the Empire State Building every year, in the hopes of meeting Alex again and confessing her feelings to him.

Sarah is later informed that her mother has died, and begins to realize that she was too late, and attempts to commit suicide. Rather than killing herself, Sarah decides to spend the remaining days with Emily, as she returns to the Empire State Building for the last time, writing a letter confessing her feelings to Alex, and leaves it at the building's observation deck. In her final moments, Emily realizes that the impending apocalypse made her further understand or appreciate the people in her life. Both Emily and Sarah embrace their deaths as the firestorm approaches the city, 30 minutes after the asteroid's impact. They are vaporized instantly while the rest of New York City is obliterated by the firestorm, including Times Square and the Empire State Building.

The film ends on shots of Earth from outer space, as the firestorm continues engulfing the rest of the planet, signifying the end of the world.

Known characters

 * Some of the names might have been temporary placeholders, and could have changed in later revisions.


 * Emily - The film's lead protagonist and narrator (to be played by Alicia Silverstone, the only confirmed cast member).
 * A famous celebrity, but lacks social interaction with people due to her career. After her husband abandons their marriage, she realises that the end of the world made her appreciate the people around her by doing good deeds. She is the remake counterpart of Mylene Concepcion from the original film.


 * Sarah
 * A depressed woman from Boston. She is one of Emily's fans, and is attempting to reunite with her mother. She is the remake counterpart of Alicia Salvacion from the original film.


 * Michael
 * Emily's husband. He abandons her and their marriage to spend the remaining time with his mistress in Philadelphia.


 * Alex
 * Emily's first love interest. Last seen by Emily at the 86th floor observatory of the Empire State Building in 1998.

Production
Following the phenomenal success of the original film, Paramount Pictures became interested in doing an American remake of the film, with a big budget and A-list actors. This would also be a great next step to follow up on the success of Don't Look Up, which Paramount originally planned to release theatrically, before its rights were acquired by Netflix.

Paramount initially hired Clueless director Amy Heckerling as the film's director, and hired Greenland writer Chris Sparling to write the film's screenplay. Heckerling admitted about not seeing the original film before, and envisioned the film instead as a comedy drama.

Most of Heckerling's prominent work were all under the comedy genre, which typically receives poor reviews from critics, but proves to be very popular with audiences who just wanted to watch funny movies. Comedic movies about the apocalypse were not new; such previous examples include Dr. Strangelove, This Is The End, and Rapture-Palooza.

To maintain authenticity and continuity, they intended to closely follow the original film, albeit changing the setting to New York City, while keeping the general plot and characters of the original. It was decided from the outset that the film will feature its own characters, without bringing any from the original entries, although Clara Young was suggested for a short cameo.

Sparling was instructed by Heckerling to remove any disaster scenes as much as possible, even removing the asteroid impact during the film's climax, keeping only the firestorm scene. As a result, the story is more reminiscent of Last Night and Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. Heckerling also decided to remove the asteroid impact avoidance themes from the original film.

Sparling took inspiration from Heckerling's previous work for the characters and story concept, including Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Clueless, and Vamps, along with the original film. The film's lead protagonist, Emily, for example, is described as a "middle-aged version of Cher; a sweet but spoiled girl that believes the world only revolves around her".

The Alicia character from the original film, according to Sparling, is basically "what Justice for Love is all about", and decided to incorporate a similar character for the film. Sparling described the character as the complete "opposite" of Emily, while remaining faithful to the original character.

With the location change to New York City, Sparling deemed that the original film's use of the Golden Gate Bridge and other prominent San Francisco landmarks simply "wouldn't work anymore". There was a debate over whether prominent landmark would be used in the film, and in all of the landmarks considered, the Empire State Building was chosen by Sparling.

For the lead role of Emily, Heckerling approached actress Alicia Silverstone, while Rachel Blanchard is also considered for an undisclosed role in the film. Around the same time, a concept poster depicting a deserted Times Square was released in the United States to generate interest for the project.

With the screenplay completed, Sparling submitted his first draft to the executives at Paramount. The studio executives were dissatisfied with the screenplay, as it deviated "too much" from the original film, and requested the screenplay to be rewritten from scratch. Heckerling could not come to an agreement with the studio executives, and later left the project.

"The guys over at Paramount, they didn't like it. They thought it deviated too much from the source material, and they told me to rewrite it."

- Amy Heckerling regarding the executives' response to the submitted screenplay

After Heckerling left the project, it was sent into development hell. To differentiate it from the first draft, the studio hired John Krasinski as the film's new director, and Sparling began rewriting the film's screenplay, hoping to turn the project into a serious apocalyptic film, as he originally envisioned.

While Sparling was rewriting the film's screenplay, the studio soon learned that Toho signed a deal with Legendary Pictures instead. Paramount proceeded to sue both Toho and Legendary for the rights to the Justice for Love duology, claiming that they had a written contract to produce their own remake; however, Toho denied such a deal.

Eventually, a federal judge later ruled that Legendary did in fact have the rights to produce a remake of #JusticeForLove: End of the World. As a result, the second draft of the screenplay was never completed; Krasinski returned on directing the A Quiet Place series, with the third entry targeted for a 2025 release, while Scream VI reused the New York City setting from the first draft.

Trivia

 * While the plot remains similar to the original, it contains numerous nods to the 1995 film Clueless, produced by Paramount and also starring Silverstone. For instance, the entire film is narrated by the protagonist, befriends another woman and decides to help her, and the film's final act focuses on the protagonist reexamining her own existence shortly before the world ends.
 * Two lines spoken by the film's protagonist (intended to be portrayed by Silverstone) serve as a direct reference to Clueless; "I was totally clueless" during the Grand Central Terminal scene, and the more popular "As if!" during the beginning of the film, set at Times Square Studios.
 * The film is alluded to in the 2022 film Senior Year also by Paramount, in the form of mild references scattered around the film. Each functions as a form of subtle foreshadowing.
 * In Stephanie's room, a movie poster of Clueless could be seen. The plot of the film has multiple references to Clueless.
 * Later, Stephanie goes to a movie theater playing Deep Impact. Both films are about impact events, a comet in the former, and an asteroid in the latter.
 * During the movie theater scene, short clips from Deep Impact were shown, including the scene depicting New York City being destroyed by a megatsunami. The film's main setting is also New York City, and the final scene of the film shows the city being obliterated by a firestorm rather than a megatsunami.
 * Alicia Silverstone appearing in a short cameo appearance references the film's supposed protagonist, also to be portrayed by Silverstone. Additionally, it references a scene in the film in which the protagonist drives people around New York City.
 * The final scene is a direct reference to the 2022 short film The Final Moments, depicting the protagonists being vaporized instantly while a major city is obliterated by the firestorm (Manila, New York City).
 * It is not known if the film would actually show the asteroid impacting Earth or not.
 * The film would have served as a 30th anniversary tribute to Alicia Silverstone's film career, as she made her film debut in The Crush, released in April 2, 1993, and the film is intended to be released on the same date.
 * Each of the landmarks depicted being destroyed during the firestorm scene has a certain importance in Emily's life:
 * Grand Central Terminal is where Emily's husband abandons their marriage.
 * Times Square, being the entertainment capital, is Emily's workplace.
 * Empire State Building reminds Emily of her first love interest.
 * The amount of similarities in the impending impact event described in the film's screenplay suggest that while the film itself is a remake, it actually takes place in the same continuity as the original film.
 * This is the second instance Paramount attempted to remake a film based on impact events, after When Worlds Collide.
 * The film's intended tagline upon release is "Two worlds collide", serving as a reference to When Worlds Collide.
 * Some of the character names written in the film's screenplay might have been temporary placeholders, as Emily is also the name of Krasinski's wife, Emily Blunt.
 * Coincidentally, Emily is also the name of Silverstone's character in the 1997 film Excess Baggage.
 * In the original film, prominent San Francisco landmarks play a certain role in the story, such as the Golden Gate Bridge, while in the remake, due to its setting changed to New York City, the Golden Gate Bridge is replaced by the Empire State Building.
 * The firestorm scene at the end of the film is supposed to be a shot-by-shot remake from the original film, even including the same New York City landmarks being destroyed in a similar fashion; Grand Central Terminal/MetLife Building, Times Square, and Empire State Building.
 * Rebecca Rittenhouse, the actress that portrays Clara Young in the original film, expressed interest in appearing in the film.
 * The ending of the film is reminiscent to the 2012 film Vamps. In that film, Silverstone's character, Goody Rutherford, instantly turns into dust in the middle of Times Square at the end of the film. In the screenplay written for Justice for Love, Silverstone's character would have experienced a similar death, albeit burned instantly. The firestorm scene also features Times Square being destroyed.
 * In the original film, the introductory sequence at the beginning features a timelapse evolution of Times Square being portrayed by CGI, while Vamps uses actual stock footage of Times Square from different time periods during the film's ending.
 * The idea of a franchise's main setting being changed to New York City was also used in the Scream film series. In that franchise's sixth installment, Scream VI, the entire film takes place also in New York City, compared to the franchise's main setting being centered in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California.
 * Coincidentally, Scream VI was released theatrically on March 10, 2023, only a month before this film's intended release.