I’ve been thinking a lot about the storyline of next summer’s Tarzan and contemplating trying to piece together a theoretical synopsis that goes a lot farther than the one that’s been officially authorized — but in search for clues I came across something more intereesting than my little project. Let me explain.
First, let’s review what is officially known about the storyline of next summer’s Tarzan.
There seem to be two versions of the official “synopsis” which is more like an extended logling, not a true synopsis. But let’s start with that:
Synopsis 1
Many years after he left Africa behind, Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgård) returns to the Congo to serve as a trade emissary, unaware that he is actually a pawn in a Belgian captain’s (Christoph Waltz) deadly plot.
And:
Synopsis 2
It has been years since the man once known as Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgård) left the jungles of Africa behind for a gentrified life in London as John Clayton III, Lord Greystoke, with his beloved wife, Jane Porter (Margot Robbie) at his side. Now, he has been invited back to the Congo to serve as a trade emissary of Parliament, unaware that he is a pawn in a deadly convergence of greed and revenge, masterminded by the Belgian Captain Rom (Christoph Waltz).
Other story elements we know about from comments by the stars, IMDB Cast List, etc:
Leaked Elements beyond the synopsis:
Jane is kidnapped by Rom. But, according to Margot Robbie, Jane is “quite independent, not so reliant on Tarzan. She’s definitely a strong character, very intelligent and fun.”
Tarzan meets George Washington Williams and they become allies ….
Tarzan, according to Skarsgard, rediscovers the “beast within” once he gets back to Africa and things start happening.
And we know that the cast includes, in addition to Tarzan, Jane, Captain Rom, and George Washington Williams:
CAST includes
Mbonga (the leader of the tribe that migrated as refugees from the Congo to Tarzan’s childhood jungle) and several Mbonga warriors
Young Jane
Young Tarzan
Very young Tarzan
Kala, Tarzan’s adoptive great ape mother
Force Publique soldiers
Belgian Soldiers
And finally we know this about the historical setting:
Historical Context
The historical setting is the Congo Free State in the 1890s. For those not familiar, the Congo Free State was the private domain of Leopold II of Belgium from 1885 until 1908, when it became the Belgian Congo. During the “Free State” period it became infamous for genocide and mistreatment of the natives. In 1885 Leopold created “Force Publique” — an army of enforcers whose harsh treatment of the natives become the subject of international outcry in the 1890s. One of those leading the international outcry was George Washington Williams (the Samuel Jackson character in the movie), an American black who visited the Congo and published a report in 1891 just before he died. Leon Rom (the Christoph Waltz character) was a “Station Chief” responsible for an area along the Congo River, infamous for decorating his garden with severed heads of natives, and keeping a gallows permanently erected next to his offices. Joseph Conrad met Rom in 1890, and he is believed to be a main source of inspiration for Kurtz in Heart of Darkeness, which was published nine years later.
Then, after contemplating all of the foregoing, I decided to go through the entire IMDB Message Board for this movie and see if there were any more clues there.
So … it was at this point, having assembled all the foregoing, that I came across this post on the IMDB Tarzan Message Boards, dated Sept 6. 2014 with the headline “Already know what they’re doing:”
Movie opens with a completely civilized Tarzan living in London… many years removed from his jungle past.
His job sends him back to the jungle to investigate a questionable mining operation that is raping the land of its natural resources and causing a nearby native population to suffer. While Tarzan is there, the film’s primary villain sets him up for a crime he didn’t commit.
Everyone believes Tarzan is guilty and a warrant is issued for his arrest.
Tarzan retreats to the jungle he once called home determined to clear his name, solve the crime, seek revenge and catch the real criminal mastermind behind it all. There is a flashback of when his ape family was tragically slaughtered by human poachers (led by the film’s primary villain, of course, in his younger years).
The lord of the jungle emerges — again.
Using the cover of darkness and a near superhuman blend of strength, athleticism, instincts and skills acquired during his jungle years, Tarzan [is seen] taking out the villains one by one… and in some cases all at once.
Movie will … be filled with CGI animals. Tarzan will have a female love interest. Jane. Their backstory will go back to a time when they were children. He, a wild boy who saved her life from a rampaging beast. She, the young daughter of traveling aristocrats who never believed her story.
Now, to me, it sounds like this guy may actually know something.
When he posted this, he got attacked on the IMDB message board for something else he said which is irrelevant to our discussion here, and which I’ve edited out because I don’t want a rehash of that extraneous comment to become our focus. He also got attacked for not knowing the underlying ERB story well enough, which I don’t see as particularly relevant either. He makes no claim of knowing anything other than the movie storyline.
A few other things that make me think he might actually know something:
1. He refers to the movie as being “filled with CGI animals”. When he wrote this, in September 2014, there had not been any discussion that I can find which said that. Discussion of there being a lot of CGI animals happened after the test screenings. (Filming started on June 30, 2014, and was ongoing when he wrote the post.)
2. The “questionable mining operation” reference is consistent with some other references that pre-date the “trade emissary” formulation. However, these also pre-date Yates coming on board, and I’ve seen nothing referencing a mining operation in the more recent synopses, etc. So one possibility is that he had access to an earlier version of the script … and scripts change, especially this one, where they ended up combining two scripts written pretty much separately.
3. The poster is Cyclo Rider who is an extremely prolific IMDB poster … but he never posted any other comments on Tarzan and does not appear to have been part of the John Carter discussion, although I’m not 100% sure of that. I definitely don’t remember him from the John Carter boards which I knew pretty well. So my point is, he’s not an ERB fan or John Carter fan who might have sat around conjuring all this up because he’s obsessed with the film or the books. It’s hard to see him putting in the effort to just come up with this … although at one point in the back and forth on the message board he asserts that he was extrapolating from the synopsis. Was he?
Anyway, I”m putting it up here without endorsing it as truth …. just an interesting speculation and I’d love to hear if people are aware of other plot points that haven’t been captured above, either in the points I raised, or those from Cyclo Rider’s post. Or, if you feel what he’s posted is wrong or ridiculous, explain why because to me it resonates pretty well as at least a good chunk of the storyline we’re likely to see.