There is that sort of dynamic between the characters in the film." The script appeared in the 2014 Black List of most liked un-produced screenplays. That could almost be had on a New York City park bench with two guys playing chess. Worrell said, "What interested me about it was the simple conversation between two people. Worrell drew from his background as a playwright to flesh out the second act of the screenplay, which focuses on Isaac's conversation with the sniper. Worrell wrote his screenplay while teaching English in China. On November 12, 2014, it was announced that Amazon Studios had bought its first ever original spec script by Dwain Worrell, about an American sharpshooter trapped behind a wall by an Iraqi sniper.
Isaac hears the rescue helicopters coming, so he pushes down the wall and uses Matthews' rifle to try and kill Juba, or at least flush him out so the rescue chopper can see the trap. The sniper sees Matthews and fires, injuring Matthews in the left shoulder as he crawled towards the wall, but a second shot kills him. Matthews believes that the sniper is hiding at the top of some rubble nearby and fires in that direction. Matthews slowly crawls towards his rifle in the midst of the dusty wind along with Isaac distracting Juba with small talk. Matthews regains consciousness and subtly gets Isaac's attention that he's still alive. He attempts to repair this item with one from a dead contractor's radio, only to discern that the sniper had used the earlier response team as a ruse to call for help and lure another response force into his jaws. Isaac's attempts to call headquarters for help are stymied by the loss of his radio antennae. Throughout their various one-sided attempts at conversation, we learn that the sniper does not claim to be the mythical Juba mentioned earlier in the film, a nom de guerre for various Iraqi Insurgent snipers notorious for filming their attacks on American soldiers.
The deception allows the sniper to get other useful information from Isaac. The sniper has a radio tuned into the American channel, and uses it to communicate with Isaac under the pretense of being a high ranking allied soldier at another site. Matthews proceeds to investigate the site, but is shot by famed Iraqi sniper nicknamed “Juba." Isaac tries to rescue the dying Matthews, but he is also wounded in the right knee and has his radio damaged and his water bottle destroyed in the process.Īlone, Isaac takes cover behind an unsteady wall and tends to his wounds. The pair patiently wait 22 hours on overwatch before determining that the site is clear. Army Staff Sergeant Shane Matthews ( John Cena) is a sniper who is sent to investigate a pipeline construction site in the desert of the country, with his spotter, Sergeant Allen Isaac ( Aaron Taylor-Johnson).