Wheeler

Synopsis: WHEELER is the story of an aspiring musician from Kaufman, Texas who travels to Nashville with the lifelong dream of trying his hand at country music. By embodying the title character under prosthetic make up, actor Stephen Dorff successfully infiltrates Music City and takes his character on an authentic singer / songwriter journey. With the help of key allies on the ground, "Wheeler" converses with real people in real locations, with every musical number performed live. The line between reality and fiction blurs as Wheeler chases his dream in this touching tribute to old school country legends.
Genre: Drama
Director(s): Ryan Ross
Production: Momentum Pictures
 
IMDB:
5.8
Metacritic:
58
Rotten Tomatoes:
56%
PG
Year:
2017
100 min
98 Views


Hm.

That's all I got so far.

Damn, man.

When are you gonna go down

to Austin and start playin'?

Oh, man, we've been

to Austin many times.

I wanna save the music

for Nashville, Bobby.

I'm Jill, and Wheeler had, uh...

Come on to break horses

for my daddy,

workin' at the ranch.

And I was helpin' out some

that summer.

Whew.

He walked in...

He was the handsomest man

I'd ever seen.

Wheeler is a guy

we'd let work with our animals

and do anything

around this ranch.

The animals trust him.

He has a soft touch,

a soft hand with them.

That tells you a whole lot

about a human being,

their character

and their nature,

is how they react with animals.

My name is speedy master.

I've known Wheeler

since he was a little kid

and in elementary school.

Wheeler is the boy

of my older sister.

And, you know, he was just a boy

when she passed,

and Wheeler took it real hard.

He clung to his daddy.

Wheeler's dad just passed away.

He's had a pretty rough life.

Wheeler came to this school

and, uh, he was a smart kid.

He knew a lot about history.

He... asked me out in algebra,

right after class ended,

and I barely even knew him.

Well, I guess we first met

in high school,

when we hung out,

got into all kinds of trouble.

There's nobody like Wheeler.

We did all the usual

high-school stuff:

Drivin' around

and lookin' for friends,

and of course

we'd go to the rodeo.

He was 11 years older than me

and, uh, he kissed me,

out behind one

of the stables one night

when we were cleanin' up.

We had the greatest summer...

And my daddy found out.

He was none too happy.

He came down to the office

for the teacher,

for talkin' back and, uh...

So I said, "Wheeler,

"you have your choice.

"You can call your mama to come

get you or take it like a man.

"You bend over a chair

and give you one good lick.

"It's gonna sting now.

Now, you want your mama...

Or you want the board?

Which one?"

So he took the board.

Took it like a man.

Went back to class and never

came back for that again.

Hey, Wheeler.

Hey, Bobby.

- Jimmy, can you hold her for me?

- I sure will.

You know Bobby, don't you?

Yeah! Hi, Bobby!

Hey, good to see you, Jimmy!

You got some fancy

camera gear over there, huh?

I told you. I'm here

to make you look good, man.

I know, but what

are you doin', Bobby?

I don't wanna be famous.

I don't wanna be on TV, man.

Your music

deserves the pictures.

You've been talkin' about that

for years.

Trust me, you won't even know

we're there.

Well, I'm leavin'

at sunrise, man.

All right. We'll be there.

Bobby... bring your toys,

whatever you wanna do.

I'll see you back at the house

in a little bit.

I'm almost done here.

He didn't share his music

with a whole lot of people.

But he'd play for me, at nights.

He said, "I got this one song

I want you to hear."

And he got through

with it and...

I was just smilin'

from ear to ear.

"She's only 20." Heh.

That's about me.

I am so excited that Wheeler

is gettin' outta Kaufman

and going to Nashville,

because he has that passion,

he has that heart

for country music.

Jimmy and I both hate

to see him leave,

but we know

that he needs to do this.

We'd be out summers,

out at the lake,

Wheeler'd always have

his guitar there.

Everybody said, "you gotta go.

You gotta go for it!

You're good.

You're better than Garth."

He should've done that

20 years ago.

He will do well,

I guarantee you.

He will do really well

in Nashville.

He's as good

as anybody who'll be there.

I never heard any of his songs.

I don't know

if he's really all that good

or if it's just

kind of a pipe dream, but...

Seems to me like

it's kind of late in life

to be doing somethin' like that.

I don't know how he did it,

goin' through all that.

I can't imagine and it...

It breaks my heart for him.

But I guess if he goes on

out there and makes it big,

then more power to him,

and I'll be so proud.

You know, today, sugar,

that country music

just isn't country.

It's just cheesy.

What happened to the cowboys

singin' about real life?

Wheeler's...

Got a life and a story to tell.

He's so full of heart.

Country music needs that.

Nashville doesn't even know

what's comin' to 'em.

Don't you find it

pretty damn hilarious

when people go bitchin'

and complainin'

and goin' on

about illegal immigrants?

What do you mean?

Hell, my ancestors actually

came from Tennessee.

They came down to Texas

in the 1830s.

At that time,

Texas was part of Mexico.

Basically, the Mexican

government couldn't get

any of its own people

to settle up there,

so they offered Americans

free land and low taxes.

They had people showin' up from

Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee.

Most of 'em didn't register.

They were growin' their cotton,

raisin' their cattle...

And gettin' stinkin' rich

livin' off the free resources.

Santa Anna found out about it,

and home boy

got pretty pissed off.

He sent the troops up there

to control all these illegals.

Started taxin' 'em

out their ass.

Now, the Americans,

they didn't take too kindly

to that,

so they started to revolt.

And what did that lead to?

What's that?

The battle of the Alamo, man.

Texas became its own country

for nine years.

Then joined up

with ol' America in 1845.

So basically,

at the end of the day...

We're all illegal immigrants.

I was surprised to see

a Japanese pickup

sittin' in the drive.

Yeah...

I was too,

when daddy came home with it.

I gave him some sh*t.

You know where they make

this pickup?

I would think Japan.

No, man. San Antonio.

Really?

Swear to god, man.

San Antonio.

So...

It's not a bad truck too,

you know.

It gets good mileage,

good power on here.

Yeah, it drives smooth.

Yep.

Wheeler, we never got

a chance to talk about...

What you went through

a few years back.

Yeah, I don't wanna

go there, Bobby.

Look, I'm sorry.

I care about you.

I just... wanna get an idea

of how you dealt with it.

I mean, years went by and...

You didn't talk to anyone.

I was runnin', man,

like you hear about everybody.

When you're in pain, you run.

You wanna forget who you are,

forget where you come from.

What changed, man?

Moved back in with my daddy,

was on my farm,

started writin' songs again.

Bad things happen

to good people, man.

The way of the world.

The mavericks are lookin'

pretty good this season.

You gotta come down

for some games, man.

Went to a couple with daddy

last year.

They got these chicken fingers.

Me and daddy, we'd go through

three orders Durin' the game.

I know he's proud of you

for takin' this journey.

Yeah... I'm just happy

he's somewhere else now.

He had a good, long life.

He was a good man.

Yeah, he was.

Even though he drove

a Japanese truck in the end.

Hold on. Hold on, boys.

Hell yeah!

I can't believe...

We're comin' into town, man.

We finally made it.

I do need

to find a toilet, though.

All right, I'm gettin' off, man.

I just wanna drive down Broadway

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote

Stephen Dorff

Stephen Hartley Dorff Jr. (born July 29, 1973) is an American actor, known for portraying PK in The Power of One, Stuart Sutcliffe in Backbeat, Johnny Marco in Sofia Coppola's Somewhere, and for his roles in Blade (as self-styled vampire-overlord Deacon Frost), Cecil B. DeMented, The Motel Life, S.F.W. and Space Truckers. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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    "Wheeler" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/wheeler_23304>.

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