THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED TO BABY MARVIN

MAIN CHARACTERS
Back in 1954, only child MARVIN DAMON (18; optimistic, kind) became a nationwide sensation as the 4-y.o. poster child for President Eisenhower’s Safe Driving Day. After appearing with the President on TV, newsreels, and posters for a year, Marvin left the spotlight. Big-hearted and loved by the community, Marvin lives a simple life. He has plans for his future though, he is a skilled carpenter and in high demand. But he must be free of his cloying mother first and he finally has his chance. He has always felt profound loneliness that he has never understood in spite of his close relationship with his best friend and his elderly childhood caregiver.
Marvin’s overbearing mother ANNETTE SINCLAIR-DAMON (40; a jaded Jessica Lange-type) was an actress and after an affair with a successful actor resulted in pregnancy, they settled down. She never wanted a child in the first place because she always imagined a great career awaited her. And now TWINS! In a fit of rage, she smothered one of the newborn twins and was about to kill the other before her husband stopped her. After a brief stint in a country club institution and a bribe to a judge by her rich husband, she was released. She drove her husband away soon after that.
Marvin’s identical twin HARVEY DAMON (18; intense, bitter) was murdered as a newborn by their mother. Harvey has been with Marvin in spirit for his whole life although he remained unseen. But now that Marvin truly needs him, he’ll find the power to come forward fully and the consequences will be deadly for anyone who has hurt his beloved twin brother.
THE PLOT
1968—a disturbing scene. Ax-wielding MARVIN enters his home carrying a baby. Marvin and the ax are both covered in blood—I did it. An unseen male voice replies: We did it.
Four days earlier… Marvin wakes up on his 18th birthday, ready to assert his independence. He begins by finally getting his driver’s license. An exhaustive search for his birth certificate leads Marvin to cards and letters that his father had been sending him over the years. Annette had told him his father died when he was a baby. He discovers that his father had set up a huge trust fund due now that he’s 18 and he finds commitment papers from Annette’s stay in the asylum. A heated confrontation with his mother about her lies leaves Marvin besieged with dizziness and visions of someone in the mirror who looks just like him but not quite “right”.
Then tragedy strikes. Neighborhood bullies assault his best friend leaving him in a coma with little hope of recovery. And they kill Marvin’s beloved childhood caregiver. As Marvin’s world descends into darkness, the mirror image comes into the real world as a fully formed, corporeal exact replica of Marvin. He smiles—Call me Harvey.
The unexpected appearance of Marvin’s long-lost father gives him hope for a relationship but sadly, complicates matters. He’s broke and schemes to weasel the trust fund back from Marvin to fund his new young wife’s lifestyle. He also has a new baby son. After learning about his father’s duplicity, broken-hearted Marvin turns to Harvey who has one more dramatic revelation for Marvin.
Harvey is the ghost of the dead twin brother he never knew about. Their parents were both complicit in his death; Annette killed Harvey and their selfish father paid off the right people before taking off. No wonder Marvin always felt alone. He wasn’t supposed to be. After crying out in rage Marvin leans weeping on his twin brother. Harvey tells him—they have to pay.
Marvin’s woodshop comes in handy when it’s time to deal with the two teenage bullies. One finds a grisly end courtesy of Marvin’s steamer. But the other one gets buried alive in a coffin built just for the occasion. Screaming, he begs for his life as Marvin and Harvey bury him in the pumpkin patch under a full moon. And the violence isn’t over yet.
During a rainstorm, Marvin’s father is confronted by both of his sons. Shocked, he attempts to explain himself but is cut off (literally) when Marvin takes his head off with the ax. Having dispensed with their dad’s young wife earlier that day, Harvey convinces Marvin that they should raise their baby brother themselves.
Arriving back home with the baby and bloody ax, the twins decide how to deal with
Annette, the biggest villain of all. After drugging her, she’s shocked to see both of her sons. Marvin leaves her alone with Harvey, he deserves his moment with his mother. Harvey douses the bedroom with gasoline and lights it afire. Annette’s screams fill the night as Marvin, Harvey and the baby drive away from the house. It’s done.
EPILOGUE
1974—Marvin has a successful furniture business and is busy raising SETH (6). The 20th anniversary of Safe Driving Day finds him doing a TV interview that ends with him encountering a man who shows a perverse interest in Seth. Harvey appears when he’s gone and he and Marvin consider that maybe “something should be done about him”. So maybe Marvin's violent past isn't completely behind him?
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED TO BABY MARVIN is an intense thriller about the good and evil that exists in all of us. It will leave audiences questioning their own sense of right and wrong.