Q:Build a movie plot around this: Who shoots Wilkes? Cooper
A:
Avery Ludlow (Brian Cox) is a 60-something widower who owns a small-town general store and lives with a 14-year-old mongrel dog named Red. (The dog was a gift from Ludlow's wife, who was murdered shortly afterward by their emotionally troubled son.)While taking a day off from work to go fishing, Ludlow and Red are met on the lakeshore by a deer-hunting trio of teenagers: Danny, his brother Harold, and their friend Pete (Noel Fisher, Kyle Gallner, and Shiloh Fernandez). Their conversation is at first friendly, but turns increasingly menacing as Danny - a swaggering bully - points his shotgun at Ludlow and demands money. Ludlow offers Danny the keys to his pickup truck, and says there's 20 or 30 dollars in his wallet in the glove box. Danny is disgusted at the small pickings, and on an impulse turns his shotgun toward Red, shooting him in the head. The boys walk away from the man and his dying dog, Danny and Pete laughing about it while Harold seems shaken and embarrassed.Ludlow takes his dog home and buries him. He learns Danny McCormack's identity by tracking down where he bought the shotgun. He goes to Danny's home and confronts the boy's father (Tom Sizemore), a wealthy businessman with political connections. Ludlow demands that McCormack discipline his son for what he did. McCormack summons his two sons, but they deny the incident happened. McCormack says Ludlow has the wrong culprits, and sends him away. Ludlow goes to his lawyer, who says even if the boys were tried and convicted of the crime, it is at best a 200-dollar fine and a few days in jail. The lawyer introduces Ludlow to Carrie (Kim Dickens), a TV reporter, who persuades him to let her do a feature story on the killing.What follows is an escalating cycle of hostilities between Ludlow and the McCormacks. After the TV story is aired, a rock is thrown through Ludlow's window, with a note saying he won't be on TV again. The next day Carrie's boss pulls her from the story. Ludlow and his lawyer then proceed to sue the McCormacks, but Mr. McCormack...