Unicorns are real. They’ve been hiding in folklore and, until recently, they have remained undiscovered in the mountain wilderness of Canada. That’s the idea behind the latest A24 dark-comedy Death of a Unicorn starring Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega, who accidentally hit a unicorn while driving to the remote house of the CEO of a pharmaceutical company.

Elliot (Rudd) and his daughter Ridley (Ortega) are trying to bond, although, ever since the death of Elliot’s wife/Ridley’s mother they have been apart and view the world in wildly different ways. He’s a workaholic who wants to do good even if it means having to do the bidding of an “evil” corporation and Ridley is lost in the fog of college and the recent death of her mother.

There is a lot of familiarity in Death of a Unicorn, whether it’s the Big Pharma angle, exploitation by the rich, animal rights, the naivety of youth or even the dangers of science. This movie shows that all it takes is an original angle on the familiarity to create something new.

A24 is known for its originality and independent spirit. If you’re looking to write a movie that piques interest - from its title to “Fade Out” - here is a breakdown of the Who, What, Where, Why and How of Death of a Unicorn.

The Who of ‘Death of a Unicorn’

There are 9 named characters in Death of a Unicorn and very few others who spend time on the screen. This is becoming an increasingly common occurrence in films. Recently, theatrical releases like Black Bag and Opus only had a handful of characters, and the latter had even fewer locations. For a long time, low-budget films have tried to keep the cast and locations at a minimum, but ever since COVID, that trend has continued in higher budget features.

The Who’s of Death of a Unicorn are separated into three types of categories, which can help make a writer’s life easier as they navigate the telling of their story:

Primary Characters: Elliot and Ridley – the father/daughter combo and the ones whose story the audience is most invested in.

Secondary Characters: Belinda (Téa Leoni), Odell (Richard E. Grant) and Shepard (Will Poulter) – Odell is the super-wealthy patriarch and dying CEO of the pharma company that employs Elliot. Belinda is his wife who is on board with the mission of profits-over-people, and their son Shepard is the one being groomed to follow in his father’s footsteps.

Tertiary Characters: Griff (Anthony Carrigan), Shaw (Jessica Hynes) Dr. Song (Steve Park) and Dr. Bhatia (Sunita Mani) – these folks are the ones working for the house or the company, whose backstories are less fleshed out but play a critical supporting role in telling the story.

As writers can see, breaking down the importance of characters can help weave the story and ensure that supporting characters play a crucial role when needed.

Téa Leoni, Paul Rudd, Jessica Hynes, Will Poulter, Anthony Carrigan, and Jenna Ortega in 'Death of a Unicorn'

Where: The Single Location of ‘Death of a Unicorn’

Along with the trend of a small character list is having fewer locations. Death of a Unicorn takes place in a single location, for the most part. The first scene is in an airplane followed by the drive to the wilderness retreat where Elliot and Ridley hit the unicorn. From then on, the movie takes place entirely at a house.

The thing with single locations is that the movie doesn’t necessarily feel that way. It’s a large house with plenty of rooms, including a lab where the scientists extract what they need to from the unicorn. There are exterior locations (front and back of the house) and then the mountains and forests behind the retreat.

If you’re writing a script and want to keep the locations to a minimum, think about how you can maximize a single location. A standard colonial home, for example, can have plenty of locations to prevent a movie from feeling claustrophobic, such as bedrooms, living room, kitchen, backyard, front yard, garage and the immediate area like walkways.

What Makes the Unicorn so Special?

The audience learns early on that the unicorn holds special powers. After the unicorn is struck and lays in the middle of the road, Ridley touches its horn and is taken on a visually appealing ride. She’s quickly brought back to reality when Elliot attempts to put the unicorn out of its misery and blood splatters on both of them.

The second revelation of the unicorn’s powers (after Ridley touches the horn) is seen soon after when Elliot’s allergies suddenly disappear and his eyesight becomes excellent, all while sitting with the CEO and his family. Does the unicorn have the power to cure cancer? That’s what the CEO must find out in order to save his own life and increase his fortune.

Writers can see how this adds an intriguing dilemma to the equation – the unicorn, who Ridley is spiritually attached to, has the power to cure any number of horrible diseases and ailments; but what does that mean for the creature’s life and the other unicorns eager to seek vengeance?

Jenna Ortega in 'Death of a Unicorn'

How Do the Filmmakers Tell the Story?

The overall movie is a dark comedy but the subgenre seems to switch throughout the movie. At first, it feels a bit like a drama with a dying CEO who is looking to find a cure, a father struggling with taking care of his daughter versus the loyalty to a company, and an art history major’s realization of the doom to come by studying previous works of art with unicorns.

But once the unicorns come to retrieve the one the CEO now covets, the film turns into a Jurassic Park-esque thriller. Even many of the attacks by the unicorns have the vibes of T-Rex’s flipping over Jeeps or dinosaurs ramming into hapless, gun-toting characters. There are times when someone familiar with Jurassic Park can make parallels to the movie such as monetizing creatures or even the theme of scientists and wealthy CEOs so preoccupied with “whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

Finally, the film becomes almost like a horror movie, with the unicorns chasing the remaining characters through the house, the group splitting up and some dying in exorbitant ways.

Why Tell This Unicorn Story?

Unicorns are magical, spiritual creatures. This movie is a series of ‘What ifs’ that asks how unicorns would survive in the current day. A writer can watch Death of a Unicorn and see how asking a ‘What if’ question can drive the story and deliver a unique take on something familiar. It becomes the “why” of telling your story because it forces you to answer a question by sending the characters on a quest.

• • What if unicorns are real and held the mysterious powers of healing?
  • What if a pharmaceutical company tried to monetize the healing properties of a unicorn?
  • What if unicorns could be vengeful?
  • What if a father had to choose between his career ambitions and his estranged daughter?

These types of questions can help screenwriters consider new possibilities whether they’re figuring out a script idea, a new scene or developing a character.

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Death of a Unicorn knows what it is and it’s not trying to be anything other than a dark comedy; this is important when it comes to telling this story. Even as unicorns go on the attack, it still maintains its dark comedy roots. This film can show filmmakers ways to create something big while keeping character and location counts low, and building a story that has everyone talking.