In August 2024, Scott Miller (founder of Apogee Entertainment) shared photographs of the first few pages of the Max Payne film script, written by Beau Michael Thorne, and bought by FOX Studios. The version was described as the script's "fifth draft" and completed on 30th October 2007.
In a previous tweet, he gave additional backstory, stating about the final film that "The story had changed dramatically from the original script we sold to FOX. The issue was that the film's director revised the script such that it no longer resembled the game's story." In response, a few days later, he posted the cover and the first three pages of the original FOX-approved screenplay. There have been requests for him to publish the original document, though the script has now been sent to a giveaway winner.
Even though the script covers a couple of minutes of screen time, there are already some notable changes. The opening "I don't believe in heaven, but I have this idea about it. Something I heard in a song. Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens." is removed, instead replaced with "I don't believe in heaven. I believe in pain. I believe in fear. I believe in death." After the words, the film cuts straight to Max thrashing in the icy waters during the night. Though the film shows him losing consciousness, the script shows him continuing to fight.
A new scene had been added to the film, deviating from the October 2007 edition of the script. Set one week earlier, a police officer is being shown around the NYPD, and Detective Max Payne is introduced as the one handling the cold cases. A few minutes long, it sets up the protagonist's backstory and sets a tone of lost causes. In the next scene, Max is at an empty home, sitting at his desk with his guns and ammo neatly set out.
The next scene returns to the original October 2007 script, as Max heads through Roscoe Street Station. Some of the dialogue has been altered, though very minimally. Excluding the scene at the police department, the film opening is fairly faithful to the first pages posted by Miller.
