What we came up with.

1930s Shanghai. Bruce was high up in the Hong Kong underworld but killed the boss's son in a sparring match gone bad. Marlena runs a casino. He becomes her bodyguard enforcer, but he finds out she's spying for both the British and the Japanese.

English Civil War. Howard is a cavalier. Well bred, well read, a swordsman, a lady's man, a poet, a scholar, and a soldier. He's blinded when a cannon explodes in a battle and is captured. Coleman is another prisoner of the roundheads. He's a travelling one man circus who does whatever he has to. The warden makes Coleman be Howard's 'seeing eye dog' They eventually become friends and when Howard's eyes begin to improve they plan an escape

Marlon is an English lord exiled to the American colonies circa 1700. He's losing his mind due to an STD. Billy Bob Thornton owns a small plantation and hopes to improve his lot by catering to the lord's family back home. Thornton has promised to keep Brando happy and out of trouble. Jones is an elderly slave that Thornton brought cheap. He was his old master's lifelong companion. He secretly knows how to read. Thronton assigns Jones to Brando, tellign his to keep the Englishman safe. When Brando proves to be uncontrollable, Billy decides it would be smarter to just kill him and blame Jones.