I need a sidekick. Anyone good at being wisecracking, handy in a fight, but just not quite handy enough so I need to rescue you occasionally, and not quite as handsome (this is where my entire screenplay may fall down) so it's believeable that the women on-screen want me rather than you.
You must also be willing to be punched by the perp and/or have a limb or two broken so that I can visit you in hospital and vow to avenge you (while you're unconscious and it looks like you might not pull through, which, naturally, will not be the case as I turn up as the hospital at the end of the movie with my wife and smiling teenage son).
You might get your own back story in the sequel, but for the time being let's concentrate on me.