TODAY'S NUGGET: McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) - Knowing Your Director's Process; Tone Turns to Business

[Quick Summary: In 1897, McCabe opens a tavern and brothel (run by his partner Mrs. Miller), but becomes a target when he won't sell out to a mining corporation.]

TWO THOUGHTS:

1) KNOWING THE DIRECTOR'S PROCESS. Director/writer Robert Altman was an auteur, but also was known for making bitter enemies out of his writers. 

I think most writers could've handled: 
- His disregard for the script (very common in the industry)
- His organic, ever changing method of film making (very common)
- His concern for emotional rather than literal accuracy (very common)

However, I think the crux was that he would've done it all himself if he could have (something every writer should be aware of):

Brian McKay, who has worked with Altman more frequently than any other writer, says, “If you want me to get in line with the rest of the angry writers, I will, but it’s more complicated than that. I think what Bob really wants is the European credit: ‘A Film by Robert Altman.’ And, often, he deserves it.” Seven years ago Altman told McKay, “Remember this. I take all the credit and most of the money when you work with me.” Through several television series, “Brewster McCloud,” “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” and a number of never-made films, McKay remembered. “Now I don’t think I’ll ever work with Bob again,” McKay says, but he looks back on the association with affection. “I can’t think of one person who was hurt from his association with Bob Altman—except emotionally.”

2) TONE TURNS TO BUSINESS.  As Ebert points out here, this is a business relationship between McCabe and Mrs. Miller.  

I was surprised how fast the tone could turn, even after love making:

INT. MRS. MILLER'S BEDROOM

...McCABE: You don't never find no better man than me, Madame.

CONSTANCE: I never belonged to a m an before and I never will --You want to do something for me? Buy me out, you cheap son-of-a-bitch and let me go to San Francisco and build my boarding house.

McCABE: That's what you'd like, isn't it?

CONSTANCE: You're Goddamn right it is. What do you think? That you're some great lover or something? You don't even take off your long johns. Sleeping with you's like taking a bath with your socks on.

McCABE: Well, figure out what you got coming, 'cause I had an offer yesterday from the Bearpaw Territorial Mining Company.

All the foregoing words were shouted in anger and designed to hurt by both of them...but a real offer to sell is something else again. Mrs. Miller thinks on her reply before she answers, her tone changing.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Part of the tragedy was that the script kept everything transactional, even the romantic bits.  It kept the tone consistent and realistic.

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
by Brian McKay and Robert Altman
Based on the novel, "McCabe," by Edmund Naughton

TODAY'S NUGGET: Kundun (1997) - How to Show A Character in Multiple Ages All at Once

[Quick Summary: The story of the Kundun, the 14th Dalai Lama, from childhood to his 20s and dealing with the Chinese take over of Tibet.]

This film's cinematographer has stated that the movie is "very much a poem, rather than a traditional narrative film," more of a "mood piece" than anything else. 

I agree.  The visuals in the script seemed more interested in evoking a feeling rather than laying out plot.

Below is my favorite scene on the page.  I liked that I was never confused who was before me - the present (Tenzin Gyatso), past (Lhamo) or future selves.  

EXT. HILLTOP DAWN

The body of the Dalai Lama's Father lays on a flat boulder.

Incense smoke curls into the air. Prayer wheels are turned, hand drums are played - the burial men stand off to one side, their hatchets and knives in view.

Tenzin Gyatso is present. He is the boy we know, but beside him stands the four year-old boy, Lhamo, from the beginning of the movie, and on the other side of him stands the boy who will play the Dalai Lama in the next section of the film - a boy about fifteen or sixteen.

Tenzin Gyatso wraps his brown rosary around his left wrist. The beads catch the brilliant afternoon light. The sixteen year-old Dalai Lama wears the same colored rosary around his left wrist.

The cutters move in to the corpse, and as we hear them begin the work of dismembering the body, the view pans up to the reveal the vultures circling overhead.

The last person leaving the hilltop with is the Dalai Lama as an older man - not a character from this movie - but a man of about fifty years, wearing glasses, wearing the same robes, the same rosary. Little Lhamo walks beside him.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  Don't be afraid to write a little more in favor of clarity. The reader will forgive a few extra words, but won't if it is muddled.

Kundun (1997)(10/16/92 draft)
by Melissa Mathison

TODAY'S NUGGET: Moon (2009) - To Avoid "All Flash, No Substance" Sci-Fi, Focus on Behavior

[Quick Summary: Sam, a helium harvester, thinks he's two weeks from going back to earth, but finds out he's not the only one on the moon.]

Q: What question does this film ask?
A: What would it be like if you met yourself?

Q: Why use sci-fi for such a philosophical question? Why does the best sci-fi work?
A: See quote below.*

Q: How do you avoid "all flash, no substance" of small budget, sci-fi films?
A: Focus on behavior.

In the scene below, notice:
- This is typical office hallway scene. 
- However, we are riveted on two characters interacting.  We are not paying attention cool props! cool lighting! cool costumes!

INT. CORRIDOR -- DAY, CONTINUOUS

Sam 2 exits the Parking Bay and removes his helmet. Down the corridor he sees Sam 1 standing outside the Return Vehicle: facing him, waiting.

SAM 2: I saw three more of those jammers. The base is surrounded. I printed out their coordinates --

Sam 2 begins to remove a piece of paper from his pocket, but suddenly stops. He can tell by Sam 1's expression that something has happened.

SAM 2 (CONT'D): What? What is it?

SAM 1: I found your secret room.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: When in doubt (&/or when sets take up 1/3 of your budget), focus on behavior.

Moon (2009)(12/11/07 shooting script)
by Nathan Parker
Story by Duncan Jones

*From a longer interview with the director:

Science fiction seems like a great way of exploring a lot of philosophical questions.
The beauty of science fiction is that it takes the audience’s guard down; they’re much more willing to open themselves up and allow themselves to be questioned and have their values questioned when they don’t think we’re talking about their world or them and what they’re used to. Put it in a science fiction setting and all of a sudden it’s an other, it’s something completely alien to them, but you can actually talk about something that’s incredibly close and incredibly human and very personal, but because their guard is down they’re more willing to accept it. Which is why I think a lot of the best science fiction literature is stories and ideas that really delve into human nature as opposed to the flash and the sexy sci-fi stuff which is maybe one of the reasons films these days may be taking a step away from that. (my emphasis)

TODAY'S NUGGET: Silent Running (1972) - If You're Struggling with Writing Sci-fi, Focus on Allegory

[Quick Summary: In hope of re-establishing vegetation on Earth, a botanist disobeys orders to destroy the last forest in the universe, even killing co-workers.] 

CONS
- This was not an exciting script for me to read.  Good, but not exciting.
- Would I have green lit this based on the script alone? Probably not. 

PROS
- This is a well-regarded sci-fi film by a well regarded director.
- It is about humanity (a deliberate decision for the director who had just finished the special effects on Kubrick's 2001, which is NOT about humanity).

So what saves it?  It's got allegory, which are in short supply in sci-fi these days.

Allegory - (n.) a representation of an abstract or religious meaning through concrete or material forms; a symbolical narrative.

For example, in the scene below:
- Lowell has just murdered his co-workers. 
- He now suffers the wounds physically (leg) and psychologically (guilt).
- Is the crow real? Does it matter? Either way, it hits the same emotional spot.

INTERIOR, SHIP, MAIN CONTROL

We see LOWELL again, sitting motionless, still shaking his head, back and forth.

A droplet of blood begins to form on his wound.  The droplet grows large, huge, and falls, with a plip.

Another begins to form, falls, with a plip.

                                                             CUT TO:

INTERIOR, CORRIDOR OF MAIN CONTROL

Far away, down the empty, shimmering floor, the black crow appears, walking out from around a corner.

The crow pauses, peering left and right, then takes to the air, flapping up the corridor into CAMERA.

                                                             CUT TO:

INTERIOR, MAIN CONTROL

Slowly, as LOWELL's eyes swim back in focus, he sees it ---huge, sleek, glossy black, perched right opposite on the radar screen.

For a moment, blankly, LOWELL stares at the bird. Then, as he stares, sitting bolt upright in his chair, the crow flaps off across the room.

LOWELL blinks, straining to keep the bird in focus. Then, as he turns, confused, trying to determine where he is, he notices the blood.

Terrified, LOWELL stumbles to his feet, backing off, away from it. He looks down at his leg, unwillingly; then up again, at the gleaming puddle, and the black crow.

Panic comes, closing on him, breaking over him like a wave, submerging him. Breathless, gasping, LOWELL wheels, lurches across to the three monitors standing by the wall. Frantically, he tries to start them. One. Then the next and the next...

LOWELL: Come on...Come on!!!

For a moment nothing comes to him, and then, realizing what the problem is, he curses himself, and moves across to the LR 260 Program Control.

Screaming, waving the crow away, LOWELL sits, inserts three cards and begins punching out a code.

                                                           CUT TO:

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I can see the allegory on the page, but it wasn't nearly as magical as the moving images. (I think people call this 'execution dependent.')

Silent Running (1972)(dated 12/6/70)
Story and script by Deric Washburn and Michael Cimino