TODAY'S NUGGET: The Dead (1987) - Using Close Ups to Convey the "Unfilmable"

[Quick Summary: During at dinner party at his aunts' home in 1904, Gabriel begins to see himself, his wife, not in roles, but as human beings.]

Q: What is an "unfilmable" novella?
A: It most often means a story with a lot of internal action, i.e., inside the character's head.  Alas, this is not good for film, which depends on external action.

Q: This script is an adaptation of James Joyce's "unfilmable" novella.  How did the writers tackle an "unfilmable" scene?
A: One tool they used was a close up which should be used sparingly, because it emphasizes something the director wants pointed out.

In this script, the close up is used to show what the character is thinking.

In two examples below (a) at the piano; b) with photograph):
- Notice the complex thoughts each one is trying to convey:  In a), Gabriel pities Aunt Julia.  In b) Gabriel remembers his mother.
- Notice the reason for the close ups: We're going into Gabriel's internal thoughts, which is a very intimate space.  A wide shot would keep us distant from him.

CLOSE ON GABRIEL

As he is struck with bitter intensity by the irony of her choice. Here is his Aunt, a withered old maid, giving expression to emotions and experiences which, in real life, have alluded her.

CLOSE ON AUNT JULIA

The CAMERA taking in the signs of old age - the grey hair, the wrinkled hands, the flaccid folds at cheek, neck and elbow, the crow's feet at the corners of the eyes, etc.

AUNT JULIA (cont'd)(singing): Who would not love her?

CLOSE ON GABRIEL

Hardly able to bear it.

CLOSE ON GABRIEL

As his gaze drifts from Aunt Julia to the inanimate objects around the room.

....

The final photograph is one of Gabriel himself in a man-o-war suit as he leans on his mother's knee reading a book in her lap.

CLOSE ON GABRIEL

Indicating that he and the boy are one and the same person and that this woman was his mother.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  A close up can convey unfilmable complex thoughts.  

However, it should be used judiciously because we lose objectivity if we're constantly in that close.

The Dead (1987)(undated)
by Tony Huston & John Huston
Based on the novella, "The Dead," from "Dubliners," by James Joyce

TODAY'S NUGGET: Mary Rose (unproduced Hitchcock) - Building Blocks of Creating & Layering Dread in Psychological Horror

[Quick Summary: Mary Rose has no memory of disappearing from an Island, then reappearing after 20 days.  As an adult, she re-visits and disappears for 18 yrs.]

After a run of 3 other psychological horrors,* I'm not sure why Hitchcock couldn't get this script green lit.**  It is very much in his wheelhouse of suspense.

This script is a great example of one keys to psychological horror: creeping dread.  

What are the building blocks of dread?  Often unease and uncertainty.

Let's look at a great example in the scene below:
- Kenneth (40), Mary Rose's son, returns to his childhood home, which is for sale.
- He's been away for 20+ yrs. and walks through the unlocked front door.
- Notice what the writer uses to build dread: the physical description of the wallpaper; the gloom in 'sacking,' 'peeling,' old woman, etc.
- Notice what the writer uses to layer dread: uneasiness of chair facing away from us; sound, shadow,  old woman is holding her breath, etc.
- I've underlined below the phrases that kept me uneasy or uncertain.

Slowly, he begins to mount the stairs. At the top, he discovers a door, open upon a dark and deeply silent room. Quietly, he enters. All of this room's past, which can be taken away, has gone.  Such light as there is...no more than enough to make shadows...comes from the only window, which is at the back and incompletely shrouded in sacking. Also toward the back of the room is another door.  It is closed. As his eyes adjust to the dark, they circle the room, taking in the peeling wallpaper, the desolated, deserted sadness of it all, until finally his eyes come to rest upon the only furnishings in the room...if two up-ended packing cases and a chair may be called furnishings.

On top of one of the cases is an unlighted candle in a holder, and beside it is a chair, the back of which is turned toward the man. These objects seem only to add to the impression of empty desertion. And then, in the dark, the man becomes slowly conscious of the faintest, almost indiscernible movement. It is in the chair. He freezes. There is a moment of utterly suspended animation. Then he speaks, his voice hardly a whisper.

KENNETH: Who's there?

THE CAMERA closes in tight on the chair, as from its depth the movement takes shape and turns to face the man. In the chair is a woman, old, gaunt, narrowed-eyed...as her old gimlet eyes observe the obviously corporeal nature of the intruder, does she let out her breath. Hostilely, she regards him.

MRS. OTERY: What do you think you're up to here now! This here's private property!

KENNETH (relaxes, almost smiles): And you must be the caretaker.  Your name is....?

MRS. OTERY (compelled against herself to answer his gentle, but utterly assured command): Mrs. Otery. (trying to regain her authority) Mrs. Harry Otery, that's who. And I'm in charge of this house. It's my job to show it to prospective purchasers with appointments.

KENNETH: Really? From the looks of things, I shouldn't think you'd find yourself very busy.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Creeping dread is built on an increasing rise and fall of unease and uncertainty.

Mary Rose (unproduced Hitchcock)(2nd draft, 2/15/64)
by Jay Presson Allen
Adapted from the play by J.M. Barrie

*Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963), Marnie (1964).

**Ostensibly, Hitchcock said: "They believe it isn't what the audiences expect of me. Not the kind of picture they expect of me."

TODAY'S NUGGET: Gloria (1980) - The Flow in the Space Between Actors (Subtext)

[Quick Summary: After a neighbor is murdered in a mob hit, Gloria traipses around NYC trying to keep the neighbor's 8 y.o. son safe.]

I always thought John Cassavetes' scripts were well written and emotional, but not particularly illuminating for me.  

That is, until this one, which truly is "written to be acted, not read." 

On the page, there's not a lot of action.  However, in the space BETWEEN the actors,  the energy flows back and forth like a constantly revolving hourglass.

In the scene below:
- This aha! moment takes us from the end of act two into act three. 
- Gloria has housed, fed, defended this kid against the mob for about 48 hrs.
- The kid and she have bonded a little, but she's ill-equipped to be a parent. He just wants the world to be ok again, to go home to a family that does not exist.
- Notice how this conflict and distrust flows back and forth in subtext.

EXT. BROADWAY & 157TH ST. DAY. (EARLY A.M.)

A CAR comes SCREECHING down the street. GLORIA freezes. She can't move. PHIL looks up at her. 

PHIL: What's the matter?

GLORIA: Nothing.

PHIL: Tell me what it is. You got a pain? Was it the car? Did it scare you? [He's grown up a little & thinks about her.]

GLORIA looks up at PHIL.

GLORIA: I'm not doing the right thing. I should be sending you to a Boarding School. [Her a-ha! moment.]

PHIL: You mean an orphanage. [He's skeptical she cares.]

GLORIA: I mean, a Boarding School, you stupid, little twerp. [Not particularly patient.]

PHIL: Wrong. I'm with you. They're looking for both of us, remember? If they kill you, they kill me, right? Gloria, let me be honest with you. I'm crazy about you. Do I have a chance?  [He's asking for reassurance that she can't give.]

GLORIA: No.

PHIL: Okay. Anyway, you're not Spanish like me. You're not my mother. You're not my father. You're not anybody to me. You're not enough for me. Okay, Gloria? [He's acting older than his years.]

GLORIA doesn't answer.

PHIL (continues): So, I'm going to go find family and some new friends and a girlfriend, too. You're a nice girl, Gloria, but you're not for me.  [He will solve his own problems, naively.]

GLORIA: Okay, fine. [She does not know what to feel or do.]

PHIL (points at her eyes): You have no soul.   [He thinks he's got it under control.]

GLORIA: Okay, fine.  [She knows he does not, but does not want to argue.]

PHIL: You have nothing. But, you're very nice. [He rejects her, thinking he's wise.]

GLORIA: Okay. I'm going to be (turns, looks) at that bar across the street. I'm going to have a drink. If you want to join me, you can. If you want to run away, that's your problem. [She lets him make his own decisions, even if wrong...and he will.]

PHIL (waves): No. I've done my best to like you. I'm sorry. Goodbye Chiquita. Goodbye sucker.

GLORIA turns without regarding him again, crosses the street and enters a Bar.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  Subtext adds a different energy in the flow and space between actors. 

Gloria, aka One Summer Night (1980)(5th draft, 7/3/79)
by John Cassavetes 

TODAY'S NUGGET: Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) - To Show (And Not Tell) That He's a Kept Man

[Quick Summary: Flirty Holly Golightly meets a new neighbor Paul, a poor writer, but financial security gets in the way of their romance.]

Holly Golightly (19 y.o.) is after one thing: to snare a rich husband.  Because she's been on her own since 14 y.o., she's both quite innocent and quite mercenary.

Paul, on the other hand, is 28 y.o., not as innocent, not quite as mercenary.  He has snared the interest of 2E, a rich, bored housewife, who sets him up in an apartment.

I was intrigued how the writer showed us (and did not tell us) he's a kept man:

INT. PAUL'S APARTMENT

...She picks up his typewriter, puts it on the desk and takes off its lid. She takes a sheet of paper and puts it in the machine. [2E is in charge even of his equipment]

2E: Voila!

PAUL: If a man is going to starve in a garret and write the great American novel, this is sure the way to do it...

2E (Her tone changes): Now listen, darling, we're just not going to have any of that at all...The whole thing is very simple. You're a writer...I think you can be a great one...Why shouldn't I help you? I have a husband who invests in oil wells...I have friends who invest in...I don't know...the stock market or real estate. So why shouldn't I be allowed to invest what I believe in? [She defends her decision, which cleverly hides exposition]

PAUL: Which is?

2E: Talent, darling. Talent. You have talent and I'm going to see that you don't waste it or spoil it or fritter it away. I couldn't bear the idea of you, prostituting yourself...sitting in a little cage in Hollywood...writing movies that would make us both cringe when we saw them later...Let me be your Hollywood, Paul...your own personal, tender, loving Hollywood... [2E flatters him]

PAUL: And what do you get out of it?

2E: Satisfaction, darling. Just satisfaction. And maybe the feeling of pride, when the book is finally done, of seeing the dedication page that says: "For 2E, Without Whom...' [She brings the flattery back around to herself]

During this, she has very gently begun to unbutton his shirt. [Now she touches him]

PAUL: And that's all?

2E: Well, almost...

She draws him to her and kisses him. When they break she very gently pushes him away from her and toward the bed. [She is still in charge, increases the intimacy]

CLOSE SHORT - 2E (PAUL'S ANGLE) - (DAY)

2E: It's not so bad, is it? Really?

PAUL: I suppose it could be a lot tougher...

2E (Softly): You bet it could be, darling. You just bet it could be... Paul...

PAUL (O.S.): Yes?

2E: I wish we had a picture of you...just the way you are right now...If we put it on the book jacket, we'd sell a million copies...

SLOW DISSOLVE TO:

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Paul is "kept" because 2E is making the major decisions... but they align with his desire for financial security, so he allows them. 

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)(undated)
by George Axelrod
Based on the novel by Truman Capote

TODAY'S NUGGET: The Seven Year Itch (1955) - Using a Dream Bubble to Refute an Argument + Show Wish Fulfillment

[Quick Summary: After his family goes away for the summer, a book publisher with an overactive imagination is left in NYC with a new gorgeous neighbor upstairs.]

Billy Wilder scripts are exceptional - unexpectedly layered and multi-tasking. 

For example here, Richard's wife and son have just left for the summer.  He meets his pretty new neighbor upstairs who is subletting.

On his first night alone, he has an imaginary conversation with his wife about what a loyal husband he is.   In fact, he's had to chase women off.

When his imaginary wife scoffs at this, he uses his overactive imagination to conjure up a series of "dream bubble" scenarios to prove his point.

Notice how this scene below refutes the imaginary wife's argument that he's not super-desirable AND shows what Richard wishes would happen:

DREAM BUBBLE (1) - RICHARD'S OFFICE - DAY

Richard stands at the desk in his shirt sleeves, reading a letter. Miss Morris enters.

RICHARD (barely looking up): Miss Morris, did you type this letter?

MISS MORRIS (tensely): Yes, Mr. Sherman.

RICHARD: There are six typographical errors in the first paragraph alone. What is the matter iwth you, Miss Morris? (pause) Come now, Miss Morris. What is the matter with you?

MISS MORRIS: I'll tell you what's the matter with me. I'm in love with you. That's what's the matter with me. I have been - since the first day I came here. Deeply...madly...desperately...all consumingly! And you - you've never even noticed me! To you I'm just nothing...a piece of office furniture...a dictaphone...ten fingers to type your miserable letters...

Suddenly, she tears off her glasses, rips the comb out of her hair so that it comes tumbling wildly down over her shoulders.

MISS MORRIS (out of control): Look at me, Mr. Sherman. I'm a woman! A woman, do you hear me? With flesh and blood and nerves and feelings! I love you, I need you, I want you, want you, want you, want you!

She grabs him around the shoulders and kisses him violently. There is the sound of cloth being torn. he stands there, quite cool about the whole thing. Finally when her passion is spent - 

RICHARD (unruffled): That will be all, Miss Morris.

He hands her back the letter. She runs out of the room, sobbing hysterically. He looks after her, slowly turning his back to the camera. The back of his shirt is torn. He flexes the muscles of his back. For a moment he is Marlon Brando in STREEETCAR.

The camera has started moving in again. The Dream Bubble bursts and we are back on -

RICHARD - ON THE TERRACE - EVENING

He is lying on the chaise, grinning in delight over his little fantasy.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  I was quite amazed how much of this script was dream bubbles and Richard's fantasy life.  It could've easily been a cliche, but was not.

The Seven Year Itch (1955)(final draft, 8/10/54)
by George Axelrod and Billy Wilder
Based on the play by George Axelrod