TODAY'S NUGGET: Rebecca (1940) - Foreshadowing with the Sly Inuendos

[Quick Summary: The second Mrs. de Winter struggles not to be intimidated by the shadow of the first Mrs. de Winter.]

TWO THOUGHTS:

1) PROTAGONIST W/O A NAME. This is the first script that I've seen in which the main character has no name and is never called by her name.* 

2) FORESHADOWING.  I think this is still one of Alfred Hitchcock's most famous films** because of its foreshadowing what "I" is about to face.

Why does it work? One element is the atmosphere of unresolved feelings. 
ex. Everyone else has opinions about Rebecca, the first Mrs. de Winter, except the protagonist and the audience.  It feels like we are lagging behind.  

How does it work? I think it's a snowballing of a string of hints and clues. 
ex. The protagonist only gets pieces of the story.  It keeps the audience engaged to try to put them together and see what comes next.

For example:
- The protagonist, "I", has been paid companion to Mrs. Van Hopper.
- She and Maxim de Winter have just announced their engagement to Mrs. Van Hopper in her hotel room.
- Maxim leaves the room to make wedding arrangements.
- Mrs. Van Hopper is the first to drop sly innuendos that can be taken two ways.
- She plays with "I's" fears of losing Maxim.
- The scene below is from the shooting script. The "official" script in the anthology is slightly different.

[NOTE: I have bolded several innuendos and hints below.]

Mrs. Van Hopper walks to "I", dropping all pretense.

MRS. VAN HOPPER: So this is what has been happening during my illness! (She smiles unpleasantly.) Tennis lessons my foot! (she goes close to "I") I suppose I've got to hand it to you for a fast worker. How did you manage it? Still waters certainly run deep! But it's a lucky thing for you that you haven't a family to ask embarrassing questions. When did you first meet him?

"I": The day after we arrived here.

MRS. VAN HOPPER: Really! And all this time you've been listening to me talk about him - and never a peep out of you. And I took you for an innocent, unsophisticated child!

She takes a few steps away from "I" CAMERA FOLLOWING HER, then turns quickly round.

MRS. VAN HOPPER (taking a cigarette out and lighting it): You realize that he's much older than you.

SEMI CLOSE UP

"I" slightly on the defensive.

"I": I'm old for my age.

Mrs. Van Hopper comes back into the picture and laughs.

MRS. VAN HOPPER: You certainly are.

She leans closer to "I" and speaks in a lower tone.

MRS. VAN HOPPER: Tell me, have you been doing anything you shouldn't?

She looks "I" up and down appraisingly like a judge at a cattle show. "I" backs away from her

"I" (with some indignation): I don't know what you mean.

Mrs. Van Hopper shrugs her shoulders. Her cigarette still in her mouth, she takes out a compact and starts to powder her nose.

MRS. VAN HOPPER: Oh well - never mind. I always did say Englishmen have strange tastes. But you'll certainly have your work cut out as mistress of Manderley. To be perfectly frank with you, my dear, I can't see you doing it. (she strolls out of picture)

SEMI CLOSE UP

She strolls into picture by the mirror as she continues:

MRS. VAN HOPPER: You haven't the experience, you haven't the faintest idea what it means to be a great lady. Personally, I think you're making a big mistake - one you will bitterly regret.

Through the mirror we see "I" watching her unhappily, and Mrs. Van Hopper starts to adjust a few stray hairs under her hat.

MRS. VAN HOPPER: Of course, you know why he's marrying you, don't you? You haven't flattered yourself that he's in love with you. The fact is, that empty house got on his nerves to such an extent he nearly went off his head. He just couldn't go on living alone.

SEMI CLOSE UP

During the last long speech we cut in a flash of "I" getting more and more unhappy and angry.

"I": You'd better leave, Mrs. Van Hopper. You'll miss your train.

CLOSE UP

Mrs. Van Hopper turns and faces "I". A queer, twisted smile crosses her face.

MRS. VAN HOPPER (with withering sarcasm): Mrs. de Winter. (With a sour laugh) Good-bye, my dear, and good luck. 

She turns and flounces out. The slam of the door is heard.

CLOSE UP

"I's" worried face as she looks after her.

                                                                                                  FADE OUT.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: The hints and clues don't need to be obvious. Just enough to play with the character's weakness or fears.  It can then escalate from there.

Rebecca (1940)(shooting script, 3/26/40)
Rebecca (1940)(anthology)
by Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison
Based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier

*The editors of this anthology note: "This story is the dramatization of a first person narrative related by the second Mrs. De Winter. Except for her formal name, later in the story, she can be known to us only as "I" and is therefore so called throughout."

**This was Alfred Hitchcock's first American film, and garnered 11 Oscar nominations, including one for best screenplay.

TODAY'S NUGGET: The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) - A Good Sight Gag Has Layered Meanings

[Quick Summary: Bond and a female Russian operative search for missing submarines with nuclear warheads, leading them to the villain's underwater lair.]

I like sight gags, especially when they can be combined with call backs and foreshadowing, so the audience knows more than the characters.

Early in this script, the villain Stromberg fed his traitorous assistant to the sharks.  

Later, when Bond meets Stromberg, there is a sight gag (below).  It is also:
- a call back to the early scene,
- a foreshadowing of what Stromberg has in store for Bond,
- a clue to Bond there is danger ahead (an increase in the stakes).

INT. SITTING ROOM - ATLANTIS - DAY

...STROMBERG moves slowly round the room. BOND goes with him.

STROMBERG: I'm somewhat of a recluse. I wish to conduct my life on my own terms - and in surroundings with which I can identify. That is a privilege of wealth. 

BOND: You don't miss the outside world?

STROMBERG: For me, this is all the world.

He points to a shoal of beautiful, brightly coloured fish in the tank they are opposite.

STROMBERG: There is beauty...

He points to a hideously ugly fish.

STROMBERG: There is ugliness.

We see a fish with a head of a small fish protruding from its mouth.

STROMBERG: And there is death.

As he turns away, the menacing grey shadow of a shark appears behind the glass with a glimpse of murderous teeth. BOND watches it as it swoops down and up again, seeming to direct BOND's attention to the bottom of the tank. Lying there is a female hand with, on it, the rings and bracelets we have seen worn by the ASSISTANT. BOND turns at the sound of STROMBERG'S VOICE behind him.

STROMBERG (overlaid): I think you will find this interesting, Mr. Sterling.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I liked the multiple layers of meaning to this one sight gag.

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)(final shooting script, 8/23/76)
by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum
Based on the novel by Ian Fleming

TODAY'S NUGGET: Rueben Rueben (1983) - Foreshadowing the Woman Who Will Make Him Earn Her Respect

[Quick Summary: Womanizing, drunk Scottish poet, who hasn't written in years, is spun around when he meets an unimpressed young woman.]

Of all the many, many scripts he had written,* Julius Epstein said that THIS SCRIPT was the one he was most proud of (though not heard of much).**

Gowan McGland is a droll, clever poet, who is doing the lecture circuit in upstate New York.  He is also doing every female in sight and drinking himself blind.

His central problem is put best by his friendly, estranged wife Edith: "The trouble with you, Gowan, is that you've always wanted unearned fruits." 

Soon, Gowan will be meeting beautiful college student Geneva, who does not play Gowan's games.  He will have to earn her respect.

I thought it was interesting how the writer decided to foreshadow this high level of doggedness by showing it first in Geneva's mom (scene below).

NOTES:
- Mare and husband George are chicken farmers. Their daughter is Geneva.
- Mr. and Mrs. Springer are "commuters" to NY. Their son is Tad.
- The Springers didn't want Tad to date chicken farmers' daughter, and sent him away to college.
- Mare was more upset than everyone. Now she takes it out on all commuters.
- There are eggs on the shelf behind Mare.

EXT. FARMHOUSE - DAY

...Mare and George make an appearance. George stays in the b.g. With Mare, what else can he do? Mare fastens a deadpan glance at Mrs. Beausaigneur, who adopts a nervous manner of false bonhomie.

MRS. BEUSEIGNEUR: Good evening. Getting quite coolish, isn't it? (no answer from Mare) I'd like a few of your wonderful fryers. Last week, when you didn't have any left, my husband was so disappointed. He says no one else has such delicious ones as you have. Four, please?

MARE: We're out of fryers.

MRS. BEUSEIGNEUR: Oh. Then can I have two broilers.

MARE: We're out of broilers.

MRS. BEUSEIGNEUR: Oh, dear. (pause, then with some desperation) My husband isn't really a commuter. he gets off at Stamford. Why, we don't even take the New York Times, except on Sundays.

MARE: Occupation?

MRS. BEUSEIGNEUR: Investment adviser.

MARE: Place of residence?

MRS. BEUSEIGNEUR: Vineyard Acres, we're practically neighbors (a little apologetic laugh) Oh, I know we're making it a bit crampedish for you, but -- (nervous laugh) You see, Lester telephoned me just now to ask could he bring a friend, a classmate home for dinner. I thought, Gawd, the house is an absolute shambles, and I'm not a short order cook. But maybe if I could fricassee a few -- (puts her hand on Mare's arm. Mare pulls away) As I say, his office is in Stamford. If you ever need any advice on investments -- (an idea hits her) He's thinking of driving in on the Thruway. Not taking the train at all.

MARE: Sorry. No chickens.

MRS. BEUSEIGNEUR (desperation time): Then I'd better make an omelet. Two dozen eggs, please.

MARE: We're out of eggs.

MRS. BEUSEIGNEUR (exploding): I didn't jilt your daughter. My husband didn't jilt your daughter. Yet you make us drive clear down to town for chickens -- frozen ones at that! -- because somebody else did. If that isn't paranoid, what is!

She storms out, slamming the screen door.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: On my first read, I thought this was an amusing side story. On a closer read, it's really a more interesting way to foreshadow.

Rueben Rueben (1983)
by Julius J. Epstein
Based on the novel by Peter DeVries, and the play by Herman Shumlin

*Including: Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Arsenic and Old Lace, Four Daughters films, etc.  

For more insights on a fascinating career, I'd recommend his in-depth interview in Naked Screenwriting (2021).

**The script is great, but I wondered if it's almost too clever a play to translate well to film?  I am looking forward to seeing the finished film.

TODAY'S NUGGET: Brooklyn Rules (2007) - Characters' Attitudes as a Foreshadowing Tool

[Quick Summary: Three childhood friends have their loyalties tested in 1970s-1980s Brooklyn where they rub elbows with mobsters.]

This is a great film about the unwritten rules of guy friendship.

These three guys are almost always together, yet I could easily distinguish one from another because of distinct attitudes in dialogue and behavior.

How did the writer do this? 

I think it is because he establishes the characters' attitudes early as kids to foreshadow how they will react as adults.

For example, the scene below comes early in the script. 

Notice the three distinct ways that the three boys (Michael, Carmine and Bobby) react to the same situation:

ex. "EXT. WEEDS - BELT PARKWAY - (LATER THAT) DAY

...

BOBBY (O.S.): Holy shit! Guys, come here!

Michael and Carmine head off running toward Bobby's voice. In a small clearing off the parkway, a small clearing off the parkway, a '74 ELDORADO is parked, engine idling. Behind the wheel, a silk-suited THUG is slumped DEAD.  BLOOD TRICKLES from two exit wounds in his forehead.

CARMINE: Oh fuck!

BOBBY: Is he dead?

MICHAEL: No genius, he's pretending. Look, he even put his brains all over the windshield.

As the kids peer into the open window, Carmine spots a pack of MARLBOROS and a GOLD LIGHTER. He reaches in to take them.

BOBBY: What are you doing?!

Carmine lights a CIGARETTE, then admires his new LIGHTER.

CARMINE: He ain't gonna smoke 'em.

BOBBY (a beat; then): Maybe we should tell somebody.

MICHAEL: What are you, retarded?

CARMINE (looking in car): Think there's any money?

Michael leans in and pops the glove compartment. There, in plain view, is a nickel-plated .38 REVOLVER. He leans in and takes it.

MICHAEL: Whoa. Checkit out.

CARMINE: Holy shit, lemme see.

MICHAEL: No way, man. It's mine.

Michael slips the GUN in his jacket pocket, just as something in the car catches Bobby's eye.  He opens the passenger door.

CARMINE: The fuck you doin'?

Through the window, we see what Bobby is going for - an ANIMAL TRANSPORT CASE in the back seat. He unlocks the wire mesh front, then reaches in and removes a month-old, brown and white

BEAGLE PUPPY

who is very much alive. Bobby cradles the dog in his arms.

BOBBY: Hey puppy, you okay?

CARMINE: He's cute. Sharp teeth.

MICHAEL: What should we do with him?

BOBBY: Nothing. I'm keeping him.

We hear POLICE SIREN in the distance. A beat, then the BOYS exchange looks and take off running..."

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: The scene above looks like it is about boys finding a dead body...but it's really about what is most valued by each kid (character).

Brooklyn Rules (2007)(4/8/04 draft)
by Terence Winter

2019 OSCARS: Roma (2018) - Point of View; Simplicity & Foreshadowing

[Quick Summary: The lives of both a maid and the family she serves crumble simultaneously in 1970s Mexico.]

TWO THINGS THIS SCRIPT DOES WELL:  (especially when writing about memories)

1) Point of view.  I liked that the writer chose a fresh point of view (housemaid) to be the protagonist rather than something more typical (himself as the child).

2) Simplicity & Foreshadowing.  I also liked that these memories were simple on the first read.  Later, we'll see the foreshadowing layered in between.

In the scene below:
- Cleo is the protagonist and a long time, trusted maid.  She is from a poor, uneducated, minority background.
- Pepe is 5 years old.
- This simple scene seems to be about play. Later, we will look back and see that it is about her feelings toward a death to come.

ex. "EXT. - ROOF - TEPEJI 21 - AFTERNOON

....A spray of invisible bullets shoots through him and Pepe falls dead, his arms spread open, like Paco said. And he stays there, lying down motionless on the ground.

Cleo dries her hands and walks over to him. She stops and watches him -

CLEO: What happened to you?

Without opening his eyes, Pepe answers from the ground.

PEPE: I'm dead.
CLEO: Well, let's go down then.
PEPE: I can't. I'm dead.
CLEO: Then come back to life, we have to go down!
PEPE: If you die, you can't live again.
CLEO: Now what am I going to do without my Pepe!?

Cleo sits on the ground next to Pepe, who remains motionless.

CLEO (CONT'D): I can't live without my Pepe!

Cleo lies down next to Pepe, arms also extended, and closes her eyes -

CLEO (CONT'D): I'm also dead.

And so she remains still, Pepe next to her. A DC 8 flies overhead.

Pepe opens an eye to see Cleo. She's not moving and seems not to be breathing at all. Pepe reaches his hand and takes Cleo's.

PEPE: Cleo...?

But Cleo's not moving. Pepe sits up -

PEPE (CONT'D): Cleo...?
CLEO: I'm dead.
PEPE: No! C'mon, get up!
CLEO: Didn't you say that was impossible?
PEPE: Cleo, stop it!

But Cleo doesn't answer.

PEPE (CONT'D): Cleo!

She remains still.

PEPE (CONT'D): Cleeoo!

Pepe's starting to get scared -

PEPE (CONT'D): Cleeeeeeeeoooooooo!

Cleo opens her eyes and smiles at him.

CLEO: I'm playing your game. Let's see...shall we play a little longer?

Pepe lies down next to her, arms outstretched.

CLEO (CONT'D): Close your eyes.

They both close their eyes.

CLEO (CONT'D): I like being dead.

Pepe holds her hand.

The two of them lie dead on the roof - "

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: This simple scene was very well crafted.  I did not see the layer of foreshadowing until much later.

Roma (2018)(dated 9/23/16)
Written and directed by Alfonso Cuaron

2014 OSCARS: 12 Years a Slave (2013) - Tone of Hope; Visual Foreshadowing

[Quick Summary: After he is sold into slavery, Solomon Northrup, a free man, struggles to survive.]

I knew this story would be an emotionally tough read ... and it was.

However, I'll remember this script for two reasons:

1) A consistent tone of hope.

One of the main character's traits is hopeful.  When you read the script, it permeates every scene.

ex. "Solomon's confidence shifts, but to resolve rather than fear. Papers or none, he will not be easily cowed."

2) An excellent use of visual foreshadowing.

Foreshadowing is used to hint at something in the future.

Notice how the writer used it here to prepare the reader for a shift:  

ex. "Hamilton lingers a bit too long and a bit too close to Solomon for Brown's taste. [The ewwwww factor is high.]

With more than a bit of signification: 

BROWN: Hamilton! Nothing more we can do for him.

HAMILTON: Such is the pity.

Displaying an odd sort of disappointment, Hamilton slinks away from the bed. [Notice the choice of verb. This is going to get worse, isn't it?]

He crosses to, and BLOWS OUT A CANDLE. The room goes dark with a blackness more than night. [This visual sums up the present situation, as well as hints at the future too.]

Brown and Hamilton exit.

Solomon lays in the dark and moans. His sounds becoming MORE AND MORE DISTRESSED." [The crescendo in action = Definitely worsening.]

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  Note to Self: Foreshadowing is a basic writer's tool from freshman English class.  Why haven't you used it more often?

12 Years a Slave
by John Ridley
Adapted from the memoir of Solomon Northrup