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: Minnie and Moskowitz (1971) - Annoyed, Petty, REAL

[Quick Summary: Lonely, mismatched museum worker and parking lot attendant fall in love.]

This is a messy story about two misfits falling in love.

I like misfit characters. I love falling in love stories.

However, I admit I would've passed on this script because I couldn't see it as a film.*

Robert Towne put the dilemma this way:

The only way a screenplay can be evaluated, almost by definition, is not on the page, but by viewing the movie it caused to be made. It certainly can be read and even enjoyed, but you're stuck with the inescapable fact that it was written to be seen.

So what do you, as a writer, do?  Find a director and producer who can see it.

Luckily in this case, the writer was the director, John Cassavetes, who was generating some heat at this time in indie films.

I think Cassavetes was aiming to show two maddening, contradictory characters trying to work out a relationship.  It's annoying, petty, and REAL.

He succeeded, as I felt annoyed, petty, but satisfied that these two did belong together.

ex. "Seymour puts his arm around Minnie.

MINNIE: I can't do those dances.
SEYMOUR: What dances?
MINNIE: It's very important to me that when we go inside there I don't feel like a fool...because...
SEYMOUR: You're with me. You don't want to go dancing, we don't have to go dancing.
MINNIE: I want to go dancing.
SEYMOUR: Okay."

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I respect scripts that make me feel, regardless of the rest.

Minnie and Moskowitz (1971)
by John Cassavetes

*I like more narrative structure. This is mostly a loose and free character study, which I could see as very attractive to actors.

TODAY'S NUGGET: Gloria (1999) - Do Not Rush

[Quick Summary: A former showgirl is saddled with a 6 y.o. boy whose parents were shot by unsavory thugs.]

In my search for anything Sidney Lumet wrote and/or directed, I found this script.

I learned that:
- Lumet's version was a remake (with Sharon Stone, circa 1999).
- The great John Cassavetes wrote and directed the original (with his wife Gena Rowlands, 1980).
- I had Cassavetes' draft, which was great, as Lumet's draft is lost to the winds.

I often rush in my scripts because I'm worried I'll lose the audience's attention.

This script taught me take your time and Do Not Rush.

The audience will hang in there if each step has a purpose and builds to somewhere.

In this story:
1) We begin with Jeri (Phil's mom) on the bus, and her groceries spill. (p. 1-2)
2) Jeri gets to her apartment building and is nervous of the strange man in the lobby. (bottom p. 2)
3) Jack (Phil's dad) unlocks many bolts and chains to let Jeri in the apartment. (p. 4)
4) We meet one of our main characters, PHIL (6), and his sister Joan (7) on p. 4.
5) Jeri and Jack argue about packed bags and leaving. The kids are scared. (p. 5-10)
6) The thugs want Jack's secret ledger of the mafia's crooked deals. (p. 7)
7) GLORIA, the other main character, knocks on the door for coffee. (p. 11)

So, it took 4 pages to get to Phil, and 11 for Gloria. Is this necessary? Here, yes.

Each step BUILDS with a PURPOSE:
1) Jeri is a good, hard working, middle class mother.
2) Jeri is scared of something (tension). It makes us curious as to why.
3) The family is in imminent danger.
4) Innocent kids are involved. This is a very bad situation.
5) They are about to flee from thugs. Now I can see that this is a road trip story.
6) This sets up why there are high stakes for Phil and Gloria.
7) Once Gloria takes the kid in, she'll be hunted too.

Notice how the script took its time in showing us that this is a close, loving family. 

If it had started right at p. 7, we would not have as much sympathy for Phil's plight.

ex. "JACK: They know we're close. They know I live for my family.

JERI: How do they know?

JACK: That's all I talk about. I don't run with babes. I've got pictures of the kids in my wallet.

JERI: You talk about the kids to them?

JACK: Of course I do. I talk about the kids to everybody.

JERI goes back into the kitchen.

JERI: All right. Never mind dinner. Pack your things." 

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Don't rush. Build story blocks with purpose.

Kurosawa was impressed too.


Gloria (1980)(rev. through 9/24/79)
by John Cassavetes

TODAY'S NUGGET: A Woman Under the Influence (1974) - The Inherent Conflict of Opposites

[Quick Summary: A slice of life story of a mother who might be mad, steady husband, and three happy kids.]

Director John Cassavettes tried to write a play for his wife Gena Rowlands.

After several failed drafts, she said, "Deal with it from a woman's point of view. Deal with it so that I have a part."  He wrote her a juicy role, Mabel, in this script. 

Cassavettes was interested in the simultaneous hate/love, or love/like dynamic.

Combining opposites guarantees conflict.  This is why Mabel is so fascinating.

In the scene below, Mr. Jensen is dropping off his kids to play with Mabel's kids.  He does not know how to deal with Mabel, who insists he participate in the fun.

This scene is a contrast of both uncomfortable and fun.

ex. "The three boys sit on the couch watching Mabel dancing with Mr. Jensen.

MABEL: Now isn't this fun?

Maria and Adrienne continue their dance steps.

MARIA: Mama, watch this now...we're gonna die. Come on, Mom.

Mabel breaks self-consciously away from Mr. Jensen.

Adrienne does the last part of the "Swan Lake" which is the swan curtsey into the death.

Maria does it.

Mabel is clapping and yelling bravo; she signals the boys to clap too.

Everyone claps.

Mabel turns to Mr. Jensen who is just standing there.

MABEL: Come on, applaud your daughter. She just died for you.

He reluctantly applauds.

MABEL: Bravo, bravo!

The boys pick it up.

TONY, ANGELO, JOHN: Bravo, bravo.

"Swan Lake" ends and a version of "Pathetique" comes on, a piano solo.

Mabel circles and begins dancing solo.

Maria and Adrienne begin dancing.

The boys get up and begin dancing, leaping through the air.

Mr. Jensen stands there."

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: For instant conflict, combine opposite traits.

A Woman Under the Influence (1974)(dated 8/23/72)
by John Cassavetes