Ed Lopez, former Credit at Long and McQuade (1988-1994)
Let’s start with some observations.
- A lot of work goes into a movie script. A long time ago, movie theaters used to run this particular PSA about keeping quiet during the movie. It was set against some scenes from the Coen brother’s Barton Fink. John Turturro on a typewriter accompanied by stats explaining how much work goes into the script of a movie. Of course their message was to respect the work that goes into the precise words
- Who knows how many movies one sees in a lifetime? I am 53 and I have no idea. Of that number , how many of them actually emotionally register with you that you care about reciting lines from them in certain situations?
I was never good enough to write professionally but I write anyway . My goal was to make a connection with the reader the same way other writers make a connection to me when I read them. A movie line though is even more than that. It is a situation, build up music , the way the actor says the line etc. Like the line from a very young Jennifer Connely in Labyrinth .
It is that moment of truth , that realization. A certain line will stick to you. Like this one.
If my memory serves Rhett had enough of the drama and says bye bye. He has reached his tipping point. Haven’t we all been there?
The key word here is resonate. Different things resonate with different people. For some it’s song lines, others it is movie dialogue. For some it is their personal situation when they encounter something . Meryl Streep wrote the creators of the Mamma Mia musical that they were able to provide all this joy in the context of the Sept 11 attack.
I love quoting Spinal Tap , Hans Gruber and Marko Ramius. Doesn’t love make the world go ‘round?
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