As I continue to work hard on finishing my dialogue book, I took note of one of the comments from last week which basically said the following: “When’s the last time somebody went to a movie for the dialogue?”
That question got me thinking. Because the truth is, I haven’t gone to see a movie for the dialogue since, probably, Juno. I remember hearing how great the dialogue was in that movie so I was excited to check it out.
But since then? Maybe the occasional Woody Allen or Tarantino movie had me intrigued about the dialogue. But I wouldn’t say that was the main reason I went to see those movies.
This had me wondering, do people even care about dialogue anymore? In the 90s, it was everything. During the indie boom, movies were graded heavily on their dialogue. But movies have changed radically since then. They’re more focused on thrilling you with a great space battle than impressing you with a clever turn-of-phrase.
Then reality slapped me in the face. Of course dialogue is important. It may not be the primary reason someone goes to the movies. It may not even be in the top 5 of their priority list. But I know this. Agents and producers are DESPERATE to find good dialogue writers.
Because they’re so freaking rare!
98% of working writers are able to fake their way through dialogue. By that, I mean, they know all the things you’re *not* supposed to do. So they can avoid those pitfalls and make their dialogue passable.
Only that tiny top 2% can write dialogue that sings. And, for that reason, those writers are very valuable. TV shows, which are more dependent on dialogue, are desperate to hire those writers. Producers constantly need to hire dialogue superheroes to do dialogue passes on their scripts. And those dialogue passes pay big money.
This doesn’t even begin to cover actors, who value great dialogue above everything. These are the lines they’re going to be saying so you bet your plucky pocketbook they’re choosing the scripts with the best dialogue.
That’s the thing you have to remember. The audience might not be showing up for the dialogue. But all the people who make movies? They’re looking for great dialogue writers.
Which is a long way of saying: Keep an eye out Mid-October for the Scriptshadow Dialogue Book! Oh, and I’m currently reading plays for the book. If you’ve got any suggestions for great modern plays, stuff written post-1990, please leave them in the comments.
Okay, moving on!
I’ve got two big things I’m looking forward to this week. On Wednesday, Andor comes out. And on Friday, Don’t Worry Darling comes out. Now a lot of you might be confused about my excitement for Don’t Worry Darling seeing as it’s got one of the “All Men Are Drowning in Toxic Masculinity” champions of the industry, Olivia Wilde, directing it. Which isn’t surprising since that’s basically what Don’t Worry Darling is about.
But there’s a lot more going on with this movie than just that. It’s a spec script. And I always root for spec scripts. Not just a spec script writer-director. But a spec script that writers wrote, somebody purchased, and then another director made. I love when that happens. It gives me hope that, if the movie does well, it will start a spec resurgence.
It’s got a sci-fi slant, which you know I love. And I particularly love when writers mix subject matter that normally would have nothing to do with sci-fi. The last thing you would expect in a 50s suburban neighborhood drama is a sci-fi twist.
I think the cinematography and vision of this movie look amazing. That shot in the trailer where Florence Pugh is being squished up against the wall by an invisible shield hints at a really creative mythology that I’m totally down for.
And then you’ve got one of the best up-and-coming actresses in the world in the lead role with Florence Pugh. I think she’s amazing. So I want to see what she’s going to do in the role. I also think it’s funny that she hates Olivia Wilde. The movie is about feminism and the two main female talents on the project hate each other. Come on, you have to love the irony.
Anyway, I’m going to be reviewing the movie next Monday. So BUCKLE UP.
Since we’re talking about feminism, let me take a quick detour before we cover Andor. The Woman King not only took in a surprising 19 million dollars this weekend, it got an A+ Cinemascore! Holy coyotes. I used to think that cinemascores were worthless but it turns out they’re the best indicator of how well a movie will do over time at the box office.
The movies with the highest scores have the lowest financial declines week-to-week. Case in point, the number one movie of the year, Top Gun Maverick, had an A+ Cinemascore. Meanwhile, Jordan Peele’s “Nope,” which did lousy in the weeks after its opening, received a B Cinemascore.
I’ll probably wait for this one to come out on streaming before I watch it. I’m having a bit of a suspension of disbelief issue with Viola Davis as an action hero. I mean, what’s next? Paul Giammati as Alexander the Great? Michael Cera as Hercules? Still, we always complain in the movie business that they don’t make anything different anymore. This movie is definitely different. So I’m glad that they found success in a market that isn’t always accepting of new ideas.
Okay, moving on to Andor. We’re just three days away from the Star Wars series that NOBODY thought would happen. This comes on the heels of Lucasfilm officially shoving a thermal detonator into the gullet of Rogue Squadron, which has been jettisoned from the Star Wars line-up, made to rot in perdition along with Rian Johnson’s future trilogy that was going to have every single person in the universe be a Jedi. The tagline, I hear, was: “We’re all special!”
The first reactions from Andor seem to confirm what everyone already assumed, which is that it’s a super serious version of Star Wars. The issue with social media reactions is the same issue that’s happening with these “7 Minute Standing Ovation” stories from film festivals. Once you establish that every single movie is getting one, it doesn’t mean anything anymore.
Those social media reactions claiming that every new Marvel release was the best Marvel film yet numbed all of us to them. Even worse, if your movie DIDN’T have “this was the greatest thing ever” reactions, and only had, “Yeah, it was pretty good” reactions, we knew the film was hogwash in a hand basket.
Andor is coming in with very tepid praise. “Yeah, it’s different from every other Star Wars,” people are saying. Okay, but nobody cares about that. They just care if it’s good. I still think it was an enormous gamble to build a show around a character who didn’t even pop in the original movie he was in. Rogue One made most of its money based on the fact that the average moviegoer thought it was a sequel to The Force Awakens. It didn’t make a bunch of money because it was a good movie. Arguably, it didn’t have a single stand-out character in it.
I’ll pose the question to you guys. Name me, in order, your top 3 characters from Rogue One. I’m guessing that K2SO, the big droid, comes out as number 1. And he was just some side character. He didn’t even have a big role.
The only thing that gives me hope here is Peacemaker. Peacemaker was lame in The Suicide Squad. But his show was absolutely awesome. Maybe once we get Cassian Andor away from the big plot in Rogue One, and let him breathe a little, he becomes a far more interesting character. I sure hope so. Because they’re giving us 12 episodes of this thing. The biggest Star Wars show by far. If it’s great, I’m going to be doing jumping jacks in roller skates.
I’ll review that either at the end of the week or next Tuesday.
In the meantime, I’ll be watching my current favorite show, House of the Dragon. This show is exceptional. I’m completely bought in. I’m a little nervous about the impending time jump and getting rid of Young Rahenyra. But I have so much faith in the writers, at this point, that I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt.
