Man on Fire by Brian Helgeland
I love this movie. But, it would have been ruined if they had made the mistake of the script. In this draft Crease has sex with Pinta's mom (Lisa). While it made sense in the story and added a scene where Lisa wanted Crease fired, the audience would have ended up not liking Crease nearly as much. That's the whole point of the the first half of the movie is Crease's redemption. If he sleeps with Lisa, than he isn't redeemed. It's almost disrespectful to Pinta.
This is a mistake I made in a draft of a screenplay a while back. I wanted the hero to get drunk and cheat on his wife to show he had hit rock bottom. A friend told me that she wouldn't be able to like him again if he did this. And after about 2 drafts of that sequence, I realized she was right. So, now he comes close and then realizes what he'd be giving up.
Man on Fire - http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/manonfire.pdf
I was watching Role Models with the commentary, and David Wain was talking about the scene where Wheeler leaves Ronnie at the party to hook up with the girl. I forgot what the alternative was, but this was something that would ultimately be forgivable, given their relationship, but would still cause a rift that he would need to over come. Because of that, he's heading for jail and it takes accepting that and an impassioned speech to win back Ronnie and his mom.
ReplyDeleteThen of course, you get the deus ex machina with Jane Lynch and the judge. But it still all works, and I think most viewers are able to walk away satisfied with the ending.
Yeah, that's a good point. I think the Wheeler thing is different than Crease. For one, it makes sense for the Wheeler story for him to forget about the fact that Ronnie is just a kid and to slip back into immaturity at the end of the second, so that we know his change at the end of the movie is permanent.
ReplyDeleteBut for the Crease story you need his love to be pure for Pinta, almost fatherly (when Lisa is trying to have Crease fired the reason she gives is that Pinta loves him like a father), so that when he goes after the men he believes killed her, his vengeance is righteous. This is mirrored by the fact that her actual father kills his attorney with whom he had co-conspired to have Pinta kidnapped, we have no sympathy for him (and welcome his death). Crease starts off as a broken down alcoholic, but because of his relationship with Pinta he becomes a better man. If he screws Pinta's mom up against a car (as it is in the script), the relationship would be tainted. We also don't want any moral confusion about why he is giving up his life at the end of the movie to save her - It's not out of guilt because of her mother; It's not out of duty because he's her bodyguard; It's because he loves her and she loves him.
I also think that because "Role Models" is a comedy, the audience is more ready to forgive the actions of the protagonist in that genre. I think audiences are considerably harder on characters in dramas.
Alright, my brain is pudding now. I need to get some sleep.
(I like the fact the response is longer than the actual post)
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