Stu and Chas tackle the first 20 pages of HOT FUZZ, AS GOOD AS IT GETS and GROUNDHOG DAY and try to work out what stops these a-holes from pushing the audience out of the move.
We discover that in each script, the protagonist’s flaw is stated out loud to the audience and to the character within a handful of pages. Nicholas Angel gets told he’s “letting the side down” by page seven; Melvin Udall is introduced in big print as “unliked, unloved, unsettling” by the third paragraph.. on the first page. Doing this changes the question: we’re no longer asking “what’s wrong with this guy?” — we’re asking “how will he ever change?”
The other tools we land on:
- The yin-yang oscillation — peaks and troughs in our sympathy, so cruelty is followed by a beat that complicates it (the dog peeing before Melvin throws it down the chute, so we get the motivation even as we reject the act).
- Laugh at, not just with — make the unlikable bits so extreme the audience laughs rather than recoils. The GRAN TORINO trick.
- Steve Kaplan’s definition of comedy: an ordinary person struggling against insurmountable odds without the skills to win, who never gives up hope.
- And a contrarian thread: a protagonist doesn’t always have to be compelling. In HOT FUZZ it’s the situation — the car crash you can see coming.
We also wander through DUE DATE, SUPERBAD, ANCHORMAN’s pantsless desk-scotch, GRAN TORINO’s weaponised racism, DUCKMAN, GIRLS, DAVID BRENT versus the US Steve Carell, and the British tradition of letting its leads be proper a-holes.
PS: In ANCHORMAN... um... they renamed the character of Alicia Corningstone to Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) in the shooting script. We keep on referring to her as Alicia as that is what she is referred to in the screenplay. Wups.
Thanks to our Patrons, especially Khrob, Theis, Sandra, Jesse, Randy, Paulo, Thomas, Jennifer, Malay, Alexandre and Lily.
Stating The Flaw Early Sets The Question
"What's really clever is here, and the other scripts do this as well, is normally in drama you wouldn't have the fla stated so early abd in such obvious terms. Often if it comes at all, it's like at the end of the second act, you know. And here they tell the audience and they tell the character what their flaw is, but they show them oblivious to it... And then this actually leads me to think...it actually sets up a dramatic question for the audience, right? You're told what is wrong with this guy. And so the question becomes, when will he realize or how will he realize? It's a subtle question, but I think it is in there. And then part of what you're compelled to do is watch to see, because you're not trying to work out who this character is. You're actually wanting to see how they will ultimately change."
— Stu Willis
(00:17:21)
· Character Flaw
· Dramatic Questions
The Yin-Yang: Peaks And Troughs Of Sympathy
"What's really interesting about Hot Fuzz is in the first couple of pages, they could be setting up a James Bond character. Like, effectively, that kind of, like, almost bulletproof action hero, right? And then, after they've done that kind of, like, escalation, then they start deconstructing it. And this is a pattern that will, that As Good as It Gets, does very well. There's this kind of yin-yang or this peak and trough with our perceptions of the character that they play with to make it, in my mind, make the character both unlikable yet compelling."
— Stu Willis
(00:13:35)
· Audience Sympathy
Steve Kaplan's Comedy Definition
"Steve Kaplan's definition of comedy, I think, is very useful for understanding what can make unlikable protagonists compelling. And that's really what we're trying to do here, is kind of unpick how to make someone that's unlikable and make them compelling. He says that comedies, most comedies, are about an ordinary guy or girl who is struggling against insurmountable odds without any of the necessary skills in order to win, and yet they never give up hope."
— Stu Willis
(00:05:40)
· Comedy
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We are @stuwillis, @mehlsbells and @chasffisher on Twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter.
