LiT shooting script

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LostCalls
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LiT shooting script

#1 Post by LostCalls » Fri Aug 17, 2007 1:41 am

I imagine many of you have found this already on your own (if your searches are anything like mine), but I thought I'd post this link to what seems to be a shooting draft of the LiT script:

http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/lost ... cript.html

There are some significant differences here, and it's clear to see how the order of some scenes got shifted around. You can also sense where the ad-libbing came in...and perhaps how thoroughly certain moments were planned out in advance (or not). Maybe it's a little strange to read this because the differences stand out so starkly in comparison with the finished product.

Even so, I'll admit that even in just reading this, I shed a tear when I reached the end. (CU Charlotte--she is crying. The music swells.) Different but still powerful. Oh my.

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#2 Post by Congruous » Fri Aug 17, 2007 1:23 pm

Thanks for the link. That was interesting.
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Re: LiT shooting script

#3 Post by Cryogenic » Mon Oct 15, 2007 1:35 pm

Interesting piece. I have no idea about its veracity, though. Sofia has the "sweep" of the move in place there, but it's very skeletal. Bob has virtually no personality at all (and Charlotte's isn't very developed, either). You can see how vital the casting of Bill Murray was. Bob and Charlotte also both uncharacteristically swear (they each say the f-word one time). Some oddities. The lack of "More Than This" in the karaoke scene is a huge difference -- what an utterly vital addition that was! This script is a good foundation, but as that example shows, it's lacking all the magic of the finished version. It's also hard to imagine this screenplay without implanting the visual / aural texture of the final product; again, LiT only comes alive as a work of cinema.

TWO MORE POINTS:

Bob and Charlotte's parting dialogue in the bar, when that new band is playing, is interesting -- as are the words that the singer sings. It's interesting that no dialogue like this exists in the final film; it was completely removed. But the entire film seems to carry the themes that these words are spelling out:
CHARLOTTE: I don't know, it just doesn't, reality changes things....we can't stay here forever, unless maybe we started a Jazz band.
SINGER (O.C.): Somethings that happen for the first time, seem to be happening again and so it seems we have met before, and laughed before, and loved before, but who knows where or when...
I think these lines are meant to underscore the impermanent nature of reality, which LiT celebrates through its "photography" motif and theme of memory, and the idea that some component of our being, call it a "soul", and some component that allows us to be, call it "time", are infinite and eternal.
LostCalls wrote:Even so, I'll admit that even in just reading this, I shed a tear when I reached the end. (CU Charlotte--she is crying. The music swells.) Different but still powerful. Oh my.
Yes, this was a powerful end -- but entire orders of magnitude below the finished version. Bob calling out Charlotte's name, music swelling and the simple dialogue are all cliches, yet the actual ending of LiT transcends all these boundaries, arguably becoming one of the greatest "romantic endings" in cinema history. Of course, the unheard dialogue between Bob and Charlotte, during their whisper, also adds another layer to the title, "Lost in Translation". So, perhaps, it isn't merely a great "romantic ending", but simply one of the greatest endings in cinema. I'm glad Sofia Coppola worked on this!

SOME COMMENTS ON PROVENANCE:

I do wonder if this screenplay is "legit". The Internet plays host to a lot of forgeries. And the "bed" scene seems remarkably intact here (though still with differences), which contradicts the interview between Bill and Sofia on the DVD. Bill Murray says they spent a lot of time figuring out how to play the moment, and the way he describes it implies something *very* different was originally written. I dunno. I'm a little bit skeptical of that aspect, but it's very hard to evaluate. Whether real or fake, it's a fascinating read, and I recommend it to any serious LiT fan.

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