Friday, April 21, 2006

Make Right With You

By Josh Lamkin
Okay here's what we did. Dmac and I both like this song by Luke Temple called "Make Right With You." We thought it totally sounded like a song that would be in a movie. For all we know it is in a movie. So Dmac gave us both an assignment: to write a movie scene in which this song appears and specify which director would direct. We both wrote our respective scenes without discussing with each other. Here they are. Listen to the song while you read the scene descriptions. Read slowly. It's better that way. Trust us. Okay here goes.

Luke Temple - Make Right With You


Lamkini:
DIRECTOR: Cameron Crowe
SCENE DESCRIPTION: Montage. Boy messed up. It is raining. Boy walks in rain to Girl's house. He's wearing jeans, a grey t-shirt, a denim jacket with a black Ramones button on the left pocket, black Chuck Taylors. Boy walks in gutter not on sidewalk. Cars pass. Rain. Boy knocks on Girl's door. Girl doesn't answer. Boy knocks again. Girl stands on other side of door quiet, leans against door, no tears, no expression, cat walks in and out of her legs. Boy puts head against door. Their heads would be touching if it weren't for the door. Boy leaves. Boy at home. Boy cutting and pasting pictures making a collage. Flowers, sunshine, construction paper hearts. Boy looks over finished collage. The rain runs down the window. Song ends. Fade out.


Dmac:
DIRECTOR: Wes Anderson
SCENE DESCRIPTION: This scene appears about 2/3 of the way through the movie, and takes place some time after the protagonist, played by Luke Wilson, gets in a huge quarrel with his love interest (some up-and-coming girl-next-door type, like Scarlett Johansson pre "Lost In Translation" or Natalie Portman pre "Garden State") about socks or something. Some time has passed where we see both characters upset, but getting on with their lives. They're not on speaking terms. As this scene begins, it's late evening in the Spring, and the sun is still out. Luke Wilson's character is at a company softball game with all of his co-horts. Everyone except him seems to be having a good time. He's on the bench, sitting next to Vince Vaughn, spitting sunflower seeds and shooting bull. Vaughn tosses Wilson a can of beer and opens up one for himself. "What's with the pity party, man," he says, "We're only down two runs, and I'm about to tie this thing up." Vaughn's next up to bat, so he steps up to the plate, beer in hand. You can hear cheering from a little girl's voice behind the fence. Vaughn looks back, and smiles at his young daughter and lovely wife, who is something like 12 months pregnant. The wife smiles back, and Wilson notices how happy they are. Vaughn puts his beer down on home plate and says, "Daddy's gonna hit a homerun for you baby." He takes a swing at the first pitch and cracks one out, it looks like it's going all the way. He starts to run the bases and looks back to say something to Wilson, but sees there's just an empty spot on the bench where he was sitting.

[cue music: "When all goes sideways and all goes blue..."]

Cut to Luke Wilson running as fast as he can down the street. He's flashing back to various moments he and his girlfriend had shared, and he's remembering how happy he was. We cut back and forth between him, running down the street, Vince Vaughn rounding the bases, and old memories of he and his girlfriend. By the time the song is over, Wilson at the girl's doorstep, she opens the door and he starts to apologize. She doesn't let him finish, and plants a big mushy wet kiss on him, and we realize that it's okay now. They're back together.

[end scene]

6 Comments:

Blogger d-mac said...

Mine was lame. I know now why I became a software engineer instead of a screenwriter.

I did think it was cool though that we both went in a similar direction with Boy screwing up and trying to "make right" with Girl. Maybe that part was obvious, but then we both had them ending up at the Girl's front door.

What's cooler though, are the differences. One set in the rain, in typical Cameron Crowe style, and the other in the bright sun, as one might expect from Wes Anderson. Lamkini's left more up in the air, which I liked. You don't really know for sure how Boy is going to patch things up, but you sure want it to work out.

2:46 PM, April 21, 2006  
Blogger Josh Lamkin said...

It was definitely cool that we both did a similar general theme, but yeah, it was probably obvious. I actually totally hear this song being in a Wes Anderson Luke-Wilson-shaves-off-his-eyebrows kind of scene.

I like how dmac did the parallelism with one guy running to the girl and the other guy running the bases. That was awesome and totally something a kickass director would do. So dmac, maybe you should quit being a software engineer and start directing.

2:51 PM, April 21, 2006  
Blogger newwavegurly said...

Just an opinion boys... You both had some great elements in your scenes, but neither one seems quite right.

As I was listening to the tune, I was picturing a guy driving to patch things up with his girl. Or maybe running through the airport trying to buy a ticket and get on the plane before it took off.

Now, is it because it's a male singer that we're all imagining it's the guy that messed up, not the girl, or is that just typically the nature of things?

Hey, there's a reason why I'm not a screenwriter either.

11:38 PM, April 21, 2006  
Blogger d-mac said...

Yah, I mean, isn't it always the guy that messes things up? That's what Dr. Phil told me at least, and despite being a guy, he's never wrong.

8:50 PM, April 24, 2006  
Blogger newwavegurly said...

Man, I can't stand Dr. Phil.

And yes, it is always the guy that messes up. ;-)

10:18 AM, April 25, 2006  
Blogger An Urban Femme said...

I hate it when nobody tells me there are fake movies being discussed.

Very entertaining, fellas. I like the long posts. Size totally matters.

3:13 PM, April 25, 2006  

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