Wednesday, May 22, 2013

THE STORY SO FAR: PART 263: WEDNESDAY

OH WHAT A LOUSY MORNING, BUT OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY

No, I’m not talking about the weather. I’m referring to work and the fact that I couldn’t seem to get up to speed in the morning. But stick-to-it-ness is a wonderful thing so I ended the day—at nearly 9.00pm—feeling decidedly satisfied. A good writing day always has that effect.

My bonus was to discover I had cut one extra page more than I had thought without losing any necessary content. Any fool can slash scenes left right and center but the trick is to keep scenes that move the story along in—but write them more tightly. Will scenes be cut eventually? Probably. It doesn’t do to fall in love with your own work in the movie business—and re-writing is the name of the screenwriting game.

I’m not going to say I think I’m finished again—because that is too much like tempting fate (but the truth is that I really think I have).

Hallelujah! I feel I should dance the hornpipe or something—but haven’t a clue how. Mind you, I once did English folk dancing when at prep school—and rather enjoyed it.

Pause while I remind myself I’ll be 69 tomorrow. I think I’ll skip that hornpipe.

My baby squirrel has made an appearance. He is growing fast, his tail is much busier, and he now looks less like a rat. A very cheering sight.

Late evening I watched the movie JACK REACHER with  Tom Cruise (decidedly not my idea of Lee Child’s protagonist as described in his extraordinarily successful books).

The movie was watchable and well directed, but slight—and Tom Cruise playing it by looking permanently grim didn’t help matters.

But, maybe I’m just jealous. Actually, I’m not. I think Lee Child’s success is well deserved and I know full well that Tom Cruise is capable of excellent work.

Nonetheless, I would prefer to see a movie that wasn’t so clearly dumbed down for a global audience. Two examples come to mind (neither are recent):

  • THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR
  • MARATHON MAN

I’m sure that there is a recent thriller that similarly illustrates my point, but nothing comes immediately to mind.

No comments:

Post a Comment