Cool Early Drafts of Movie Scripts

[Groo The Perverted]

So I was loading up some scripts onto my iPad the other day and came across an old script I read years ago for American Beauty. It was an early draft by Alan Ball and has a slightly different, but in my opinion, very interesting ending.

In the film,

Spoiler

Kevin Spacey is killed by Chris Cooper, his repressed neighbor who freaked out after his clumsy attempt at making a pass at Spacey was rebuffed.

The movie ends pretty much with mourning, and Cooper essentially getting away with it while this narration by Spacey plays the movie out as he explains how happy he is. the narration was also in the beginning.

In the SCRIPT however, all of that is still there, except for the narration. In the original script Kevin Spacey's daughter played by Thora Birch and her boyfriend played by Wes Bentley are arrested and put in trial for the murder of her father due to the video tape (which is in the movie) where you see Ricky and Jane talking about whether or not she wants him to kill her father, and she says "yeah, would you?". They were clearly joking and not serious.

Here's Alan Ball's words on this section:

In the original script there was a framing device of a big media trial at the beginning where Ricky and Jane are on trial because the videotape that you see has gotten its way into the hands of the police, actually the Colonel gave it to the police. And then "what is the movie now" unfolds and then at the end, interspersed between Lester's black-and-white memories of the moments of beauty in his life, you see the kids get convicted and go to jail.

Like I said, I was in a really angry state of mind when I was writing it because on Cybill we had what we called "a moment of ****" every week where somebody learns something -- and usually from Cybill -- and they hug and this sappy music comes on. You know, after three years of that, I would just cringe. And so when I got off on my own, it's like, "Yeah, the kids go to jail! Nothing means anything. Truth is irrelevant, ha!"

When I saw Sam's first cut all the stuff at the beginning had been cut and some of it had been left at the end, but not enough to make any sense. And I said, "What are you doing? You can't do that." And that was really the only time that we had words.

And then the next day he said, "I'd like to show you a cut where it's all been removed." And he did, and I realized well, you know, what, this movie turned out to be exactly what it's about. I thought it was one thing when I wrote it, and it was something entirely different. Beneath all the cynicism and the anger was this kind of lyrical heart, and I had to admit that -- especially seeing the performances of Wes Bentley and Thora Birch as Ricky and Jane, to send them to jail for a crime they didn't commit was really cynical and kind of just awful, kind of nihilistic. And I realized I didn't want this movie to be nihilistic. I didn't want it to be about nothing. You know. And also I knew I could fight it, but I'd be outvoted. But I am not rationalizing it. Maybe I am rationalizing, but if I am I am unaware of it.

And then from that point on, DreamWorks' marketing got hold of it and did such an amazing job, and it became what it became. And I just sort of look at the whole thing and feel incredibly, incredibly grateful that such creative and gifted people came together to collaborate.

And also I am very, very aware of the big element of luck that is the thing that you have no control over, and so I feel like it's been the most rewarding experience of my life in terms of my life as a writer.

So that's sort of the framework of what happened.

When reading it I was thinking "WOW that would be an awesome ending!" but reading what Ball had to say about his initial reaction and then his coming around, I think I agree with him on that.

Cool ending though.

 

[blumaster]

I don't have a copy of it, but the original version of Minority Report was a sequel to Total Recall in which Quaid, now running a detective agency on Earth, has to investigate his own murder with the help of the pre-cogs, psychic mutants from Mars.

 

[Groo The Perverted]

Wow really? Might have to look that up.