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02.11.2002
The role will be played
by the attractive one.
If you are not the attractive one, you will not be selected for
the role. This is not your movie. There may be a part in it for
you, but it is not your movie; you are the
best friend, the boss, the ex-boyfriend, the neighbor, the
other. The
camera will not always be on you, and the way you see things
is not how we will see them.
The film will teach
us a lesson. This lesson will be about moral redemption,
about the possibility of change, about the rewards of ethical
behavior. Or possibly it will be about the punishment of evil,
the downfall
of the wicked, or the attractive but ultimately doomed life
of the bad. The film will not be about diffidence or confusion
or relativity, nor will it be about false perception or tragic
error or frustration. The film will have things to say and will
say them in a straightforward way, and will not play tricks with
us.
The message will be clear
and unambiguous. People will leave the theatre asking questions
about specifics, details, and techniques.
No one will ask questions about the overall meaning or message.
The technique may be clever, but the cleverness will serve the
story, and will not be done
for its own sake. What will deliver the message is the skill
of the actors, not the strength of what they say. Those
who pay too much attention to the words, and not enough to
the way in which they are said, are deluded and confused, and
their priorities must be questioned.
The story must be told
in a traditional way,
or at least in a way that serves its message. The script must
not subvert, confuse
or insult the reader. There must be a beginning, a middle and
an end, especially an end. The issues raised by the story must
be universal, but in a positive sense, and all things must eventually
be revealed. When the credits roll there can be no one still
lost or hungry or wanting for love. An ending can be a continuation
or a consummation, but never simply a turning away. Death may
come at the end of the story, but it must mean something. Death
must always mean something.
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