Daily Dialogue — December 21, 2013

Sister Mary Patrick: Really. Mary Clarence? Were you a choir mistress?
Dolores: Sort of freelance.
Sister Mary Lazarus: Freelance? Really? Oh. You don’t think I see? You think I took vows yesterday? I know what you’re up to. You and Reverend Mother.
Dolores: Uh. What?
Sister Mary Lazarus: You’re a ringer. She brought you here to replace me. Out with the old!
Sister Mary Patrick: Oh. Could you help us. Mary Clarence? Mary Lazarus, you’re terrific.
but we could really use some help.
Nun #1: Please. You’ve heard us.
Sister Mary Patrick: We’re terrible.
Nun #2: Please. Do something for us. Please.
Sister Mary Lazarus: Well. There’s a word for this. Mutiny. So. Mary Clarence, you think you can do better? I believe I’d like to see that. Go ahead, Sister. Make ’em sing.

— Sister Act (1992), screenplay by Joseph Howard

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is awkward, suggested by Sabina Giado. Today’s suggestion by Illimani.

Trivia: Screenwriter Paul Rudnick wrote the original script back in 1987 and Bette Midler was supposed to be cast for the role of Dolores. After Midler had left the project, the script underwent several re-writes by screenwriters Carrie Fisher, Eleanor Bergstein, Nancy Meyers, Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr. and Robert Harling. As Rudnick did not consider the final draft of the movie as his own work, the pseudonym ‘Joseph Howard’ was chosen by him after his own suggestion for the writer’s credit (‘Screenplay by Goofy’) had been rejected.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Illimani: “Tuesday I suggested a scene from Ghost World because it summarizes pretty much what awkwardness is: repression of a pattern of behavior that would fit better a certain situation. Usually such repression is internal to the mind of the character, and that scene was quite unique since it showed an external repression agent. There’s another good source for awkwardness though: unawareness. Today’s scene shows precisely that: the nuns need the help of Dolores and are unaware about her past. A jealous Sister Mary Lazarus feels challenged and for a moment we think that she may aware about Dolores’ real identity, but she is actually more than clueless and we can feel with Dolores the awkwardness of her situation in the convent.”

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