Daily Dialogue — January 27, 2016
GRU: So, what do we got? Who’s on the list? Fire ’em at me.
LUCY: First suspect: Hedda Bloomintop, proprietor of Mum’s the Word floral shop.
GRU: No, not her.
LUCY: Okay, moving on…Chuck Kinney, owner of Stuff-a-Bear. Ooh.
GRU: I don’t think so.
The shop door bell rings.
EDUARDO: Hello?
Gru and Lucy try to assume casual poses.
EDUARDO: Buenos dias, my friends. I am Eduardo Perez, owner of Salsa y Salsa Restaurant across the mall. Now open for breakfast. And you are…?
GRU: Gru. And this is Lucy, and we are closed.
EDUARDO: This is just gonna take un momento. I am throwing a big Cinco de Mayo party and I am going to need two hundred of your best cupcakes, decorated with the Mexican flag. It looks something like this. (Removes his shirt to show a tatoo of the flag.) What do you think?
LUCY: Ooh!
GRU: Ugh! Look away!
EDUARDO: Anyway, I have to go. It’s all settled. I pick ’em up next week. Have a good day. Come by if you get a chance, okay?
GRU: Ahh!
Eduardo returns.
EDUARDO: And welcome to the mall family!
Gru gasps as he thinks he recognizes Eduardo. Eduardo leaves again.
GRU: El Macho!
LUCY: What?
GRU: But this couldn’t be.
LUCY: What…what…what couldn’t be?
GRU: That guy looks exactly like a villain named El Macho, from about twenty years ago. He was ruthless. He was dangerous. And, as the name implies, very macho. He had the reputation of doing a heist using only his bare hands! Ah, but sadly, like all the greats, El Macho was gone too soon. He died in the most macho way possible: riding a shark with two hundred and fifty pounds of dynamite strapped to his chest into the mouth of an active volcano. It was glorious!
LUCY: Yeah, sounds like El Macho’s pretty dead.
GRU: They never found the body, oh no! All that was ever retrieved was a pile of singed chest hair. But that face! It has got to be El Macho!
LUCY: Then what do you say you and I break into his restraurant…tonight?
GRU: Yes, that’s good, ’cause I’m telling you, if anybody in this place has the PX-41 syrum, it’s him!
— Despicable Me 2 (2013), screenplay by Writers: Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Accused. Today’s suggestion by Will King.
Trivia: When Lucy Wilde gives Gru a phone number to reach her, it is clearly visible as 626–584–5723. Calling that number reaches a recording of Kristen Wiig in character, with her outgoing voice mail message.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Will: “In this follow-up to the original Despicable Me, Gru is contracted by the Anti-Villain League to discover the thief who stole an entire laboratory to get a potent secret potion. As Gru and AVL agent Lucy begin to establish themselves as proprietors of a cupcake shop in a mall, Gru makes a startling discovery, one that no one but he believes. This exchange provides the chance to establish some backstory on the potential antagonist and sets up the rivalry for the ensuing storyline.”