Daily Dialogue — August 28, 2016

NINNY: I feel better now.
EVELYN: Good.
NINNY: I feel better ’cause all these people‘ll live… as long as you remember‘em. You reminded me… about what the most important thing in life is. Do you know what I think it is?
EVELYN: No, ma‘am.
NINNY: Friends… best friends.
EVELYN: Oh, Ninny!

— Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), written by Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski, based on the novel by Fannie Flagg

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Mentor, suggested by Michael Waters. Today’s suggestion is by Katha.

Trivia: Carol Sobieski wrote the first draft of the screenplay, which the director and producers thought were wonderful — but it wasn’t the movie they wanted to do. Next, Fannie Flagg was brought on to do another draft and she finished seventy pages before quitting. With no money left to hire another writer, director Jon Avnet took it upon himself to write the screenplay and spent the next three years doing so. He did, however, stay in close contact with Flagg to make sure he stayed true to her book.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Katha: “Ninny is Evelyn‘s mentor through the whole movie. At the end, we found out that — as in every good relationship between mentor and mentee — Ninny has learned something from Evelyn as well. But still she has to tell Evelyn what it is.”