Daily Dialogue — July 10, 2014
EXT. CENTER OF PLAYING FIELD — NIGHT
We’re now just a few inches in front of his peaceful, sleeping face. They are all. YELLING, trying to pull him out.
SHOTS OF NATIONAL TELEVISION AUDIENCES
1) A full sports bar in Arizona silently watches Monday Night Football.
2) Generic living room of sports fans, all watching Tidwell pinned to the screen.
3) Generic outdoor bar-b-que as white fans watch t.V.
4) Tidwell living room. All gathered around the television.
5) Maguire straining at the sideline.
ON TIDWELL — CLOSE
Dead to the world as sound disappears. There is now only silence.
POV TIDWELL — SLO-MO — SILENCE
The Doctors and the Trainers are now truly panicked. We don’t hear them. We see them, their motions increasingly manic. Shoving fingers in front of him. Screaming. We read
their lips. (“Rod!” “Rod can you hear us!”) We see the anguish and escalating fear on their faces.
The Trainer leans in close, bellowing, he spreads his hands wide to clap right in front of Rod’s still face. His hands head toward each other… closer… bringing with them the first inkling of sound… getting closer and then finally coming together, bringing with him the sounds of the stadium.
ON TIDWELL who blinks back to life. Concerned men are yelling very loudly, right in his face. Tidwell becomes aware he is the absolute center of attention of the entire stadium. As crowd noise begins to rise.
TRAINER: Let’s get you off the field!
TIDWELL: Wait.
TRAINER: Can you feel your legs?
TIDWELL: Yeah. Just let me enjoy this for a minute.
ON JERRY who watches. Only marginally relieved. Is he okay?
ON FANS Crowd noise rises. Is he okay?
ON TIDWELL Can he move? Is he okay?
ON TIDWELL’S LIVING ROOM Not a breath is taken. Is he okay?
He rises. Stadium explodes. At first on wobbly feet, he raises the football and for the first time — salutes the crowd. Crowd noise doubles.
ON MAGUIRE gasping for breath.
ON TIDWELL Has never felt like this before in his life. It is the pure and absolute love of the spotlight. And his fans.
And then… it’s real and he feels it. Tidwell breaks out in a small but unmistakable move — a flutter step. He does a high-stepping move, all his own, for about ten yards.
ON JERRY MAGUIRE who watches, now in complete disbelief. Tidwell will not let go of the spotlight.
BACK ON TIDWELL — CLOSE
Finishes his small but heartfelt dance. It is a personal catharsis he is sharing now with 2 billion people.
TIDWELL: (to himself) Nike.
He moves past Jerry Maguire on his way off the field. Jerry, casually thumps his heart twice. Jerry Maguire is overcome with emotion. He sits down on a camera case, head in his hands. Behind him, a stadium cheers a new hero.
OVERHEARD FAN: I always knew he was great.
Maguire rubs his face. Overcome. Photographers and others rush past to be closer to Tidwell.
— Jerry Maguire (1996), written by Cameron Crowe
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Victory, suggested by NB. Today’s suggestion by blknwite.
Trivia: Cameron Crowe spent three and a half years writing the script.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Actually a thought about scene description. For all of those supposed screenwriting gurus who say we can’t write ‘unfilmables’ in our scripts, look at all those shots above:
ON JERRY who watches. Only marginally relieved. Is he okay?
ON FANS Crowd noise rises. Is he okay?
ON TIDWELL Can he move? Is he okay?
ON TIDWELL’S LIVING ROOM Not a breath is taken. Is he okay?
Is he okay? Technically an unfilmable. But we have the right to comment on moments, if we are judicious in their use.
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