Daily Dialogue — July 14, 2012

EXT. FRONT LAWN — DAY

William watches sadly. Anita’s good-looking boyfriend DARRYL,
a dead ringer for young Stephen Stills, loads her suitcases
into a large turquoise Chevy. The suitcases are adorned with
plastic stick-on flowers. All coolness is leaving William’s
life. Mom watches nearby, worried and helpless. (Their house
is more austere, less “fun” than the other front lawns.)

WILLIAM: Take good care of her in San Francisco, man.

Darryl gives the kid a sub-human look. He’s invisible, too
young to converse with.

ELAINE: How can she leave such a loving family?

Anita turns and heads towards them. She focuses on William,
placing her hands on his young shoulders. Her face is very
close to him now, as she delivers this sage prediction of the
future.

ANITA: One day you’ll be cool.

He nods stoically, hopefully. He is utterly lost. She leans
forward and whispers in his ear.

ANITA: Look under your bed. It’ll set you free.

Anita shakes hands with Mom, and exits. As the car takes off:

ELAINE: She’ll be back.

In the distance we hear the whoop of her daughter.

ANITA: YEAHHHHH-HOOOOOOOO.

ELAINE: Maybe not soon…

— William (Patrick Fugit), Elaine (Frances McDormand), Anita (Zooey Deschanel), Almost Famous (2000), written by Cameron Crowe

The Daily Dialogue theme this week is departure, suggested by MatchesMalone. Today’s suggestion by Teddy Pasternak.

Trivia: According to Cameron Crowe, he had sent the script around town to see if he could get anyone to respond to it, including Dreamworks Studio where one of its principal founders is director Steven Spielberg. Spielberg had read Crowe’s 172-page script over the weekend and called Crowe on Monday saying, “Direct every word”. Crowe has stated that he did film almost all of the script.

Dialogue On Dialogue: “One day you’ll be cool.” What a great line. 

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