Daily Dialogue — July 23, 2018

“Sorry, wrong floor.”

— Drive (2011), screenplay by Hossein Amini, book by James Sallis

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Elevator. Today’s suggestion by Jerry Nelson.

Trivia: Nicolas Winding Refn moved into a Los Angeles home during filming and insisted that the cast members and screenwriter move in with him. They would work on the script and film all day, then watch films, edit or drive at night. Refn requested that the editing suite be placed in his home as well. With a shooting script of 81 pages, Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling continued to trim down dialog during filming.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Jerry: “The scene, as does the movie, makes great use of ‘negative space’ in the sense that more is said by what is not said.

The Driver and Irene actually say very little to each other, primarily because Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan felt that their scenes should be more focused on the mood and refused to say many of the scripted lines. Mulligan summarized making the film as ‘staring longingly at Ryan Gosling for hours each day.’

Driver references the fable of The Scorpion and the Frog: the frog agrees to carry the scorpion across the river; the scorpion stings the frog, saying “it’s my nature” and both drown. Driver can be seen as The Frog of the story — he drives/carries criminals (scorpions) around in his car, but is inevitably dragged into their destructive world (stung) leading to everybody’s downfall. Driver’s jacket has a scorpion on the back, just as the frog carried the scorpion on its back.

FACTOID: In preparation for his role, Ryan Gosling restored the 1973 Chevy Malibu that his character uses in the film.”