Daily Dialogue — May 7, 2012
Rachel: You in television?
Will: Am I in television? No. Everyone else is in television. I watch television.
Rachel: Right, right. So you’re more in front of it than in it.
Will: In it, yeah.
Will (V.O.): It was torture. For five minutes I realized what life would be like if I were, in any way, interesting. If I had anything to say for myself, if I did anything. But I didn’t do anything. And in about 30 seconds she’d know and she’d be gone like a shot.
Rachel: So what do you do?
Will: I’m sort of taking a bit of time off at the moment.
Rachel: Sounds good, yeah.
Will: Yeah.
Rachel: Time off from what?
Will: To be absolutely honest, time off from time off, in fact. The interesting thing about me is I don’t actually do anything.
Rachel: You don’t do anything?
Will: Actually, no. Nothing. Nope.
Rachel: Wow. That’s…
Man At Party: Now, Rachel, darling. East Coast or West Coast rap?
Rachel: I have absolutely no…
Will (V.O.): There. She was gone. There was no more to say.
Rachel: All rap music sounds exactly the same to me.
Will (V.O.): Or was there?
Will: I tell you what. I know a 12-year-old who’d kill you for saying that.
Rachel: Really?
Will: Yes.
Rachel: So do I, come to that.
Will: Yeah?
Rachel: Yeah. What’s yours called?
Will: Mine? He’s called Marcus.
Rachel: Mine’s Ali. Alistair.
Will (V.O.): And there it was. It wasn’t a lie. It was 100 percent her assumption. Well, 50 percent, at the very least. I was in fantasyland again. But this time it was different. SPAT was for fun. This was serious. I acted in self-defense. We arranged to get our lads together. Which means we arranged for us to get together. Single parents, alone together.
People: Happy New Year!
Will (V.O.): I was in deep trouble. And there was only one person who could help me out.
— Will (Hugh Grant), Rachel (Rachel Weisz), About A Boy (2002), screenplay by Peter Hedges and Chris Weitz & Paul Weitz, based on a novel by Nick Hornby
http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?shortid=xzmSQ
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is first date, suggested by churnage. Today’s suggestion by @Merlange.
Trivia: In the novel, the music that Will introduces Marcus to — and so in turn bonds with Ellie over — is not rap, but the band Nirvana. The book is actually set during the 1993–1994 period, and the story climaxes with the kids learning of and being affected by Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain’s 4/5/94 suicide (which within the context of the story has additional significance for Marcus). The title of the story is itself a pun on the Nirvana song “About A Girl”.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Ah, the masks we wear when we go on dates. And boy, does Will don a doozie in this scene, putting on the appearance of being a single father. With that, he sets several narrative dynamics into motion including the biggie: When will the truth come out?
Comment Archive