Daily Dialogue — September 20, 2012

Ryan Bingham: Are you satisfied with Maestro?
Alex Goran: Yeah, I am.
Ryan Bingham: A little stingy with their miles. I like Hertz.
Alex Goran: No, Hertz keeps its vehicles too long. If a car has over 20,000 miles, I won’t drive it.
Ryan Bingham: Maestro doesn’t instant checkout. I like to park and go.
Alex Goran: Hertz doesn’t guarantee navigation.
Ryan Bingham: It’s funny. You don’t seem like a girl who needs directions.
Alex Goran: Oh, I hate asking for directions. That’s why I get a nav.
Ryan Bingham: That new outfit, Colonial, it’s not bad.
Alex Goran: [impressed and flattered] Is that a joke?
Ryan Bingham: Yes.
Alex Goran: Because their kiosk placement blows.
Ryan Bingham: They never have available upgrades.
Alex Goran: Basically, it’s a fleet of shit-boxes. I don’t know how they’re still in business.
Ryan Bingham: I’m Ryan.
Alex Goran: I’m Alex.

— Ryan (George Clooney), Alex (Vera Farmiga), Up In The Air (2009), screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, novel by Walter Kirn

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The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is meet-cute, recommended by robfrappier. Today’s suggestion by Billy Mernit.

Trivia: Jason Reitman began writing the screenplay in 2002 when the economy was booming and planned to make it as his first feature. The opportunity to make Thank You for Smoking and Juno presented themselves and he put this off until this year, meanwhile America plummeted into an economic recession. He said the film’s tone changed completely in response to the real world crisis and works much better now as a topical piece than it would have a decade ago, the delays in its realization being fortuitous.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Billy Mernit’s commentary: “For “it’s all about the subtext,” I’ve always liked UP IN THE AIR, with master-frequent flyers George Clooney and Vera Farmiga sizing each other up in a bar… They start examining each other’s respective collections of plastic, and a drink or two later, it’s off to the races (i.e. her hotel room) from there.”