Daily Dialogue — September 27, 2015

OLIVE: How did it happen?
FRANK: How did what happen?
OLIVE: Your accident…
SHERYL: Honey…
FRANK: No, it’s okay. Unless you object…
SHERYL: No, I’m pro-honesty here. I just think, you know… It’s up to you.
FRANK: Be my guest…
SHERYL: Olive, Uncle Frank didn’t really have an accident. What happens was: he tried to kill himself.
OLIVE: You did? Why?
RICHARD: I don’t think this is an appropriate conversation. Let’s leave Uncle Frank alone.
OLIVE: Why did you want to kill yourself?
RICHARD: Frank. Don’t answer that question.
FRANK: I tried to kill myself because I was very unhappy.
RICHARD: Don’t listen, honey, he’s sick and he doesn’t know what he’s…
SHERYL: Richard… Richard… Richard…
RICHARD: What?! I don’t think it’s appropriate for a six year old!
SHERYL: She’s gonna find out any. Go on, Frank.
OLIVE: Why were you unhappy?
FRANK: I fell in love with someone…

Interrupted by Grandpa blowing his nose.

FRANK: …who didn’t love me back.
OLIVE: Who?
FRANK: One of my grad students. I was very much in love with him.
OLIVE: Him? You fell in love with a boy?
FRANK: Very much so.
OLIVE: That’s silly.
FRANK: You’re right it was silly. It was very silly
GRANDPA: That’s another word for it. 
OLIVE: So… That’s when you tried to kill yourself…?
FRANK: Well, no. What happened was: the boy I was in love with fell in love with another man, Larry Sugarman.
SHERYL: Who’s Larry Sugerman?
FRANK: Larry Sugarman is perhaps that second most highly regarded Proust scholar in the U.S..
RICHARD: Who’s number one?
FRANK: That would be me, Rich.
OLIVE: So… That’s when you tried…?
FRANK: Well, no. What happened was: I was a bit upset. I did some things I shouldn’t have done. Subsequently, I was fired, forced to leave my apartment and move into a motel.
OLIVE: Oh. So that’s when…?
FRANK: Well, no. Actually, all that was okay. What happened was: two days ago the MacArthur Foundation decided to award a “genius” grant to Larry Sugarman. And that’s when…
GRANDPA: … You tried to check out early.
FRANK: Yes. And I failed at that as well.

— Little Miss Sunshine (2006), written by Michael Arndt

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Depression.

Trivia: After Focus Features backed out, producer Marc Turtletaub bought the rights back from the studio in 2005 and announced that he would cover the budget himself.

Dialogue On Dialogue: I love this entire dinner scene. It’s 10 pages long. Ten pages largely comprised of exposition. And it just flat-out works. A great way of conveying significant backstory, specifically about Frank, in an efficient manner, made entertaining because of the back-and-forth between Frank and everyone else as he relates the cause of his attempted suicide.