Daily Dialogue — September 6, 2013
BETTY: I can call them… I can call my dad.
JIMMY: But you won’t.
He grabs Betty by the wrist again and pulls her in to him. He puts his hand on her waist and it accidently slips and keeps going down her hips. He jerks his hand back. Betty looks down and sees Jimmy’s hand hovering above her thigh. Betty takes her hand and gently presses down on Jimmy’s hand. She slowly looks up with the most seductive smile. Jimmy lets his hand rest more firmly on her thigh, and squeezes her thigh as he sees her smile. With his other hand Jimmy gently pulls her closer. Something has started coming over Betty and she catches the drift of this scene in a different way. She’s surprising herself.
BETTY: (almost a hot whisper) You’re playing a dangerous game here. if you’re trying to blackmail me… it’s not going to work.
Jimmy now surprises himself. He becomes almost tender and genuinely worked up from the heat coming off Betty.
JIMMY: You know what I want…it’s not that difficult.
Where the scene should turn to anger from Betty it can’t now and Betty plays it as she feels it. She stays in very close to Jimmy — looking him right in the eyes.
BETTY: (whispering desperately -slowly) Get out… Get out before I call my dad. He trusts you… you’re his best friend. (her arms go around him) This will be the end of everything.
Jimmy gets lost. He doesn’t know where he is anymore. He can only see Betty’s eyes.
JIMMY: What about you? What will your dad think about you?
Betty still playing it in a dreamy whisper… lost in heat.
BETTY: Stop… just stop! That’s what you said from the beginning. If I tell what happened… they’ll arrest you and put you in jail, so get out of here before…
JIMMY: (caught by her transfixing, sultry eyes, and almost breathless … he finds himself taking an extra long pause) Before what?
As scripted Betty pretends to pull the knife from behind her back, but wraps the knife around behind Jimmy and pulls him into a kiss.
BETTY: (as she kisses him — whispers) Before I kill you.
— Mulholland Drive (2001), written by David Lynch
See the actual scene above here.
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is seduction, suggested by Despina. Today’s suggestion by igetsbuckets.
Trivia: Originally filmed in 1999 on a budget of $8 million as a made-for-TV pilot, Mulholland Dr., new scenes were filmed one year later on a $7 million budget given by the French film studio Studio Canal to wrap up the open ending which had been left unresolved in the original version so that a TV series could follow.
Dialogue On Dialogue: I know this isn’t on-topic per dialogue, but notice how many ‘unfilmables’ are present in the scene description. Yes, we can editorialize and comment on the action, if we are judicious about it.
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