Daily Dialogue — September 8, 2011

Harold: Professor Hilbert?

Professor: Hi Harold. You look tired.

Harold: No, no, just calm.

Professor: Harold, I’m sorry. You have to die.

Harold: What?

Professor: It’s her masterpiece. It’s possibly the most important novel in her already stunning career and it’s absolutely no good unless you die at the end.

I’ve been over it again and again and I know how hard this is for you to hear.

Harold: You’re asking me to knowingly face my death?

Professor: Yes.

Harold: (Sighs) Really?

Professor: Yes.

Harold: I thought you’d…I thought you’d find something…

Professor: I’m sorry Harold.

Harold: Can’t we just try and just see if she can change it?

Professor: No.

Harold: No?

Professor: Harold…In the grand scheme it wouldn’t matter.

Harold: Yes, it would.

Professor: No.

Harold: I could change. I could just quit my job. I could go away with Ana. I could be someone else.

Professor: Harold, listen to me.

Harold: I can’t die right now. (Crying) It’s just really bad timing.

Professor: No one wants to die, Harold, but unfortunately we do. (Harold gets up from chair) Harold…Harold, listen to me. Harold, you will die someday, sometime. Heart failure at the bank. Choke on a mint. Some long, drawn-out disease you contracted on vacation. You will die. You will absolutely die. Even if you avoid this death, another will find you. And I guarantee that it won’t be nearly as poetic or meaningful as what she’s written. I’m sorry but it’s the nature of all tragedies, Harold. The hero dies, but the story lives on forever.

— Harold (Will Ferrell), Professor (Dustin Hoffman), Stranger Than Fiction (2006), written by Zach Helm

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is delivering bad news, suggested by Saint716. Stranger Than Fiction suggested by Bill Weinberger.

Trivia: The title of the movie comes from a famous Mark Twain quote; “truth is stranger than fiction, but this is because fiction is obliged to stick to probability; truth is not.”

Dialogue On Dialogue: “The hero dies, but the story lives on forever.” What a terrific line. And necessary to have a great line there because everything builds precisely to that moment.

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