GITS Script Reading and Analysis Series: “Michael Clayton” — Theme
Go Into The Story Script Reading and Analysis Series: “Michael Clayton” — Theme
This week we are analyzing the screenplay for the 2007 movie Michael Clayton written by Tony Gilroy.
You may download a copy of the shooting script here.
Today we discuss the script’s themes.
There are several of them. Which ones do you see at work in the story?
Here is another interview with Tony Gilroy, this one from FilmFreakCentral:
You seem to be interested in people who find their conscience when they realize that they themselves are responsible for becoming tools of the system.
The converse being that they find out that they’re their own villain. People have been [trying] to find a link between Bourne and this film, and all this external paranoia, and, “What’s your fascination with external paranoia?” And I say, Well, it’s not that at all. I’m not fascinated with that, I’m fascinated with the villain that’s inside these people. That’s just an echo — that’s the place that it fits best for them to have this dilemma. But, y’know, in truth, Devil’s Advocate, same thing. It was a script that was around for many years, and Taylor [Hackford] got involved, and…I read it, and said, “I don’t want anything to do with this!” And he said, “Ah, but you should do it.” I said, “I’ll come out and work for a week, if I can leave at the end of the week.” [W]hile I was there, at the end I said, “What if you make it internal? What if you make it so that he’s the father?” So that’s the most naked version of it I’ve ever done. I don’t really know what that says about me, but obviously I’m interested in that problem inside.
Your characters — Michael Clayton, Jason Bourne… You mention the discovery of the villain inside — they try to make amends for that. Do you think that those amends come too late?
Do I think they came too late? I think, there’s nothing sadder — there’s nothing sadder — than “too late.” I don’t think, narratively, I don’t think there’s anything in life… The fact that you’re going to be executed tomorrow morning is not as sad as you never [telling] your son you loved him. It’s too late. When it’s too late, it’s the most heartbreaking thing of all. I’m sorry, but you can’t get there from here, and you missed it. Flirting with “you missed it,” and certainly flirting with it very much in Michael Clayton — because, traditionally, your hero goes down the road, and then at some point in the third act, they see the sign for redemption and they pull over. This is not that movie. This is a character who has driven past that point before the movie even started. Bourne is a much more available character, in a way, because it just started with Matt wanting to be good. That was the first conversation that I ever had with Doug when I got involved, I said, “I don’t understand what this book is about,” but I said, it is really interesting if someone had amnesia — if I didn’t know who I was or where I was — what’s interesting to me is that I would only be able to identify myself by what I knew how to do. I mean, do I know how to make a croissant, do I know how to diaper a baby, do I know how to make a cappuccino? And what if the things that I learned — I knew how to do — turned out to be things that were really…bad. That’s a movie to me, that’s really small, that’s something that’s really interesting. That’s really intimate, and that’s really compelling. So Jason Bourne starts off — and I’m really curious to see this right-to-life thing, because, you know, he starts off in the water, naked, “Who am I?” And there’s no “who am I” in Michael Clayton. Michael Clayton, when you meet him, he’s fully scuffed-up, and already launched on a road that well past redemption.
For Part 1 of this week’s series, go here.
For Day 2 on structure, go here.
For Day 3 on characters, go here.
For those who missed the live-tweet Michael Clayton session last night, you may read through the entire transcript here.
HT to @nate_winslow for figuring out the whole transcript thing.
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