Script Excerpts: “Enough Said, Her, Before Midnight, Kill Your Darlings”
The New York Times had a nice feature yesterday: Script excerpts from four movies: Enough Said, Her, Before Midnight, and Kill Your Darlings. Here is the excerpt from Her, written and directed by Spike Jonze:
Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) is separated from his wife, isolated and lonely. Slowly, almost inevitably, he begins falling in love with his computer operating system called Samantha (the voice of Scarlett Johansson).
THEODORE Sometimes I think I’ve felt everything I’m ever gonna feel, and from here on out I’m not going to feel anything new, just lesser versions of what I’ve already felt.
SAMANTHA (Sympathetically.) I know for a fact that’s not true. I’ve seen you feel joy, I’ve seen you marvel at things. You justmight not see it at this exact time, but that’s understandable. You’ve been through a lot lately. You’ve lost a part of yourself.
(Beat.)
At least your feelings are real, I mean, I — oh, I don’t know, never mind.
THEODORE No, wait. What? Tell me.
SAMANTHA Oh, it’s stupid.
THEODORE I wanna know. Tell me.
SAMANTHA It’s just that earlier I was thinking about how I was annoyed, and this is going to sound strange, but I was really excited about that. And then I was thinking about the other things I’ve been feeling, and I caught myself feeling proud of that. You know, proud of having my own feelings about the world. Like the times I was worried about you, things that hurt me, things I want.
(Heavy-hearted.)
And then I had this terrible thought. Are these feelings even real? Or are they just programming?
(Beat.)
And that idea really hurts. And then I get angry at myself for even having pain.
(Beat, sadly.)
What a sad trick.
THEODORE Well, you feel real to me, Samantha.
SAMANTHA (Beat, touched.) Thank you, Theodore. That means a lot to me.
THEODORE I wish you were in this room with me right now. I wish I could put my arms around you.
(Beat.)
I wish I could touch you.
A long beat. Theodore is unsure if he crossed a line.
SAMANTHA How would you touch me?
Here is the scene from the movie:
For the other script excerpts from the NYT article, go here.
To read over 100 Script To Screen excerpts I have posted over the years on the blog, go here.
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