The Toughest Scene I Wrote: “Chef”

Once again, Vulture does screenwriters a solid:

Over the next few weeks, Vulture will speak to the screenwriters behind 2014’s most acclaimed movies about the scenes they found most difficult to crack. Which pivotal sequences underwent the biggest transformations on their way from script to screen?

In this article, Jon Favreau, who wrote, directed and starred in the indie hit Chef, talks about a scene they shot in Austin, Texas:

The scene that changed the most was the one we’d scheduled for that day, where my character and his son are sitting on top of the food truck, saying good-bye. It was the most emotional scene Emjay had done because it was also the last scene of the movie shoot — when I say to him, “Your summer’s over and we’re not gonna be having fun like this anymore,” it was also about the summer we had spent together, since it was his first big part in a movie like that. There was no time to do playback on the scene and after it was done, everybody was saying, “Great job, great job,” but John Leguizamo was still there and he was the only one who said, “I think the kid could give you more.” Legs is an experienced actor, writer, and filmmaker, and we had a level of trust there from working on the movie — he’s a dad, too. Sure enough, the kid had a higher gear. I don’t know what he thought about — I said, “Whatever it is that makes you feel sad, you’ve got to go to that place” — but lo and behold, this little 10-year-old guy, real tears start to come out. So on top of this logistical nightmare of a day that was far too ambitious, we ended up getting every single thing I hoped for.

For the rest of the article, go here. Kudos to Vulture for this annual series which puts the spotlight on screenwriters.