Daily Dialogue —February 5, 2020

Perry: My $2000 ceramic Vektor my mother got me as a special gift. You threw in the lake next to the car. What happens when they drag the lake? You think they’ll find my pistol. Jesus. Look up “idiot” in the dictionary. You know what you’ll find?
Harry: A picture of me?
Perry: No! The definition of the word idiot, which you fucking are!

— Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), screenplay by Shane Black, screen story by Shane Black, novel by Brett Halliday

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Private Eye.

Trivia: Shane Black had been suffering from writer’s block. It ultimately took him over a year and a half to write the script for this film. He then had enormous trouble trying to sell it. His former cachet, as being the highest paid screenwriter, meant nothing when he was shopping his screenplay around. Eventually, he took it to Producer Joel Silver, who gave him his first break back in 1987 when he bought Lethal Weapon (1987).

Dialogue On Dialogue: I will never stop loving private eye characters written by Shane Black. All those plot twists and biting banter. Great stuff.