Daily Dialogue — January 1, 2019

Dave: You know, I’ve always wondered about you guys. You know, about how you’re trained to take a bullet for the president?
Duane: What about it?
Dave: Is that really true? I mean, would you let yourself be killed to save his life?
Duane: Certainly.
Dave: So, now that means you’d get killed for me, too.

— Dave (1993), written by Gary Ross

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Politics.

Trivia: There were two political comedies in development at Warner Bros. in the early 90s: Dave and People’s Choice, the latter a project I had co-written, a vehicle for Rodney Dangerfield, playing a Lee Iaccoca type, to suddenly becoming President. The studio opted to produce Dave… but I got paid for selling the pitch, a first draft, a rewrite, and another rewrite, so it worked out okay for all parties concerned.

Dialogue On Dialogue: This scene features Dave (Kevin Kline), who is impersonating the real President (they look identically alike), talking with secret service agent Duane (Ving Rhames).

The scene mirrors one late in Act Three after Dave has proven himself to be a better President than the real one:

“Dave, I would’ve taken a bullet for you.” Classic example of a setup and payoff.