Script To Screen: “Flight”
A scene from the 2012 movie Flight, written by John Gatins.
A scene from the 2012 movie Flight, written by John Gatins.
Plot Summary: An airline pilot saves almost all his passengers on his malfunctioning airliner which eventually crashed, but an investigation into the accident reveals something troubling.
Here is the final scene in the movie:
EXT. FEDERAL PENITENTIARY -- GUEST YARD -- DAY
WHIP sits at a lone picnic table in a fence-enclosed
courtyard. He checks his watch and looks up.
WHIP stands and walks towards us, towards his visitor. As he
gets closer we see a smile break across his face. A smile we
haven't seen since he first saw NICOLE. We reverse to see...
WILL -- WHIP's 17 year old son stands next to a GUARD.
GUARD
You have 40 minutes.
WHIP
Knuckles, you're looking good.
(BEAT)
I sent you something for your
birthday.
WILL
Yeah. I got it.
Another beat as they can't find a way in to a conversation.
WHIP
This is a real surprise; a great
surprise. I haven't seen you-
WHIP chokes up. WILL nods. It's intense. WHIP motions to
the table and they both sit. WILL pulls out a notebook.
WILL
College counselor thought I should
come and interview you.
WHIP
Great. An interview. Okay.
WILL
I'm writing essays for college
applications.
WHIP studies him and laughs...WILL nods and tries to smile.
WHIP
Listen Will, it means everything to
me that you came here. You are an
amazing kid and you deserve great
things...
Again WHIP has to tamp down his emotions.
WILL
So can you help me with this essay?
WHIP
Yeah. Of course.
WILL pulls out a small voice recorder and clicks it on...
WILL
This essay. I have to do an essay
called, "the most fascinating
person I've never met."
The two men just look at each other.
WHIP
And that's me?
WILL nods, both men are struggling to keep it together.
WILL
Can we pick up where we left off?
WHIP nods, unsure as to where this is going.
WHIP
Okay.
WILL
Who are you?
WHIP
Good question.
WHIP smiles...a great, familiar question. He begins to
alternately laugh and sob as there is great relief in the
promise of a connection with his son.
Here is the scene from the movie:
This is a great example of something we see quite often in comparing script to screen: How what they shoot pulls back on the degree of overt emotion in the screenplay. Compare these moments to the scene:
WHIP chokes up. WILL nods. It’s intense.
Again WHIP has to tamp down his emotions.
WILL nods, both men are struggling to keep it together.
He begins to alternately laugh and sob as there is great relief in the promise of a connection with his son.
In addition, some sides of dialogue get cut from the film version: “This is a real surprise; a great surprise. I haven’t seen you… Listen Will, it means everything to me that you came here. You are an amazing kid and you deserve great things…”
The emotion on the page is played very much up top, the two characters barely able to transact the moment without breaking down. On screen, the emotion is there, but it lies under the surface. And by pulling back, the scene plays really well, not veering toward melodrama — the potential is there on the page — but giving the scene room to breathe.
And then there is one final great touch in the movie version right at the very end. Watch the scene and listen to the audio accompanying Whip’s last line. See if you catch it.
One of the single best things you can do to learn the craft of screenwriting is to read the script while watching the movie. After all a screenplay is a blueprint to make a movie and it’s that magic of what happens between printed page and final print that can inform how you approach writing scenes. That is the purpose of Script to Screen, a weekly series on GITS where we analyze a memorable movie scene and the script pages that inspired it.
For more Script To Screen posts, go here.