AWKWARD PAUSES
Natural sounding dialogue is difficult to write. Real dialogue is often pointless or vague, but we’ve only got 110 pages in a screenplay so we have to get to the point. Our introduction to Terry has him hitting up his girlfriend Sheila (Gaby Hoffman) for bus fare so that he can leave her. The scene is filled with conflict bubbling just below the surface.
It’s a situation created to turn the liabilities of realistic sounding dialogue into assets. The conflict increases the more Terry beats around the bush.
SHEILA
Hey, Terry. Where'd you get that hat?
TERRY
I got it on the street for a dollar.
SHEILA It's nice.
TERRY
It's pretty much your standard woolen hat.
SHEILA
I had a very similar reaction to it.
TERRY
Uh.... Um... Can I get that money from you?
SHEILA Oh, yeah.
TERRY
Is that all you had?
SHEILA Yeah.
TERRY
Can you borrow some more from your brother?
SHEILA
Well, that would involve speaking to him.
TERRY
You know, I'm definitely going to be gone for a couple of days,
Sheila. I mean...
SHEILA
Why are you staying for so long?
TERRY
Because my sister is not a bank, you know? I can't just show up and...
That’s when conflict boils over into the argument we can see coming from the beginning of the scene. Talking about unimportant things like the hat create suspense in the scene by keeping that argument below the surface. He dances around the subject. The situation tortures the audience with every awkward pause. We feel sorry for him, but we are also learning about his character. Terry will continue to use the phrase “you know”
throughout the entire script - two words added to a sentence that creates instant
colloquialism.
CONFLICT CONFLICT
Those awkward pauses and tangent subjects come into play again when Terry breezes into town to meet Sammy. We know that all Terry wants is money, so to intensify the
“uncomfortable suspense” the sequence opens with Sammy cleaning house and preparing a homecoming feast for her brother. We know her expectations for the visit are much
Oh. No. I thought it was a special occasion.
Which it is.
Terry is dressed in a ripped shirt and jeans. The conversation gets off on the wrong foot, and keeps stumbling. She asks what he’s been up to, he’s evasive. She asks why he hasn’t sent a post card in six months. Now he’s on the defensive. The more she asks about where he’s been, the more evasive he becomes… until he finally says, “I actually got to confess to you Sammy, the reason why you may not have heard from me for a while, is that… I’ve been unable to write, um, due to the fact that… I was in jail for a little while.”
Conflict erupts, and it becomes more difficult for Terry to hit her up for a loan and split.
After he asks her for money, it just gets worse:
TERRY
Do you not even want me to visit now?
Because I can catch the bus at five O'clock
if that's what you want.
SAMMY
Of course I want you to visit, you idiot. I've been looking forward to seeing you more
than anything. I told everybody I know that you were coming. I cleaned the whole fucking house so it would look nice for you. I mean, I thought you would stay at least a few days. I had no idea that you were just broke again. I wish you had just sent me an invoice!
The last line is not only clever, it’s completely in character for Sammy. But the preceding lines are a great example of complex relationships: There’s a contrast between what Sammy says, the tone of voice she says it in, and what she means. There are layers to the dialogue. She says “I’ve been looking forward to seeing you more than anything” - the words would make it seem she’s happy to see her brother, but she’s screaming this at him in anger. Underneath that anger is disappointment - Terry has let her down again. Her expectations for Terry form a layer under that, and her inability to control the world around her is the core conflict in the story.
The dialogue grows out of the complex relationship between characters who love each other but are completely different - even antagonistic to each other. The situation is what makes the dialogue meaningful.
SUBTEXT SUBTEXT
These layers of dialogue are called subtext. The first level of dialogue is the meaning of the words - the primary goal of the speaker. If you spot an empty seat next to someone in a crowded theater, you might ask “Is that seat taken?” But the tone of your question and your choice of words will change if you are talking to a mean-looking biker or an attractive member of the opposite sex. There’s a second level of meaning - a second goal.
You either don’t want to get beaten up, or you may be hoping for romantic possibilities.
Lonergan gives us several levels of meaning in most of his dialogue. In the passage above where Sammy talks about looking forward to seeing Terry, who is she talking about? Count the number of “I”s in her lines for a clue. Terry may think he’s only here to ask for money, but there’s a second goal. He really wants his sister’s love and acceptance.
That’s the subtext in almost every line of dialogue he has with her, you can even see it in his admission that he spent time in jail. He’s a character who needs a hug, but doesn’t want anyone to get too close to him. More on subtext in the supplementals.
SITUATIONS SITUATIONS
Many of the best moments are scenes where characters don’t say anything… but want to. Let’s call it “unspoken dialogue”. Lonergan sets up situations where we know what a character wants to say, then leaves it unsaid. Later in the film Terry gets some bad news and decides to extend his stay with Sammy… finally breaking down and crying. She holds him, and we see the love between them that words can not express. No lies, no accusations, no evasions.
Because Sammy’s new by-the-book bank manager (Matthew Broderick) won’t allow her the fifteen minutes a day to pick up her son Rudy (Rory Culkin) from school and take him to the babysitter’s house, this becomes Terry’s responsibility. One day Sammy gets a call that Terry and Rudy never arrived at the babysitter’s. She rushes out of the bank without a word of explanation to her manager and searches for them. She spots Terry’s car at a construction site where he’s doing day labor and prepares to accuse him of being so irresponsible and self-centered that he forgot Rudy… but when she spots Terry she’s speechless. He’s teaching Rudy how to hold a hammer and pound a nail. Sammy watches for a while, smiling, and leaves before they see her. This is one of the most emotional scenes in the film, but not a word of dialogue is spoken by Sammy.
MISUNDERSTANDINGS MISUNDERSTANDINGS
Good dialogue contains misunderstandings. Characters can’t read each others minds and have no idea where the conversation is going. Bad dialogue tries to push the story, good dialogue flows with it. Terry genuinely likes Rudy. Maybe it’s because they’re at the same level of (im)maturity, but he gets along great with this eight year old. They become pals and share confidences.
TERRY
You know, this used to be my room.
RUDY
Yeah... You want it back?
TERRY No.
Gets a laugh. Lonergan’s misunderstandings are sometimes funny, sometimes painful.
Characters think they understand each other but are often miles apart.
Rudy is the only character who can cut through Terry’s evasiveness and get an honest answer from him. The two cement their friendship when Terry misunderstands Sammy’s childcare instructions on purpose. The rules are Rudy can only watch two hours of TV. So after two hours, the TV set goes off and Terry takes Rudy to a roadhouse with a pool table.
A pretty rough looking place.
RUDY
I don't think they let kids in here.
TERRY
Well, we're not allowed to watch any more TV so it's this or nothing. Ifwe get in any trouble, you let me do
the talking, okay?
RUDY Okay.
TERRY
(to pool players)
I got a hundred bucks here that me and my nephew can beat anybody in here, only we
gotta get the next game because he's got to be in bed by ten o'clock.
Terry and Rudy play against two big guys. The situation is not only filled with laughs, it shows the close relationship between the two. It’s the most fun Rudy has ever had (Sammy’s over protective - she holds on too tight to those around her for fear they will be yanked away). Who would take an eight year-old to a bar and team up with him in a pool match? For money? They not only win, but Terry lets Rudy sink the winning shot.
TERRY
Just kiss it.
RUDY
What do you mean "kiss" it?
TERRY
I mean tap it. Firm, but very very softly.
RUDY Okay.
This scene leads to a misunderstanding that changes the direction of the story. Rudy swears to Terry that he won’t tell his mom about their trip to the roadhouse. But a friend of Sammy’s saw them playing pool and tells her… and she chews out Terry. Because Terry
believes that Rudy “squealed” he puts an end to their friendship. The two characters who most need each other have been driven apart.