The Frank Darabont Script

eshine

Guest
Rococo said:
Here, here! The way that script reads, Marion is closer to being a version of a gin-soaked Karen Walker/Megan Mullally of Will and Grace than anywhere near the character established in the first film.
LOL - she really is - and as much as I LOVE Karen Walker / Megan Mullully, I don't want to see her in an Indy flick.
 

Rococo

New member
eshine said:
LOL - she really is - and as much as I LOVE Karen Walker / Megan Mullully, I don't want to see her in an Indy flick.

Exactly. Gin-soaked socialites have their time and place- but NOT in Indiana Jones ;)
 

torao

Moderator Emeritus
Just some quick thought on Indy's allegedly "poor entrance" in Darabont's draft.

I'm quite fond of meeting Indy again while he's being tossed out of the villains' car. (although -nitpicking, nitpicking- I found that beautiful shot from above a bit out of place. I would have preferred to be right next to Indy if he gets tossed on the ground. i'm not really complaining here, though...)
But judging from some Spielberg-quotes the whole silhouette-introduction wasn't even scripted. It was something Spielberg came up with as they were filming.

In the end, though, Indy may be introduced like a legend in CS but that status isn't really held up throughout the script and story (he's a legend sitting in the backseat, watching the spectacle rather than being part of it). Thus I prefer a rather low-key entrance and an edgier, more interesting characterization, as it is the case in Darabont's script.
 

Agent Z

Active member
torao said:
I'm quite fond of meeting Indy again while he's being tossed out of the villains' car. (although -nitpicking, nitpicking- I found that beautiful shot from above a bit out of place. I would have preferred to be right next to Indy if he gets tossed on the ground. i'm not really complaining here, though...)
But judging from some Spielberg-quotes the whole silhouette-introduction wasn't even scripted. It was something Spielberg came up with as they were filming.

Hmmm, interesting that the silhouette introduction was done on the fly, as it is one of the best intros for a character that I can remember in some time....especially the cool transition as the silhouette turns to the right and the car door opens to reveal the enemy of the story. Love the way that whole transition flows, right on up to "Russians!".

The overhead shot of Indy getting shoved down to the tarmac, while disorienting in its edited trailer form, is really such a cool perspective when seen in its entirety in the final film. I can't even nitpick it.
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
I did let myself get rather condescending in that most recent post, for which I am sorry, although I must say, eshine, that your tendency to toss off accusations to the general community here with straw man conceptions of why they didn't like Marion in the new film (they're ageist, they wouldn't know talent if they saw it, and so forth) is a rather disquieting and objectionable one that I'd seek to temper, were it my own.

However, I also feel that one of the best ways to take in the true seriousness of life is to regard it as something of a carnival. Most things offer potential for both laughter and sorrow. This may be an uncommon worldview.

Perhaps also uncommon is my way of regarding art as something strongest when there is palpable loss that stretches over time as a strong element. When the Indy films have always had that (consider Abner's death by obsession, the "falling out," the end of Wu Han's "many adventures," the years of family connection lost before Indy and Henry's reconciliation), and elements of this new film include such concerns too (Doomtown, obviously, and everything else about Indy being out of place and left behind by those who died first - the stuff that justifies the new film's existence), to have the characterization of the one figure returning from the previous films other than Indy himself so bright and cheerful throughout the entire film suggests a certain tonal misstep. Darabont may well have gone too far in the other direction, to be sure (though to call that version of her a shrew seems rather too much), and there are certainly elements I would refine were the job given to me, but I'd expect for - hope for - more strong feelings on the part of this character. Even more reference to it....she melted so quickly, and I see that as a lost opportunity.

These films have always been more than popcorn fodder. That's why I like them, anyway.

(Also, as rather more of an aside that I mention now on the basis of torao's appearance - I liked the bowling bag too. Very <I>North by Northwest</I>, that entire sequence at the hotel, with Hitchcockian wrong man elements and so forth. Also, lovely to see a tinpot dictator as a character type.)
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
Curiousness drives this post

Has anyone besides Moriarity at AICN vailidated this draft as authentic? oh, say...like the WGA, or Darabont? The two are so very similar, save shooting details and a couple of cut scenes. I'd be curious to see the final shooting script from Koepp to see just how alike these are.
 

Rococo

New member
Pale Horse said:
Has anyone besides Moriarity at AICN vailidated this draft as authentic? oh, say...like the WGA, or Darabont? The two are so very similar, save shooting details and a couple of cut scenes. I'd be curious to see the final shooting script from Koepp to see just how alike these are.

I was wondering the same thing- the two are so, so similar that while it feels genuine, I could see it being part of an elaborate hoax.. Someone with time on their hands, some screen writing experience and voila!
 

Peacock's-Eye

New member
Attila the Professor said:
These films have always been more than popcorn fodder. That's why I like them, anyway.
I disagree. Very brilliant popcorn movies - yep. "More than" popcorn movies? I see no evidence of that.
 

The Man

Well-known member
Peacock's-Eye said:
I disagree. Very brilliant popcorn movies - yep. "More than" popcorn movies? I see no evidence of that.

If the Indy movies - certainly the first three - were merely dispensable popcorn movies, I doubt this forum would exist. Indiana Jones is an indispensable treasure in all departments. Why else would so many be aggrieved at what they see as a disappointing fourth?
 

zenbird

New member
I think it should be mandated that when anyone refers to George Lucas and his 'writing', that it be placed in quotes.

Like so.
 

James

Well-known member
Agent Z said:
The overhead shot of Indy getting shoved down to the tarmac, while disorienting in its edited trailer form, is really such a cool perspective when seen in its entirety in the final film. I can't even nitpick it.

I love how old and beaten Indy appears when he is thrown to the ground in that shot. This makes his subsequent hat grab and silhouette moment all the more defiant.
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
Rococo said:
I was wondering the same thing- the two are so, so similar that while it feels genuine, I could see it being part of an elaborate hoax.. Someone with time on their hands, some screen writing experience and voila!


Not that elaborate. Take Koepp's first working draft, modify the cover page with Darabonts title, add some misplaces camera references...voila.
 

James

Well-known member
Attila the Professor said:
It amuses me that some of those who were most pleased with Marion in Crystal Skull, when presented with a Marion who responds the way she really might be expected to after Indy walked out on her, as she does in City of the Gods, find that to be an unrealistic development.

I think that's largely because it is a pretty unrealistic development. Most people don't talk and act exactly the same when you meet them 5 or 10 years later- let alone 15 or 20. You usually find that they have undergone some growth and change.

Look at where Marion is in life when we first meet her in ROTLA. She's in the middle of nowhere, completely alone, and reduced to surviving any way she can. She doesn't hate Indiana Jones. She has learned to hate him over a period of years, mainly because there's no one else to blame. Why should she be back at this exact same place 20 years later, especially considering how quickly she adjusted in ROTLA?

Also, compare this to where we find her in KOTCS. When Indy left her as a teen, she ultimately found herself with nothing and she resented him for it. But when he walked out in 1938, he left her with everything. She likely came to view Mutt as her entire world, which could explain why Mutt in turn felt such a strong need for independence. The great irony in KOTCS is that Indy is now the one who is completely alone, and headed into isolation as an expatriate.

Darabont was asked to write a story about an older Indiana Jones that paid tribute to B movies of the 1950s. Instead, what he turned in was essentially an issue of The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones that could've been written in the mid 80s.

rszfaoij32lh2.jpg
 

James

Well-known member
Pale Horse said:
Not that elaborate. Take Koepp's first working draft, modify the cover page with Darabonts title, add some misplaces camera references...voila.

Well, elaborate enough that the hoax would've had to begin over a year ago. This is when "Moriarty" first claims to have seen the script, and everything he said about both it and KOTCS were ultimately proven true.

He's also claimed that Indy 4 has been a rather "leaky" production for some time. A quick look back at the past year reveals that this was indeed the case. It was all out there in various forms, as Spielberg himself would later admit.

I just don't think there's as much mystery here as fans would like to believe.
 

SterankoII

New member
Somebody should get the Screenplay from Shawshank Redeption(which is a great read) to confirm Darabont's style in terms of describing action.


In Frank Darabont's script Indy says after the big climax where he says now "He's older and wiser." Well the thing I liked most about Indy in KOTCS is that he actually is older and wiser! From the beginning and all the way through. He really did seem to be a guy who actually learned from his experiences with the Ark and the other supernatural objects from the previous movies. The Indy from Darabont's script didn't.
 
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The Man

Well-known member
A moot point, perhaps, but is the actual shooting script available anywhere? It would be interesting to see how it reads.
 

The Man

Well-known member
agentsands77 said:
No.


It would, wouldn't it? I've hypothesized before that Koepp's draft might read better than it plays.

I'd love to read how the jungle chase transpires on paper.
 
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