SCRIPT REVIEW REMOVED AT THE LEGAL REQUEST OF THE WEINSTEINS
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Matt Holmes is the co-founder of What Culture, formerly known as Obsessed With Film. He has been blogging about pop culture and entertainment since 2006 and has wrote over 10,000 articles as of May 2012, and counting.
27 Comments
A screenplay is a screenplay. It isn’t the final product. I wouldn’t get too bent out of shape this early in the process about whether or not this is going to be a classic QT film. The film hasn’t even been cast.
Hey Matt,
about the script being too long: Remember Inglourious Basterds – I felt the part which described how Shosanna ends up in the French theatre was too long and unnecessary. Those scenes didn’t make it in the final movie. I’m sure he’ll get the balance right, also… it’s a Western movie.
Btw: Where can I get the script? °_°
Somebody has to have a copy of this thing…
mhollinger@gmail.com
Hello brothers/sisters :D If anybody has the script, please be an awesome person and send it my way:
michaeldraycott@hotmail.com
it’d be much appreciated :)
Somebody please send me the script.
shedpower@yahoo.com
I don’t have much longer to live…. just kidding but forreal I’m really excited about this film. I’m one of the few QT that think Jackie Brown is one of his best. I want to see what Tarantino can do with a film dominanted with black actors.
Personally this was my problem with his last film “Bastards”. Too long, too much dialog. TBF though, i am not the biggest fan of subtitled and war films. I absolutely love Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, and Jackie Brown, however.
Matt – not quite sure where youre coming from on this one man. I just finished reading this and if tarantino films some of this like a Leone picture (whom, despite what you wrote in your review, is NOT name dropped) than i think this is going to be one bad ass picture. I am much more satisfied with this screenplay than i was with inglourious basterds.
Kevin,
Leone is named dropped. He mentions a Leone CU at least once. In fact I know the specific moment he mentions it.
Plus the opening is a big a Leone homage as anything.
Matt-
I see what you mean but tarantino has used a “sergio leone closeup” in the majority of his scripts. The way you put it (name drops) i was worried tarantino had somehow made another movie where cinema is literally part of the story (something i had hoped he would move beyond). I do agree that the opening and closing and a bunch of parts in between are very much leone/spaghetti -esque influenced.
I also didnt think the dialogue was as much of a problem here as it is in “basterds”. That film couldve used some trimming in the dialogue scenes.
Lastly im not quite 100% certain that sam jackson is going to be the narrarator this time around because there is a character introduced in the third act who seems tailor made for samuel jackson (the stephen character). Not sure how you feel about this.
I could not disagree more with this appraisal of the script. The screenplay’s length belies the incredible momentum it sustains throughout. It’s a quick, satisfying read that will make an epic, exciting, discussion arousing film.
“Django Unchained” is Tarantino at his most narratively disciplined. It is his most strucutrally simple story. It is a myth, an odyssey. It is a man’s journey through strange lands to find the only thing that holds meaning in his life. In this regard Django is a character similar to Homer’s Odysseus; travelling vast distances and encountering many people from all strata of society on his quest.
This simple story allows Tarantino to focus on the minutia of the Antebellum South. He nails the voices of a myriad of characters from all walks of life. He references Dickens twice in the piece and I think the allusion is incredibly apt. In its delineation of the social hierachy, character and customs of the Old South, “Django Unchained” is Tarantino’s blood-spattered Dickensian novel.
It is a mature work by a serious artist whose continued evolution is exciting and admirable.
Damn, I wish I enjoyed it as much as you did. Because your description sounds like something I would want to see.
Is it worth mentioning that Kill Bill’s script was also VERY long and rather meandering, compared to the finished movie/s? You’re probably reading an exploratory draft, where QT’s just itching every scratch, and the whole thing will be condensed into something manageable soon.
I think you’re all a bit mental wanting to read the script before the seeing the movie. Surely the whole purpose of going to the cinema is to be SURPRISED by what happens next. I can understand discussing themes or casting or the general premise but reading the whole thing in advance, for me, ruins the whole point of what cinema is about. Horses for courses, I suppose. But I just think it’s madness.
Never understood this argument. I was surprised by what happens next on the page…
Obviously not as you don’t appear to have read the whole thing. Film tells its’ story through moving images and sound combined and for me I’d prefer to go into a film ‘blind’ without knowing anything about the plot so as to enhance the enjoyment of it. But, hey, that’s just me.
@Matt: You’ve missed the argument. Sure, you were surprised by what was happening on the page, but when those moments happen in the cinema, you WON’T be surprised now. By reading QT’s script, you’re getting the story/characters early. So whatever surprises it had in store are being spoiled.
I agree with Paul. I really don’t want to read scripts of films that are being made. I can understand how attractive the idea is of reading them (you’re one of very few people – like a “special club”), but in the longterm you’re just spoiling things for yourself. Imagine reading The Usual Suspects and knowing THAT twist-ending before seeing the movie. Kind of sours the movie and taints your response to it.
The only scripts I’d read are unproduced ones that don’t have much chance being made, like those on the Black List. Getting my hands on the script for The Avengers or Ghostbusters III? No thanks.
Dan,
It’s fine that you feel that way but please don’t presume I read screenplays for the reasons you have outlined.
Why do you read them? I can understand reading them AFTER seeing the film. I read loads of classic movie scripts during and after my MA course in the vain hope some magic may rub off when writing my own scripts :-)
Just to be completely anal: Keith Carradine is David’s half-brother. He’s also the coolest Carradine (his work in the ’70s for Robert Altman is brilliant).
Obviously there are many reasons to see a movie, and only one is to “be surprised by what will happen next.” And reading a script tells you plot and dialogue, but little about performance, art direction, and music, as well as scene timing, all of which influence the flow of the film.
No Steven because that is a movie. I didn’t review a movie. I read and reviewed the script.
Everyone does understand the difference don’t they on this comments board? Just checking…
Wow. Can’t believe you would try and write a review on a script before you even finished reading it. Read this a few days ago. The script, like Basterds, is a masterpiece. Your name is Matt. He’s Quentin Tarantino. This is like the little acne faced kid that works at the comic book store his whole life reading one of Stan Lee’s newest and saying, “Eh- Spider-man was great. But his new thing? X-Men. What garbage. That’ll never last.”
I didn’t try Brock I did review it. Or at least gave my thoughts on it.
I read 148 pages of a 168 page script. I think I have a pretty good handle on what Django Unchained is.
Apart from the ending :-)
I think the screenplay does not define the entire film, in fact it is just a baby step for the film making process. QT is a brilliant writer and director, we should all be graced by his work. Not preaching or anything, but there is no use in arguing over a screenplay, which hasn’t even begun filming yet.
Regardless of what actors you get it is still a Tarantino film.
Stop complaining about the script being too long. When he writes, he writes like its a novel. He said it himself in interviews. He writes stuff that wont make it in the movie on purpose, because the reading works better that way in his opinion. His scripts becomes a movie based on his “novel”. He works that way and if you haven’t figured that out yet your stupid.
I can’t wait to see the movie/read the screenplay. I could see why the movie may spark much controversy, but stupid people just need to realize that it’s just a movie, pure entertainment. Plus, it’ll make slaves look totally bad-ass. Can’t wait.