Apr 29 2010
Planning a Director’s Hour at DnA
I’m planning my first Director’s Hour at DnA (Directors ‘n’ Actors) and I’ve chosen a scene from the 1986 movie Peggy Sue Got Married.
Peggy Sue Got Married (screencap by www.moviescreenshots.blogspot.com)
DnA is a group of directors in NYC who get together weekly to practice the craft of directing actors. A Director’s Hour is when a director picks their own scene from a produced movie, casts the actors, rehearses once or twice on their own, then has an hour during one of the DnA Workshops to continue rehearsing the scene in front of the other directors and receive feedback.
I wanted to pick a lighter movie / scene, so I chose a scene between Peggy Sue, a woman who has been transported back in time to her high school days, and Richard Norvik, the smartest guy in her high school.
Here’s the scene:
EXT. STREET
Peggy and Richard are walking, carrying their books.
RICHARD
I'd be very careful if I were you.
You don't want to fall into the
clutches of some madman with plans
to manipulate your brain.
PEGGY
That's why I was getting a divorce.
(beat)
What I really think is that I had a
heart attack at the reunion and died.
RICHARD
You look pretty good for a corpse.
PEGGY
Come on, Richard, I'm serious.
RICHARD
You're giving me the creeps.
PEGGY
Am I dead or not?
RICHARD
There's one way to find out.
PEGGY
What're you doing?
RICHARD
Confucius says, The way out is through
the door. There's a truck. There's
your door.
A large truck speeds towards them.
RICHARD (CONT'D)
Step in front of the truck! If you're
dead, it won't matter. The truck'll
go right through you. Go ahead! You're
dead!
The truck is getting closer. The truck BLOWS A LOUD
SUSTAINED WAIL.
PEGGY
No! I don't want to die!
RICHARD
Okay, you're not dead, but according
to every law of science what you say
happened to you is impossible.
PEGGY
What if it's beyond science? What if
it's God?
RICHARD
Einstein said "God doesn't play dice
with the universe." I'm a scientist.
I believe that there's an order to
things. Why would God bring you back
as a high school girl?
PEGGY
I don't know.
RICHARD
You're a molecule in chaos, a
discontinuous aberration. Maybe you've
just got powers of precognition.
Well, maybe you're just out of whack.
PEGGY
I told you, I've already lived my
life. I don't know how or why I'm
here, but you have to help me get
back. I want to get back to my real
life!
RICHARD
All right, I'll work on it, I'll, do
some research. But in the meantime,
don't get crazy.
PEGGY
I'm trying. I'll see you tomorrow.
RICHARD
What if you're not here tomorrow?
This scene is from the rehearsal draft of the screenplay found here. (I fixed a couple typos and removed some of the description–we usually remove all of the description at DnA, but I decided to leave some in). I was looking at some youtube clips of this movie and it looks like only the first half of this scene made it to the screen.