Great Screenplay Ingredients- Case Study- ‘The Omen’
I’ve just been reading all the columns at wordplayer.com and if you are an aspiring screenwriter, suggest that you do the same. Invaluable advice, there. What I also did quite recently, was read the screenplay of ‘The Omen’. Remember the movie- Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner? Written by David Seltzer and directed by Richard Donner? It’s a fantastic screenplay which if you get past the first five pages, is unputdownable. If you are the kind who avoids horror movies, I strongly recommend reading the screenplays of the better ones and then seeing them. Reduces the thrill factor but it will get you introduced to the genre at least.
Ok, the reason I am writing this is because while I was reading and admiring the screenplay, I couldn’t but help relate to what Terry Russio had been saying in his columns about what makes a great screenplay and many of the ingredients were in ‘The Omen’-
‘Strange Attractor’- Every great movie has a unique idea. Something which immediately attracts the audience or the reader. In ‘The Omen’ its- ‘An American ambassador learns to his horror that his son is actually the literal Antichrist’. In 1975, this was probably a great concept.
‘Impressive Failure’- The hero needn’t succeed all the time for the audience to love the movie. What he needs to do, is definitely fail impressively, spectacularly. In the Omen, the hero, Peck, fails. But what a failure it is! By the end of the movie, the task looks almost impossible, the odds insurmountable, but Gregory Peck achieves what he sets out to do. Well, almost. Any other movies which had impressive failures? Was the end of Braveheart an impressive failure? In Chak De, the girl’s team loses to the men’s team. Was that an impressive failure? Any more you can think of?
‘The Big Finish’- The ending must be decisive, set up, inevitable and unexpected. Now let’s look at ‘The Omen’. The ending is definitely decisive, Peck dies. It’s all set up- the audience is aware that it could be a likely result. It’s inevitable but only after it’s happened- I mean, they can’t really show a small five year old boy being stabbed with knives, can they? So what if he’s the son of Satan. And of course, they want to make at least a trilogy. And unexpected? Did you expect that he would be adopted by the President? Aaah…I didn’t see that coming. But it makes perfect sense doesn’t it? What about the endings of your favorite movies- do they satisfy this criteria? Lagaan? Chak De? TZP? Jaane Tu?
‘Great Tasks’- The goal might be common in many movies but it’s the tasks which need to be accomplished which separates the good from the great and are very specific to the movie. In the movie, Peck ends up going to Rome, Italy to learn about the secret behind his child’s birth. Then goes to a graveyard of the devil to dig up two graves and ends up being chased and almost killed by a pack of wild dogs. He then makes a trip to Jerusalem to find the one guy who can help him save the world from the devil. These tasks give the movie a richness in milieu and take the viewer into surroundings completely unexpected and into situations each more morbid than the next. What are the tasks that Kabir Khan in Chak De needs to achieve? Get the team to gel together? Win the go-ahead from the administrators? Any more?
The Offscreen Movie- This is such an amazing concept and also so true. Many times the movie is made more interesting because of what is not shown. In ‘The Omen’, which is mainly shown from the POV of Peck’s character, we are always wondering what the child’s nanny is upto with him. What are his wife’s interactions with her child which make her believe that he is evil? What is her therapist telling her which make her feel guilty and make her want to abort her own child? Is he an agent of the devil as well? The seven years that Kabir Khan spent outside the movie- did it make the movie more interesting? There was so much debate about why something was not shown about what he did or didn’t do in that time. Any other great offscreen instances in our movies?
That’s about as much as I have patience for to write. There are many more such nuggets of advice at wordplayer that I would recommend everybody to go read. Or else, you can comment.
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D&C, There are hundreds of Hollywood scripts on the net, there’s a lot we can learn from them.
Read johnaugust.com , there are lots of articles on screenplay formatting.
I wish a few more Hindi movie scripts were available on the net. PFC made a begining with No Smoking and Manorma, but there’s been no addition thereafter.
Hi Dazed, well i do love Horror movies, and The Omen is one of my favorites. The 1976 version i mean. Thanks a lot for giving the info about the screenplay of the movie. One of the most chilling scenes in The Omen is when the pane of glass, slides from the truck, and cuts off the head of the photographer. Also the attack by the wolves in the graveyard. You asked about the wife’s interactions with the kid.
But i think couple of scenes do go a way in establishing the doubt in Lee Remick’s mind.
The first time, Damien screams and kicks, refusing to go into the church, when he is taken for his baptism.
Again when she takes Damien to the zoo, the animals run away in fear. This is one of the more superbly shot scenes. First they go to the giraffe enclosure, and all the giraffes run away, the people around them look in disapproval. And then while driving the baboons attack the car. These slowly start to give her an impression, something is wrong with Damien.
Also the nanny does play a role in beginning. Like when she tells his mom, that Damien, would not want to go to the church. And in that famous scene, when she is watering the plants standing on the stool. The nanny keeps looking at Damien, tricycling furiously, and then she nods her head.
Also, for a horror movie to work there should be a great background score. Best examples by Pyscho and Jaws.
Omen also has a chilling background score from Jerry Goldsmith. It starts off with a Latin chant, “Sanguis bibimus, corpus edimus, tolle corpus Satani” (Latin, “We drink the blood, we eat the flesh, raise the body of Satan”), and in between u have cries of “Ave Satani” and “Versus Christus” hailing the Satan. And the clincher is that this score is played at every key moment, especially when one of the characters is about to be killed off.
Also D&C, any idea where we can get a copy of the script for The Shining, that is one of the best horror flicks i have seen so far. Jack Nicholson is at his maniacal best in that movie.
Ratnakar,
http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Shining,-The.html
@arun prkash, our exclusive authors can put their scripts of released films like black friday, phir milenge, vaastu shastra, dil pe mat le yaar and many more.
D&C
Only movie that can make me not sleep comfortably after watching even now.
BTW - Did you see Subramaniapuram?
Heard it is very good.
If possible do a review of that movie pls.
@ Arun Prakash-
True. Thanks for the link.
@Ratnakar-
You are right about the couple of scenes. But only those scenes by themselves can never make a mother believe that her child is evil. I mean, even Peck character, in the end decides to shave his child’s head to confirm before taking any action. There was probably a lot more going on and that’s what I meant by the offscreen movie.
@VPJ-
unfortunately, haven’t. Am very far behind on Tamil movies my friend. I haven’t even watched Tamil MA and Evano Oruvan yet…
Nice post D&C..quite liked it..
Keep writing such interesting posts!
Thanks Sourav and J!