'Say Anything...' extended opening scene rates life
Posted Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 3:18 PM Central
Last updated Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 3:28 PM Central
by John Couture
I might be giving up my man card here, but I have a secret adoration of '80s coming of age flicks. It may have something to do with the fact that I was coming to age myself during this time so these movies seemingly spoke directly to me.
I always fancied myself a young Lloyd Dobler and John Cusack was my idol straight through high school. So yes, despite being clearly classified as a "chick flick," Say Anything... is one of my favorite movies in this oeuvre.
Yep, I can hear them revoking my man card as I type this.
Given this admission, you can imagine my excitement when I read this tweet from Cameron Crowe linking to an extended opening scene from Say Anything....
I love when writers/directors post script to scene comparisons because it gives us such a great insight into the creative process. It's also fun to see how these scenes could have changed with a simple line added.
In this particular opening sequence, the main part cut was a great little discussion about how the MPAA would rate life, or more accurately their lives in particular. It certainly reads as funny and I can only imagine John Cusack breathing his personality into them, but I can also see how this part was superfluous and while cool, the final edit is much tighter.
LLOYD
If life was a movie, what would it be rated?COREY
That’s a ‘Lloyd’ question.D.C.
Probably R. Maybe X.COREY
Since Joe, my life is definitely X.LLOYD
I’m probably PG-13 — some material may be too intense for young children.D.C.
That’s too bad.
I searched high and low for just a clip of the opening scene to no avail. This just gives you a great excuse to throw in your copy of Say Anything... and enjoy it again.
To whet your appetite though, I did find this iconic scene from the movie courtesy of one of our favorite new sites MovieClips.com. I'm sure you don't have to even guess which scene it is.
Man, talk about an iconic '80s scene that will never be recreated. I just can't see Lloyd holding up an iPod in the inevitable remake that should be coming down the pipe any time now given the current landscape in Hollywood.
Then again, maybe I can.
Cameron Crowe mentioned that there would be other deleted and/or extended scenes from Say Anything... posted in the next couple of days so I'd definitely keep an eye on his site.